Week 7 gave us Indiana’s valiant effort against Ohio State, Arch Manning’s slide adding another chapter in a loss to Florida, Jordan Ross powering LSU’s shutout of Mississippi State, and some chaos in Provo. Here are the draft stock takeaways you need to know from Week 7 of college football.
📈 Stock Rising
Quarterbacks
- Gio Lopez, QB, Wake Forest | Wake Forest cruised past Cal, and Lopez is the reason it never got interesting. He went 16-of-23 for 268 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions, earning a 92.7 PFF passing grade. That line earned him PFF Quarterback of the Week honors. In a QB class where the headliners keep giving ground, a passer like Lopez stacking clean games could climb boards quickly.
- Conner Weigman, QB, Houston | It feels like a lifetime ago when Weigman was an intriguing Sunday projection prospect at Texas A&M. Now in his second season at Houston, Weigman is popping back onto the radar. He tossed five touchdowns in a Saturday-night shootout and plainly outdueled belle-of-the-ball Drew Mestemaker, accounting for close to 400 yards of total offense. Fifty-two rushing yards alongside five touchdown passes is the arm-plus-mobility combination NFL front offices want to see. Oklahoma State doesn’t field the stingiest defense, so file this under “trending up” rather than “case closed.”
Running Backs
- DeSean Bishop, RB, Tennessee | It has been three straight weeks of DeSean Bishop running through faces, and it’d be criminal not to feature him after he powered the Tennessee offense past #6 Alabama in one of many upsets this past week. The Junior from Knoxville ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns across 32 carries. He’s on pace for his best collegiate season and could easily challenge to be a top back should he declare for the draft.
Offensive Line
- Texas State’s offensive line was named PFF’s Offensive Line of the Week after allowing just three pressures in the win over Colorado State. Three starters allowing zero pressures all game, and the fab five also powered a rushing attack that gained more than 300 yards on the ground, paving the way for our Non-Power-4 Gem of the Week.
Wide Receivers & Tight Ends
- Charlie Becker, WR, Indiana | Of the premier draft-eligible receivers on the field in the Indiana-Ohio State blockbuster, Becker had the best day: nine catches for 165 yards and an 84.8 PFF receiving grade—his highest since last year’s conference matchup between these teams. He accounted for 55.9% of Indiana’s receiving yards. Becker hasn’t dropped a pass in his collegiate career, made multiple contested catches for the second straight game, and won over the middle, downfield, and in traffic. Ohio State had no answer. His chemistry with quarterback Josh Hoover looks every bit as strong as it did with Fernando Mendoza a year ago, proving he is a complete receiver rather than just a vertical field-stretcher. The one knock is after the catch: Becker has forced just two missed tackles this season, though Indiana’s offense rarely puts him in true YAC situations. Becker feels locked into the WR2 spot in this class.
- Chase Sowell, WR, Penn State | Sowell originally popped onto our radar as an Iowa State Cyclone, but he had a career day as a Nittany Lion in a loss to Michigan. He posted 151 yards, with another 37-yard gain wiped out by an offensive penalty. His 91.0 overall PFF grade was the highest of any offensive player in the FBS this weekend. While not on PFF’s top 150 big board yet, his resume is building. Having spent five seasons across four programs—his latest move coming from Iowa State alongside head coach Matt Campbell—he has now posted four straight seasons with over 500 receiving yards. At 6-foot-3, Sowell offers ideal size for teams looking for late-round value. His track record proves he can change environments and keep producing, which is exactly what a rookie must do.
- Umari Hatcher, WR, Syracuse | The top three receivers in the country by yardage are Jesse Legree, Jeremiah Smith, and… Umari Hatcher. Against Louisville, the sixth-year senior hauled in 13 catches for 224 yards and a touchdown. Remarkably, he’s producing despite four different quarterbacks attempting passes for Syracuse over the last four games. Age, injury history (missing almost all of 2025), and a thin production resume prior to this season point to a Day 3 projection, but he’s trending toward being one of the first names called early on Saturday. Upcoming tests against UNC, SMU, and Clemson will tell the rest of the story.
