With college football season set to kick off in just three weeks, it’s never too early to look ahead to draft season.
ESPN‘s Jordan Reid spoke to scouts and talent evaluators to find out which teams have the most potential NFL talent to keep tabs on for the 2026 NFL draft. He picked 12 schools and separated them into three tiers based on total number of prospects and how many potential first-rounders there are.
The Texas Longhorns were in Tier 1, while the Texas Tech Red Raiders were in Tier 3.
For each team, he named a top prospect, a sleeper prospect and a game circled on the schedule and provided a prospect breakdown. He also projected each team’s potential number of draft picks.
Sports Roundup
Here’s what Reid said for Texas and Texas Tech.
Texas
Top prospect: LB Anthony Hill Jr.
Sleeper prospect: OT Trevor Goosby
Game circled: at Ohio State, Aug. 30
Coming off a season that produced 12 NFL draft picks, the Longhorns are once again loaded with NFL-level talent.
The first name mentioned is Texas’ new starting QB Arch Manning, but odds are he won’t be in the 2026 draft despite being draft eligible, according to what his grandfather Archie told Texas Monthly.
DeSoto product Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter could be the next Longhorn RBs to make it to the next level, and Reid writes that Wisner has gotten midround draft grades.
Related:Best- and worst-case scenarios for Texas in 2025: Will Longhorns return to the CFP?
Other draft-eligible Longhorns mentioned are WR DeAndre Moore Jr., TE Jack Endries, OL DJ Campbell, OL Trevor Goosby, DE Trey Moore, DE Ethan Burke, CB Malik Muhammad, S Michael Taaffe and CB Jaylon Guilbeau.
While Muhammad has gotten Day 2 draft grades, superstar linebacker and Denton Ryan product Anthony Hill Jr. will likely be Texas’ NFL prize in 2026. The junior linebacker is an All-American talent who finished last season with 113 tackles and eight sacks.
Predicted first-rounders in 2026: 2
Predicted total draft picks in 2026: 12
Texas Tech
Top prospect: LB/Edge David Bailey
Sleeper prospect: CB Brice Pollock
Game circled: at Arizona State, Oct. 18
Stanford linebacker David Bailey (23) runs on the field during the first half of an NCAA football game against Syracuse on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 in Syracuse, N.Y.
Adrian Kraus / AP
David Bailey is arguably the best player in Texas Tech’s loaded transfer portal class, as the transfer DE from Stanford is the Red Raiders’ top 2026 draft prospect. Last year at Stanford he had seven sacks and three forced fumbles, and according to Reid, he is currently projected to be a Day 2 prospect.
DE Romello Height, DT Lee Hunter and DT Skyler Gill-Howard also join Bailey on the Texas Tech defensive line as incoming transfers who have potential to be drafted next spring.
Related:Best- and worst-case scenarios for Texas Tech in 2025: Big 12 championship game in reach?
Senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez is considered a late-rounder, but has the potential to boost his draft stock in 2025, according to Reid. Rodriguez, who began his career as a QB at Virginia, has become a centerpiece of the Red Raiders’ defense after totaling 127 tackles, five sacks, three forced fumbles and a ninterception last season.
Other parts of Tech’s massive transfer portal class that are on NFL radars include safety Cole Wisniewski, CB Brice Pollock, DB Dontae Balfour, RB Quinten Joyner, WR Reggie Virgil, TE Terrance Carter Jr., OT Hunter Zambrano, OT Howard Sampson, OG Will Jados. Returners like OL Davion Carter, TE Johncarlos Miller II and QB Behren Morton are also named as possible NFL prospects.
Predicted first-rounders in 2026: 1
Predicted total draft picks in 2026: 9
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