Eight Weeks In: How Our 2027 Top 100 Are Living Up to Their Grades

At five weeks the question was who was playing to his grade. At eight, the injury report is doing as much to shape the top of our board as the tape is. Two of the three quarterbacks who were in our top four five weeks ago will not play again this regular season. The No. 2 player on the board is week-to-week with a high-ankle sprain, and Texas has lost its starting left tackle for the year. Miami is 7-0 and No. 1 in the AP poll, Ohio State and Georgia sit 6-1 behind it, and Indiana's only loss is a four-point game against the Buckeyes. Here is how our top 100 stands through Week 8.

Jeremiah Smith is still No. 1

Nothing below the top spot is settled, but the top spot is. Jeremiah Smith has 52 catches for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns in seven games. The back-to-back 200-yard games against Illinois and Iowa got the headlines, and the quieter weeks since have been just as telling. Maryland and Indiana both built their plans around him. He still found 93 yards and two scores against Maryland, then four catches for 68 yards and a touchdown in a 19-15 win at Indiana. He is second in the country in receiving yards behind Oregon State's Jesse Legree.

The bigger question for his last five games is who throws to him. Julian Sayin (17) hurt his throwing arm at Indiana. Ryan Day says Ohio State is planning on not having him for the rest of the regular season, and freshman Luke Fahey is expected to start at USC on Saturday. Sayin leaves with 2,007 yards, 19 touchdowns and four interceptions, numbers that matched the top-three grade he carried into October. The arm questions that came with it are now medical as well as mechanical.

The quarterback board has turned over

No position has moved more. Darian Mensah has gone from 87th on our board in early October to third, and he has earned every place. He has completed 166 of 204 passes, 81 percent, for 2,151 yards, 22 touchdowns and one interception for a 7-0 Miami team that is No. 1 for the first time since 2002. The one interception came in the double-overtime win over Florida State, after 153 straight passes without one, and he still finished with 326 yards and three scores. A week later he went 31 of 37 for 387 yards and four touchdowns against Pitt. The arm strength is the same question it was in September. Everything else about his game has answered the questions put to it.

Drew Mestemaker (4) is the other riser. He has 2,326 yards and 20 touchdowns for a 5-2 Oklahoma State team, with four straight 300-yard games through the UCF win. Afterwards UCF head coach Scott Frost said, "I'll be surprised if he is in college next year." He threw for 365 yards and three scores in a 35-32 loss at Houston and 386 yards and four touchdowns against Colorado. The six interceptions are what stop him being a clean evaluation, and they come in streaks.

Arch Manning (19) has gone the other way. The Red River game was the test we flagged five weeks ago. He threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns, but both of his interceptions came in the fourth quarter, the last with 19 seconds left, and Oklahoma won 27-24 on a field goal. Florida then sacked him five times in another 27-24 loss in Austin, the fifth sack bringing a lost fumble, and Steve Sarkisian would not commit to him as the starter. He kept the job and beat Ole Miss 34-27 with 212 yards passing and his first two rushing touchdowns of the year, though Texas let a 24-3 lead slip and he threw two more interceptions. He is at 1,507 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and he now loses Trevor Goosby from his blind side.

Dante Moore (7) has not played since the late hit at USC on 26 September. This week Dan Lanning said he is not expected back this season. His grade rests on four games (926 yards, nine touchdowns, no interceptions) and last year's tape. Medically Oregon says he will make a full recovery. For evaluators the problem is that the next tape they see will be at the combine.

CJ Carr (24) has the cleanest numbers on the board, with 16 touchdowns and one interception. The 28-24 loss at BYU was his worst game: 27 of 49 for 261 yards, no touchdowns, and a fumbled spike at the BYU 5 just before half. It ended Notre Dame's 16-game winning streak. Jayden Maiava (20) had the best win of his career at Penn State, 301 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-23 victory, then threw two first-quarter interceptions in a 24-7 loss at Wisconsin. He has 2,302 yards, 19 touchdowns and five picks.

