‘It’s another Top 10 where it feels really unsettled’
With the NCAA season steaming into conference play, the top of the NFL prospect board remains in flux, as early favorites have stumbled and no clear number one has separated themselves from the pack.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler says Clemson’s ugly start, which has already produced two September losses, has been particularly disruptive and brought the wrong kind of attention to its highly touted defensive stars.
“If you knew nothing about Clemson and their players and you just watched the first three games of the season, and I said to you, ‘Tell me which two of those players on defense are the projected Top 10 draft picks,’ you would probably come back to me and say, ‘They have Top 10 players on defense?’”
The two players in question are defensive tackle Peter Woods and edge rusher T.J. Parker, a tandem many expected to be drafted in the first 90 minutes next April, but who’ve looked diminished in the season’s first month.
“They haven’t been bad; they haven’t played poorly. I would say they have played better than average. But when you have expectations of being a Top 10 pick — Peter Woods being number one overall for a lot of people — slightly better than average doesn’t get you excited as an evaluator,” says Brugler.
Woods, who had crept into consensus-number-one territory going into the year, has no sacks and a single quarterback pressure this season. His run-stopping has been as strong as last season when challenged, but teams have worked to avoid him on rushing plays. As such, his impact has become increasingly less visible.
Parker, whose 12 sacks more than doubled the next closest Tiger last season, has just one so far in 2025. Worse, he’s managed only six QB pressures, which puts him on pace for half of last season’s 51. Put bluntly, neither has been a big enough factor in Clemson’s games to stick atop the draft board.
“They’re both on notice. They have to have a greater impact on the tape, or it’s possible they could start to slip,” Brugler says. “Because if it’s not on the tape, especially in that last season before you become a draft prospect, that’s something teams can’t ignore.”
‘If I had to do a top 15 tomorrow, he’s a slam dunk’
Other defensive players are rising in the wake of Clemson’s slow start, with Ohio State now boasting two linebackers who NFL evaluators have first-round chops. Sonny Styles remains the top-ranked linebacker in the draft, but Brugler says Arvell Reese emerged as perhaps the next best choice at the position.
“He keeps doing it. Every single tape, he’s jumping off the screen,” says Brugler.
The episode goes into other risers, including Rueben Bain Jr. and Keldric Faulk, as well as the laundry list of quarterbacks who have tumbled, and key injuries to players whose recovery time could determine if they’re first-day picks or not.
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)