- Amare Thomas, WR, Houston | Weigman’s go-to target dominated alongside his QB. Thomas finished with 126 yards and two touchdowns, showcasing body control, separation skills, and post-catch creation. The same caveat applies regarding Oklahoma State’s defense, but Thomas put up the exact efficiency metrics expected against that caliber of opponent. The traits he put on tape translate well to the Sunday level.
- Jordan Faison, WR, Notre Dame | The Irish came up short, but not for lack of effort from Faison. He made excellent grabs in tight windows, including a toe-tapping catch that extended Notre Dame’s final drive. The raw box score stats won’t wow scouts, but the film will. In a deep receiver class, winning in tight windows translates directly to the NFL, making a climb into a solid Day 2 grade very doable.
- KJ Duff, WR, Rutgers | Duff continues to demonstrate elite contested-catch traits. He is the type of physical target teams spend high draft capital on, and draft board chatter already reflects that sentiment. Indiana’s Jamari Sharpe had a strong game against him last week, making that matchup essential film for talent evaluators.
- Peter Clarke, TE, Temple | Finally the Mad Lad is heating up. After a five-catch, 88-yard effort with a touchdown against UConn last week, the TE from across the pond put up another five-catch day, this time for 127 yards and another touchdown.
Defensive Line & Edge Rusher
- Jordan Ross, EDGE, LSU | With the rest of the college football landscape on fire, Ross’s performance in LSU’s obliteration of Mississippi State may have flown under the radar. NFL teams needing pass-rush help certainly noticed. Ross finished with three sacks and seven pressures on just 26 pass-rushing snaps, a 92.9 overall PFF grade that was both the highest of his career and the highest of any Power 4 defender this weekend. He also earned a 93.9 PFF pass-rush grade and a 23.1% pressure rate, adding three hurries and a forced fumble in an LSU shutout. Ross came into the season with two career sacks and now has eight with five regular-season games still to go. We already knew Ross had every trait you want in an edge defender.
- Will Echoles, DL, Ole Miss | Staying relatively quiet the past few weeks, Echoles finished with five tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and two batted passes against a very good Missouri Tigers offense. Echoles was never in real danger of sliding down boards. This was just a reminder of what he can do in any given week.
Linebackers
- Sione Hala, LB, San Diego State A Senior for the Aztecs, Hala came from Boston College and Weber State as a product of LA’s high school powerhouse St. John Bosco. Hala exploded against Fresno State, making six solo tackles (seven total) and forcing a fumble. He’s averaging 9.6 total tackles per game across SDSU’s seven so far this year.
Secondary
- Jamari Sharpe, CB, Indiana | Nobody truly stops Jeremiah Smith, but Sharpe fared better than almost anyone else this season. Playing sticky, physical coverage, he broke up two passes and forced Ohio State to look elsewhere. Building on a strong performance against KJ Duff the week prior, Sharpe is proving he belongs firmly in early Day 2 conversations as a zone-capable corner with closing speed.
- Amare Ferrell, S, Indiana | With Sharpe and others dedicated to rolling coverage toward Jeremiah Smith, Ferrell shouldered the burden across the rest of the field and posted a career day: two interceptions, two forced incompletions, and only one catch allowed for 7 yards on five targets. He added a career-high 75.3 PFF run-defense grade. With over 2,000 defensive snaps under his belt and versatility across deep safety, nickel, and box roles, Ferrell is making a compelling case to rise up middle-round draft boards.
💎 Non-Power-4 Gem
- Torrance Burgess Jr., RB, Texas State | Burgess averaged 9.3 yards per carry (5.3 after contact), forced six missed tackles, scored four touchdowns, and added 52 receiving yards in an explosive outing. His creation ability outside of blocked scheme yards makes him a legitimate Group of 5 prospect to watch for three-down utility.