Further down, Trinidad Chambliss (45) has 22 total touchdowns for Ole Miss but threw a career-high three interceptions at Texas, the last on the final play. Austin Simmons (81) was the SEC's offensive player of the week after 340 yards against Florida and has thrown just two interceptions all year, though a report last week said he is leaning towards returning to Missouri. LaNorris Sellers (70) threw four touchdowns and ran for another in a 38-19 win at Florida that ended South Carolina's eight-game SEC losing streak. Brendan Sorsby (89) will not play this season. After the NCAA ended his college eligibility over sports betting and the NFL declined to hold a supplemental draft, he reached an agreement with the league to sit out 2026 and enter the 2027 draft, so his evaluation rests on his 2025 Cincinnati tape.

Edge rushers: Simmons leads the country, then gets hurt

Colin Simmons (2) leads the nation in sacks (10.5) and tackles for loss (16) after six games, and he was having perhaps his best day against Florida, with eight tackles, four for loss and a sack, when he was carted off early in the fourth quarter with a high-ankle sprain. The MRI showed no structural damage. Texas lists him as week-to-week, and reports put the recovery at three to four weeks. On talent he is the best defender in the class. The worry is that this is the second time this year he has played through a lower-leg problem.

Dylan Stewart (5) has turned his season around since we last wrote about him. He came back from his one-game suspension with five tackles, a sack and two forced fumbles in a 38-19 win at Florida, good enough for SEC co-defensive lineman of the week. Then his late strip-sack of George MacIntyre set up the turnover that sealed a 27-24 win over Tennessee. The back, the effort and the discipline were the three questions in early October. The last two have been answered on the field. The first will be answered in medical rechecks in Indianapolis.

The most productive edge on our board is ranked 98th. Princewill Umanmielen has nine sacks and 11 tackles for loss for LSU, among the most in the country. He shook off a head injury against Mississippi State to add a sack at Auburn. Our ranking has not caught up with him yet.

Oregon's Teitum Tuioti (78) went from the biggest production drop in our top 50 to four and a half sacks in two games: two against Nebraska, then two and a half and a forced fumble at Illinois, where he also lined up at fullback. A.J. Holmes Jr. (26) has 6.5 sacks for Texas Tech, including two and a half in the loss at Cincinnati. Matayo Uiagalelei (8) has six. Clev Lubin (40) has five sacks and two forced fumbles for Louisville. Will Heldt (50) ended a three-game drought with two sacks against Virginia Tech. John Henry Daley (43) leads Michigan with 15 pressures and four sacks and got to Rocco Becht in the 21-18 win over Penn State. Boubacar Traore (52) has 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception, and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (60) is day-to-day for USC after getting hurt at Indiana.

Interior linemen: Echoles and Stone hold their ground

Will Echoles (13) had a sack and two pass breakups in the 31-3 rout of Missouri. He also needed an IV for dehydration in the third quarter at Texas, which Ole Miss was quick to say was not an injury. David Stone (21) put the knee scare well behind him with seven tackles and a sack and a half in the win at Mississippi State, after five tackles in the Red River win. His 29 tackles and two sacks are still modest numbers for a top-25 grade, but he has not missed a game. Justin Scott (25) recovered a fumble in the Pitt win, and Xavier Gilliam (69) had four sacks in Tennessee's first four games.

Skill positions: Indiana's receivers, Baugh and the Texas pair

Indiana has two of the most productive receivers in the class. Charlie Becker (35) has 42 catches for 726 yards and eight touchdowns, and he caught nine passes for 165 yards against Ohio State. Nick Marsh (37) has 610 yards and seven scores, with a 187-yard, two-touchdown game at Nebraska. KJ Duff (38) keeps producing for Rutgers (45 catches, 774 yards, nine touchdowns), and Arizona State's Reed Harris has 800 yards and eight scores while sitting 100th on our board. Wyatt Young (84) has caught a touchdown in six straight games.

The Texas pair have now properly swapped roles. Cam Coleman (6) had 110 yards and a touchdown against Oklahoma, then three catches for 18 yards against Florida and one for 12 against Ole Miss. Ryan Wingo (53) has 33 catches for 456 yards and led Texas with seven for 111 and a touchdown in the Ole Miss win. Coleman's grade is built on traits, and the traits are still there. The production now belongs to Wingo.

