2026 NFL Draft Notebook: The Prospects To Keep an Eye on This Weekend | Dom Orange, Jalon Daniels and More

Welcome to my first NFL Draft scouting notebook, where every week this season we will preview the upcoming weekend of college football from the perspective of the NFL Draft.

Iowa at Iowa State | 11a CST | FOX

I’m traveling down to Ames this weekend to see this one in-person! Both of these teams beat an FCS opponent last weekend. The week before, in Week 0, Iowa State edged Kansas State in Ireland. The sportsbooks have installed the Cyclones as three-point favorites in the 2025 rendition of the annual Cy-Hawk Game.

Top prospects: Iowa OT Gennings Dunker and Iowa State DB Jeremiah Cooper

I ranked Dunker OT8 over the summer – however, I believe there’s a strong chance he’ll get kicked inside to OG at the next level. Dunker is one of the nation’s best run-blockers. But his lack of reach – with a red-flag 80 ⅝ wingspan – is likely to punch his ticket inside. He projects as a long-term starting NFL offensive guard. The NFL gave Dunker a Rounds 3-4 grade over the offseason.

The conversation around Cooper’s evaluation will similarly be focused around his frame. Cooper is a pint-sized defensive back at 5-foot-10, 184 pounds. Cooper also has short arms, one of the reasons he misses too many tackles (his 25.4% missed tackle rate last season was amongst the worst in the class).

This year, Iowa State moved Cooper from a roving strong safety role to boundary CB. “I thought maybe one of the best games I've seen Jeremiah Cooper play in his career,” ISU HC Matt Campbell said after last weekend’s win over South Dakota. “Physical at the point of attack. I thought he did a really good job in the passing game. And he’s just got a lot of confidence — and I think as any great player, you love to have position flexibility.”

The NFL graded Cooper as a Rounds 5-6 prospect over the summer. Cooper’s best positional fit at the next level is in the slot at nickel. But it won’t hurt Cooper that the tape he submits to evaluators this spring will include snaps all over the formation, and it also won’t hurt him when ISU’s staff firsthand attests to his willingness to play wherever asked.

Best one-on-one matchup: Iowa C Logan Jones vs. Iowa State DT Dom Orange

Saturday’s game profiles as one of the most physical you will see in all of college football this month. Iowa’s offense is run by 236-pound QB Mark Gronowski, who is firstly a bruising downhill battering ram in the run game. Iowa State, meanwhile, has returned to its bully-ball 12-personnel roots after losing WRs Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel to the NFL.

The matchup between Jones, my preseason C1, and Orange, currently DT3 on my 2026 board, will go a long way towards determining who wins this game. It’s a fascinating stylistic matchup: Jones is undersized (6’2 ½, 300 pounds), but he’s an incredible athlete (Feldman Freak Lister) with underrated power who has broken program records in the Iowa weight room. Orange, on the other hand, is a pure power interior defender who is a north/south load.

Orange is impossible to uproot and move backwards when he anchors, even against double-teams (and triple-teams!). Kansas State averaged less than 3 yards per carry between the tackles against the Cyclones, in large part due to Orange. For Iowa to win this game, it must be able to run between the tackles.

Kansas at Missouri | 2:30p CST | ESPN2

The return of Kansas-Missouri’s bitter rivalry is worth keeping tabs on. These states have been feuding since the Civil War, and the on-field Border War rivalry has only gotten more intense since Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012. At first, Kansas refused to play Missouri in the non-conference. And in 2023, Missouri HC Eli Drinkwitz reportedly nixed a proposed bowl matchup between the schools. The fanbases hate each other, and the programs hate each other. Saturday’s game, the first meeting between the teams in 15 years, will be good theater.

Top prospects: Kansas C Bryce Foster and Missouri EDGE Zion Young

Foster, a transfer from Texas A&M, has been as-advertised in Lawrence. He’s a big (6’4 ⅜, 312 pounds), athletic (estimated 5.1 forty) center who plays inside due to short arms (31’ 1/8). For a Kansas program that hasn’t had many NFL prospects on the offensive line over the years, Foster has brought both experience and stability to the pivot. The NFL handed him a Round 6 grade this offseason, and I ranked Foster as my C4 over the summer.

Whereas a player like Foster is a bit unique for Kansas in the offensive trenches, EDGE Zion Young appears to have come off Missouri’s edge-rusher assembly line. Young is stretched-out (6’5 ⅛. 255 pounds), and blessed with length (33-inch arms and 80 ½ wingspan) and athleticism (projected 4.7 forty). A bruising, assignment-minded run defender, Young has rapidly improved as a pass-rusher the past few years. The NFL’s scouting services gave him Day 2 grades. I’m bullish – Young was my EDGE4 this summer.

