Draft Wire

Sept. 15, 2026, 9:33 a.m. ET Like Isaiah Williams in 2023, Pat Bryant in 2024 and Hank Beatty in 2025, the Illinois Fighting Illini have found their go-to receiver for 2026. It's Collin Dixon, who followed up a solid opening night performance in the win over UAB, with a major breakout game in the week two loss to Duke. "Super-competitive kid, extremely intelligent," Illini coach Bret Bielema said of Dixon after the home loss to Duke.

Sept. 13, 2026, 11:28 a.m. ET The 2026 Duke Blue Devils football team is retooling and revamping after their historic season in 2025. Last year's team achieved the school's first ACC championship in 63 seasons. This year's edition is a pretty decent side, with a fair amount of talent, but they're light on 2027 NFL Draft prospects.

Sept. 10, 2026, 11:03 a.m. ET Saturday night sees #4 Texas host #1 Ohio State, in what could easily be deemed the NFL Draft Stock Bowl. Just like last year's edition was. Texas has more blue chip talent than team in the country, and when you match up them against OSU, you get a game that might actually feature as many as six top ten overall picks. Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State Regardless of position, he's the top overall prospect in this class, and absolutely deserves to go #1 overall.

Sept. 9, 2026, 7:31 p.m. ET Is Marques Colston the greatest seventh round pick ever? You can certainly make a case for that, given how he's easily the greatest wide receiver in New Orleans Saints history. Selected 252nd overall, very close to "Mr Irrelevant" selection #255, Colston is the Saints all-time leader in catches, receiving yards and touchdown receptions.

Sept. 6, 2026, 6:07 p.m. ET Before we dive into the individual performance of Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood, we must first look at the ending of the game. Everyone who watched the end of Western Michigan at Michigan saw the clock hit 0:00, with the final score reading WMU 12, UM 7. You saw Underwood throw a hail mary, on the game's final play, and it sailed out of bounds. The ball was live, with all zeroes on the clock.

Sept. 6, 2026, 11:03 a.m. ET The Northwestern Wildcats will open the season tonight, with a home matchup against FCS powerhouse South Dakota State. Leading the way for the Cats is fifth year safety Robert Fitzgerald (no relation to Pat). He was second in the Big Ten and 25th nationally in tackles last season. Fitzgerald's 70 solo stops led the Big Ten and tied for 2nd nationally in 2025. By some draft boards, Fitz is the Cats best rated NFL Draft prospect.

Updated Sept. 4, 2026, 9:09 a.m. ET College football scheduling is always done ahead of time; far ahead of time. Week one of the 2026 season sees at least one game with major #narratives due to a wild coincidence in the scheduling department. Wide receiver Griffin Wilde is Northwestern's best player om offense. Named third-team All-Big Ten last season and 2026 Biletnikoff Award Watch List this preseason, he's arguably the Wildcats' top NFL Draft prospect.

Sept. 1, 2026, 8:42 a.m. ET Last week brought the official termination of the Pro Bowl, a news story that was a little sad, in some ways. Over the years, the NFL All-Star game has moved around quite a bit, and changed formats several times. Its ending was actually long overdue, so nothing about this was unexpected.

Sept. 1, 2026, 8:42 a.m. ET Cam Ward, the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, showed some positive flashes during his rookie season. Despite the Tennesse Titans again finishing with a very poor record of 3-14, Ward put up some decent numbers. His TD to INT ratio was a solid 15-7, to go along with a decent passer rating of 80.7 and 3,169 passing yards. While there is obviously room for improvement with Ward, he has earned the trust and belief of Vince Young.

Sept. 1, 2026, 8:41 a.m. ET It might be better for the Texas Longhorns that they begin this season ranked #5, instead of #1. Expectations are always extremely high for Texas. So much so that it inevitably creates a "Texas is back!" narrative every time they achieve a big win. And when the Longhorns are inevitably unable to sustain that level of the highest tier, it naturally breeds a "Texas is not actually back" storyline.