{"id":665419,"date":"2026-01-09T03:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T03:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/665419\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T03:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T03:33:16","slug":"potential-2026-seahawks-in-cfp-semifinal-between-miami-and-ole-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/665419\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential 2026 Seahawks in CFP Semifinal between Miami and Ole Miss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 8, 2026, 4:37 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s Fiesta Bowl between the Miami Hurricanes and the Ole Miss<\/a> Rebels will feature several players the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> could draft in 2026. There\u2019s one name in particular to watch, and several others to know.<\/p>\n

Most likely for the Seahawks to draft is Miami edge rusher Akheem Mesidor. He put the nation on watch with a dominant performance in the Cotton Bowl, helping Miami upset the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. He\u2019s been easy to overlook with the naked eye this year while playing opposite potential top-10 pick Rueben Bain on the defensive line, but is finally getting the respect he deserves. On 29 pass rush reps in the game, he garnered 6 pressures and 2 sacks. Seamocks.com<\/a> blogger Jared Stanger wrote about him as a potential fit<\/a> within Mike Macdonald\u2019s defense back in November, being his lone mid-round fit at the position. Macdonald loves high-motor edge players, as evidenced by the Seahawks\u2019 signing of DeMarcus Lawrence, and advanced pass rushers, as shown with his willingness to retain Uchenna Nwosu. Mesidor is the top draft prospect for Seahawks fans to watch tonight, and likely for the team\u2019s scouts, too.<\/p>\n

Other names on Miami to know include tackle Francis Mauigoa (probably goes too high for Seattle to have a chance), cornerbacks Keionte Scott (who had a pick-six against Ohio State) and Ethan O\u2019Connor (former Washington State Cougar), safety Jakobe Thomas (excellent size and ball skills could be a fit in Seahawks defense), and wide receiver CJ Daniels (could be a good complement to receiving corps next season).<\/p>\n

I wrote about Rueben Bain<\/a> earlier in the season, but his draft stock is sky-high and the Seahawks draft pick will be late. There has been some polarizing discussion about his arm length, since there hasn\u2019t ever been a Pro Bowl-caliber NFL edge rusher with as short of arms as him. However, there also hasn\u2019t ever been one in college with that lack of arm length. Bain is already an anomaly and is too dominant to overlook, but he\u2019ll be polarizing among fans and league circles alike. Some teams who value length more will have him graded as a second-round pick, but enough teams will fall in love with him that he should still go in the top half of the first round.<\/p>\n

Ole Miss\u2019 isn\u2019t as loaded for the 2026 draft, more towards 2027. Their possible Seahawks come late April include linebacker Suntarine Perkins (could be a Tyrice Knight-esque build should they decide to add depth), cornerback Antonio Kite (likely Day 3 cornerback), wide receivers De\u2019Zhaun Stribling (another former WSU Cougar) and Cayden Lee (underrated receiver due to size with great hands and route-running technique), and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen (brother Princely was drafted to the Carolina Panthers last year).<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 8, 2026, 4:37 p.m. PT Tonight\u2019s Fiesta Bowl between the Miami Hurricanes and the Ole Miss Rebels…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[95878,7,6,238,237,261,2635,96186,96187,95882,95930,96027,96098,96094,95895,95906,95977,96099,96177,95883,96535,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-665419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-seahawks","12":"tag-seattle","13":"tag-seattle-seahawks","14":"tag-seattleseahawks","15":"tag-sstssportsnflseahawks","16":"tag-sstsnseahawks","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","19":"tag-tagcollege-sports","20":"tag-tagmississippi-rebels","21":"tag-tagmississippi-rebels-football","22":"tag-tagnfl-hub","23":"tag-tagoverall-positive","24":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","25":"tag-tagsec-conference-football","26":"tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-taguchenna-nwosu","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115863041064553412","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}