2027 NFL Draft Prospects to Watch in Week 3
· Yahoo Sports
While Week 3 doesn’t offer any marquee non-conference matchups, we have the “Lane Kiffin Bowl” in Oxford. Both teams have several prospects, making it an important game for NFL evaluators to scout. Other interesting matchups include two of the top three running back prospects.
2027 NFL Draft Prospects to Watch in Week 3
Matchup of the Week – LSU at Mississippi (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt is a day-two prospect. Vaught–Hemingway Stadium will be louder and more hostile than ever. This is the perfect environment to test him.
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This matchup will also be a good opportunity to watch another transfer, safety Ty Benefield. The Boise State transfer tackled well against Clemson, but the wide-open Ole Miss offense will be a much better matchup for scouts.
For Ole Miss, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss must stay cool in the cauldron of noise. Given that he’s not that tall, his tape needs to be good enough for an NFL team to believe he’s the exception to being under height thresholds.
Chambliss has an excellent backfield teammate. Running back Kewan Lacy is competing with Jadan Baugh (Florida) and Ahmad Hardy (Missouri) to be the first running back taken. This is the perfect game for him to make a statement.
Watch the two LSU edge rushers, who have started the season well. Princewill Umanmielen (an Ole Miss transfer) and Jordan Ross will both need to be smart, as Chambliss is a running threat.
Finally, you won’t miss LSU tight end Trey’Dez Green – all 6’7” of him. He has high first-round grades for many and is always a red zone threat.
2027 NFL Draft Prospects to Watch in Week 3 – Thursday and Friday Night Lights (All Times Eastern)
Thursday and Friday night games offer chances to look at draftable prospects and give them a platform. It’s perfect to watch the All-22 tape from these games while you wait for the Saturday All-22 to drop.
Thursday night, Syracuse travels to Pitt (7:30 p.m., ESPN). Pitt offensive tackle Ryan Baer is the main name to watch here. He has mid-round potential.
Friday night’s best game is Houston at Texas Tech (8:00 p.m., Fox). Houston has three draftable prospects to watch: wide receiver Amare Thomas, guard Shadre Hurst, and cornerback Jalen Mayo. Tech counters with prospects including tight end Terrance Carter Jr., offensive tackle Howard Sampson, and defensive tackle AJ Holmes Jr.
Miami travels to Wake Forest (7:30 p.m., ESPN), a potential banana skin, but not the best matchup. The defensive tackle pairing of Justin Scott and Ahmad Moten Sr. should dominate.
Other 2027 NFL Draft Prospects to Watch in Week 3 (All Times Eastern)
With Kewan Lacy facing a tough defense, Jadan Baugh faces the same challenge. The Florida running back faces Auburn (7:00 p.m., ESPN), who look to be improved under Alex Golesh. Trying to slow down Baugh will be Auburn linebacker and tackling machine, Xavier Atkins.
SMU offensive tackle PJ Williams was impressive in the Monday night Week 1 opener against Florida State. This week he’ll face Louisville and their pass rusher Clev Lubin (3:30 p.m., ESPN2). It will be interesting to see how much change Lubin gets from Williams, and whether he has counters when his initial move doesn’t work.
2027 NFL Draft Prospects to Watch in Week 3 – Small Schools
A number of FCS vs. FBS matchups remain this week. These are infuriating for the average college football fan, but great opportunities for FCS NFL hopefuls.
The small school prospects to watch this week, many of whom are on the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watch List, include:
Brayden Smith – Wide Receiver – Mercer (at Georgia Tech, noon kickoff, ACC Network);
Jaylen Pettus – Edge – Northern Iowa (at Iowa, 4:00 p.m., FS1);
Liam Becher – Guard, Trace Thaden – Offensive Tackle, and Lance Rucker – Edge/Linebacker – North Dakota (at Nebraska, 7:15 p.m., Big Ten Network);
Eli Gillman – Running Back – Montana (at Oregon State, 11:00 p.m., USA Network).
The Last Word
This week is not a headline-grabbing one, but there are still good matchups to be found. It will be fascinating to see how the LSU prospects handle what might well be the most hostile environment they have ever faced. The Ole Miss prospects must also keep their cool.
Two of the top three running back prospects face interesting matchups. The games are taking place at the same time so that some channel hopping will be needed. Seeing prospects back-to-back always helps when stacking them.
Several highly ranked prospects are on teams that have played an easy schedule so far. For Alabama and Georgia in the SEC, tests will come, as in the Big Ten for Indiana. Miami and Notre Dame prospects require patience; we may need to wait until November 7, when they play each other.
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