Jadan Baugh (36) has 763 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns, and he ran 25 times for 91 yards and a score in the 27-24 win at Texas, two weeks after Missouri held him to 13 yards. Ahmad Hardy (30) returned to full practice this week, nearly six months after being shot in the leg, but Eli Drinkwitz has given no timeline for his return. Kewan Lacy (46) is healthy again and ran for 122 yards against Missouri. Nate Frazier (56) is still bothered by his ribs and was a late scratch against Alabama.

Trey'Dez Green (22) came back from a four-game absence to catch five passes and a touchdown at Auburn. Ryan Coleman-Williams (58) went the other way: he left the Georgia game with a head injury, then had arthroscopic surgery on a meniscus tear he had been playing through, and is week-to-week. Bryant Wesco Jr. (54) has 378 yards and still no touchdowns, and T.J. Moore (65) has 269 yards on 30 catches. Neither is producing like a top-65 receiver.

Linebackers and secondary: Cole is the riser, Notre Dame keeps losing bodies

Chris Cole (29) was the national defensive player of the week after Georgia's 20-17 win at Alabama: eight tackles, two and a half for loss, a sack and two pass breakups. He followed it with a season-high 10 tackles against Auburn. With 40 tackles, 2.5 sacks and the 85-yard fumble-return touchdown against Oklahoma, he is playing like a first-round linebacker. Yhonzae Pierre (15) has 3.5 sacks and a pick-six, with sacks against both Georgia and Tennessee.

Notre Dame's secondary is still being held together. Leonard Moore (18) had a concussion at North Carolina, missed Stanford, and came back at BYU with five tackles and a pass breakup. He was named a midseason All-American. Safety Tae Johnson (33) has a left foot injury and has played one game. Marcus Freeman expects him back "November-ish", but not for Miami on 7 November. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (14) hurt his thumb, missed Stanford and is questionable for Navy.

KJ Bolden (16) made the sack on Alabama's final offensive play, then missed the Auburn game with a right leg injury. Georgia hopes the bye week has him ready for Florida. Ellis Robinson IV (12) has an interception and five pass breakups. Kelley Jones (49) has allowed nine catches on 20 targets with no touchdowns for Mississippi State, and On3 named him a midseason first-team All-American. Alabama's Zabien Brown (39) was hurt at Tennessee and was listed doubtful for Texas A&M. Bray Hubbard (72) has two interceptions and a forced fumble for the Tide. Suntarine Perkins (32) had his 20th career sack at Ole Miss and a fumble-return touchdown at Vanderbilt. LSU's Dashawn Spears (57) is out for the season with a torn ACL.

Offensive line: Goosby's season is over

Trevor Goosby (11) was carted off in the first quarter of the Ole Miss win with a season-ending knee injury. Texas gave up six sacks at Tennessee with him in the lineup. Without him, Manning's protection is the biggest problem on that roster.

The rest of the top of the position has held up. Cayden Green (10) has allowed three pressures and no sacks at left tackle for Missouri. Carter Smith (9) posted a 79.4 PFF pass-blocking grade in Indiana's overtime win at Michigan. Iowa's Trevor Lauck (28) and Kade Pieper (47) were both named midseason All-Americans by The Athletic, with Lauck yet to allow a sack. Greg Johnson (73) moved from guard to center after an injury on Minnesota's line and has allowed one pressure in more than 200 pass-blocking snaps. Lance Heard (88) went through five games without allowing a sack for Kentucky.

Anthonie Knapp (95) has moved inside to guard for Notre Dame and has not looked as dominant over the past three games. Austin Siereveld (42) is expected back at right tackle for Ohio State after missing two games for a non-football reason. Michigan's Andrew Sprague (94) has not played since 19 September.

The rest of the top 100

What comes next

Week 9 puts several of these grades on the line. Ohio State goes to USC with a freshman quarterback, so Smith against USC is really Smith against bracket coverage with a new passer. Georgia and Florida meet with Cole, Bolden and Robinson lined up against Baugh. Texas hosts Mississippi State without Simmons or Goosby, which leaves Manning with no cover at all if the protection breaks down. Stewart and Sellers take South Carolina to Oklahoma and Stone. Mensah takes the No. 1 team to North Carolina.

The injury news matters as much as the games. Sayin's arm, Simmons's ankle and Hardy's return date could move the top 30 before a snap is played. Smith will keep doing what Smith does. For everybody else, there are five weeks left to settle it.