Best one-on-one matchup: Kansas QB Jalon Daniels vs. Missouri CB Toriano Pride Jr./S Jalen Catalon

Daniels, who has started games each of the past six seasons at Kansas, has been on the NFL’s radar for a few years now. He’s short (6-foot ⅜ inches), but well-built (219 pounds) and athletic (estimated 4.55 forty). CBS Sports’ Mike Renner recently compared Daniels to former Florida State QB Jordan Travis, a comp so good I wish I had thought of it first.

Last season, in former OC Jeff Grimes’ run-heavy scheme, Daniels had his worst season since he was a true freshman. But over two games in 2025 – in a system for new OC Jim Zebrowski that is similar to former OC Andy Kotelnicki’s offense that Daniels previously succeeded in – Daniels looks like his old self. He’s posted a 7/1 TD/INT rate on 80% completions against Fresno State and an FCS opponent.

With Kansas sitting as 6.5-point road underdogs in this game, any hope for a Jayhawk upset will require Daniels to do damage against a Missouri secondary that is dotted with NFL prospects. Pride Jr. and Jalen Catalon both drew Round 7 grades from the NFL over the offseason, as did Missouri’s nickel back Daylan Carnell.

Missouri imported the well-traveled Catalon from UNLV this offseason – he’s a seventh-year senior – and Pride Jr. from Clemson the year before that. That trio, which has a combined 16 years of college experience, has an on-paper advantage heading in against Kansas’ new-look pass-catching corps. But Daniels has shown chemistry with Alabama transfer Emmanuel Henderson (4.3 speed) and Ball State transfer Cam Pickett.

Note: Catch Thor, Eric Froton and more every Saturday morning on Spaces

Oklahoma at Michigan | 6:30p CST | ABC

The site of 'College GameDay’ on Saturday and this week’s only matchup between top-20 teams. Michigan’s offense looks much improved over last season. Five-star freshman sensation QB Bryce Underwood’s 251 passing yards in the opener against New Mexico were more than Michigan had in any game in 2024. How will Underwood fare against a Brent Venables defense in his second-career start? On the other side, Oklahoma’s revamped offense under new Oklahoma OC Ben Arbuckle gets its first test of the season. We’ll know a lot more about both of these teams after this game.

Top prospects: Oklahoma EDGE R Mason Thomas and Michigan S Rod Moore

Mason is an undersized EDGE defender (6’1 ⅝, 249 pounds) who lacks length. But he’s an outstanding pass-rusher who piled up 35 pressures last season en route to a sterling 86.6 PFF pass-rushing grade. Mason entered the season with a fourth-round grade from the NFL.

Michigan had multiple draft-eligible prospects who garnered late-Day 2/early-Day 3 grades – shoutout Derrick Moore and Rayshaun Benny – from the NFL over the offseason. I chose Moore in order to pass along a status update.

Moore missed all of last season after tearing his ACL and meniscus in Spring 2024, and he was also withheld from the opener last week against New Mexico. Moore has returned to running and is said to be closing in on a return to the field. But reading between the lines, that doesn’t sound like it will happen this weekend against the Sooners.

Best one-on-one matchup: Oklahoma QB John Mateer vs. Michigan LB Ernest Hausmann

With his running mate Michigan LB Jaishawn Barham suspended for the first half for targeting, Hausmann steps into a pressure cooker against dynamic Oklahoma dual-threat QB John Mateer. Mateer is one of the nation’s trickiest quarterbacks to defend, a sensational athlete (estimated 4.45 forty) with a zippy arm that unloads the pill from every arm slot imaginable.

Mateer threw for 3,139 yards, ran for 826, and led the nation with 41 total TD last season at Washington State. He grew up a fan of Johnny Manziel, and Mateer plays a little like the Texas A&M version of Johnny Football.

He’s a dangerous scrambler and an extremely aggressive thrower who constantly puts defenders into conflict. Because Mateer has shown the willingness and aptitude to flick the ball out right before he crosses the line of scrimmage, it’s difficult to know whether to come downhill or stay home in coverage when he starts moving around.

That’ll be Hausmann’s burden on Saturday. Hausmann, who started his career at Nebraska before transferring to Michigan, led the Wolverines with 89 tackles in 2024. He’s undersized (6’1 ⅛, 225 pounds) and a good-but-not-great athlete (estimated 4.65 forty) who was assigned a Round 5 grade by both of the NFL’s scouting services over the summer.

Hausmann is an instinctive, assignment-minded defender. He’s an extremely reliable tackler who drives through the target. Hausmann tends to be in the right place at the right time, and he doesn’t often get fooled. That’s what makes Mateer’s high-wire game such an interesting test for him on Saturday, particularly in the first half when Hausmann will be without his running mate Barham.