👶 Underclass Overachievers
- Jesse Legree, WR, Oregon State (True Freshman) | He was our featured athlete last week, but he just keeps doing his thing. Legree Mania has taken over, with Chad Ochocinco pledging some lofty cash to keep the Heisman candidate in Corvallis. In what has become regular stuff for the kid, Legree scored another two touchdowns in a win over Washington State, racking up 108 receiving yards across eight catches.
📉 Pump the Brakes
Quarterbacks
- Arch Manning, QB, Texas | I hate to pile on to the kid, but we are getting close to just naming this section after Arch. After an early-season run and hype that placed him in Heisman contention, Manning’s stock continues to slide. His performance in a loss to Florida marked a new low: a 43.4 PFF grade with three turnover-worthy plays, including two strip-sacks (one sealed Florida’s win). Pocket navigation and decision-making under pressure remain clear vulnerabilities. Since Texas’s victory over Ohio State, Manning holds a 58.8 overall PFF grade over a two-game skid. The high-end flash plays remain undeniable, but his developmental timeline suggests he is far from NFL-ready and may benefit from continuing to refine his game next year at the college level before entering draft boards.
- Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State | Sayin struggled against Indiana’s defense, marking his second straight PFF grade in the 40s. He committed six turnover-worthy plays over his last two games—matching his total from the entire previous season—and threw two costly interceptions. A fourth-quarter shoulder injury suffered during a strip-sack will now sideline him from practice for several weeks. Given his reliance on operational efficiency rather than elite arm strength or off-script movement, this current slump combined with injury virtually guarantees he returns to school to build his draft case for future cycles. | UPDATE: HC Ryan Day has mentioned Ohio State preparing to be without Sayin through the postseason. This would suggest that Sayin’s season is likely done and a return to school in 2027 would also be likely.
Running Backs
- Isaac Brown, RB, Louisville | A week after rushing for 235 yards against Florida State, Brown was held to just 11 yards on nine carries against an average Syracuse run defense. Brown possesses explosive big-play potential, but his lack of lower-body power makes him reliant on home-run hits. He must demonstrate efficiency when initial lanes are closed.
- Jamal Roberts, RB, Missouri | Despite leading the nation in rushing yards, Roberts managed just 39 yards on 20 carries (1.95 YPC) against Ole Miss. Coming off a two-week stretch where he racked up 433 yards, one poor outing isn’t cause for panic, but it does temporarily cool the momentum behind his mid-season draft helium.
Wide Receivers
- Evan Stewart, WR, Oregon | Stewart was arrested on a DUI charge early Sunday, Oct. 18, following a traffic stop in Springfield, OR. Oregon’s leading receiver had already missed Saturday’s victory over Nebraska due to an undisclosed injury. Off-field incidents coupled with ongoing health concerns for a guy that is already under-sized will severely hamper the senior’s evaluation as he heads toward the pre-draft process. This is supremely stupid in the era of Wild West NIL packages.
Defensive Line & Linebackers
- Boubacar Traore, EDGE, Notre Dame | In Notre Dame’s most critical matchup of the season, Traore was ejected less than three minutes into the game following a headbutting targeting penalty on BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier. The resulting 15-yard penalty and loss of their primary pass rusher severely compromised Notre Dame’s defense. Unforced errors of this nature raise decision-making flags for prospective NFL teams.
- E.J. Lightsey, LB, Georgia Tech | Lightsey struggled significantly against Virginia Tech, posting a 30.3 PFF grade while allowing 76 coverage yards and missing two tackles. Known primarily as a high-floor, steady presence in the middle of Georgia Tech’s defense, a game with this degree of breakdown impacts the core appeal of his draft profile.
- Xavier Atkins, LB, Auburn | Auburn dismissed Atkins following a suspension that held him out of the Georgia game. The former first-team All-SEC producer led Auburn in tackles and sacks through four starts this year, but a mid-season dismissal for undisclosed reasons introduces off-field and availability concerns that will require extensive vetting by NFL teams.
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