The tension was palpable in prime time last Saturday. The “game of the week” on paper between Ole Miss and LSU lived up to the billing, and several top draft prospects, including Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and interior defensive lineman Will Echoles, had massive nights to boost their 2027 NFL Draft stock.
Week 4 doesn’t offer a game quite as exciting on paper, but draft fans shouldn’t worry. It is officially go-time in several top conferences, including the SEC. Week 4 features eight conference games in the SEC, four of which are ranked-versus-ranked matchups.
That is incredibly relevant for the draft. The SEC currently boasts a jaw-dropping 22 players in the top 50 of PFF’s big board, making this potentially one of the most talent-rich draft classes the conference has produced.
Last year’s draft saw 16 SEC players selected in the top 50. Don’t be surprised if that number rises this time around. The concentration of talent in college football’s dominant conferences is, of course, partly a product of the transfer portal funneling players toward top programs.
Collin Simmons squares off against Jesse Perry
Top-ranked Texas will travel to face 14th-ranked Tennessee to open proceedings on Saturday. The player to watch is Texas edge defender Collin Simmons, the No. 4 overall player on PFF’s big board and the top-ranked pass-rusher.
This will be one of Simmons’ toughest assignments before he enters the NFL. Perry featured in PFF’s Week 3 Stock Up, Stock Down analysis after posting the highest overall PFF grade of any FBS offensive lineman a week ago.
Pass protection is Perry’s strong suit, while getting to the quarterback is unsurprisingly what Simmons does best. Simmons’ job won’t be over if he gets around Perry, either. He’ll still have to bring down quarterback Faizon Brandon, whose 16 scrambles are tied for second-most among SEC quarterbacks this season.
Brandon’s rather slow 3.1-second average time to throw suggests Simmons should still have opportunities to make an impact as a pass-rusher. Brandon has already taken five sacks against significantly weaker competition to start the year.
This is unequivocally the game to watch in Week 4, and Simmons versus Perry is the matchup within it that deserves the most attention. Perry lines up at right tackle, while Simmons typically splits his snaps evenly between the two sides of the formation, so we should see plenty of battles between the two.
Which quarterback steps up to the plate next?
It’s been well documented just how strong the 2027 quarterback class could be, and so far, several top prospects have lived up to the billing. Arch Manning, Trinidad Chambliss, Drew Mestemaker and Sam Leavitt have all delivered quality performances against ranked opponents.
Ohio State’s Julian Sayin won’t get as much credit for his loss to Texas, but he performed as well as ever in that game. Meanwhile, Miami’s Darian Mensah and Notre Dame’s CJ Carr have not yet faced quality opposition, but they are the only two quarterbacks on PFF’s draft board with season grades above 90.0 entering this weekend.
That leaves one significant outlier: Oregon’s Dante Moore. Through three weeks, Moore hasn’t been bad by any means, and his chances of being selected first overall in 2027 remain alive and well despite his team’s shock defeat to Boise State.
This week’s game against 12th-ranked USC provides Moore with the perfect opportunity to bring his season back in line with those of his peers. This USC defense allowed a winless Rutgers team to rack up 292 passing yards last Saturday, so Moore and offensive playcaller Drew Mehringer should see this as an opportunity to put together a statement performance. Scoring 84 points against Portland State last weekend wasn’t bad preparation, either.
Another, more overlooked quarterback to keep an eye on is South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers. He could opt to return for another year of college football in 2027, and his shaky start to this season hasn’t helped his draft case. However, a statement win on the road against Alabama on Saturday afternoon would put him right back in the spotlight.
John Henry Daley’s big challenge versus the run
Michigan edge defender John Henry Daley rose to prominence at Utah last year thanks to the dominant threat he posed to opposing quarterbacks. With Rueben Bain and David Bailey off to the NFL, Daley was the highest-graded returning pass-rusher in college football after posting an 18.3% pressure rate last season.
Defending the run has never been a major issue for Daley, but it is arguably the final piece of his game that evaluators want to see refined in 2026 before they’re ready to view him as a potential mid-first-round pick. He’s already off to a strong start in that regard. His four run stops against Oklahoma two weeks ago were a career high.
Now, Daley faces a stern and unforgiving opponent in the Iowa Hawkeyes. Their offense has aired the ball out more than usual in nonconference action to start the year, but with Big Ten football properly kicking into gear this week, expect the Hawkeyes to assume their familiar place among the most run-heavy offenses in the sport.
Daley lines up almost exclusively over the left side of the offensive line, which is where left tackle Trevor Lauck will be stationed. Lauck is the No. 31 player on PFF’s big board and, like so many trench prospects from Iowa, is a mauling, physical force in the run game. It will be fascinating to see how Daley holds up.
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Which Power Four underdog will emerge?
Every season, new names that couldn’t be found on any preseason big board emerge and carve out a place in the following April’s draft. Strong performances in early-season matchups against FCS opponents are naturally taken with a grain of salt. With conference play entering full swing, it’s now time to assess these players properly.
I’m looking particularly at players from Power Four programs that are unlikely to compete for titles this season. In the current transfer portal era, these teams are often loaded with proven seniors. Many of these collegiate veterans have produced at a slightly lower level of competition before stepping up to the Power Four for their final year of eligibility.
Wide receiver is one of the best places to start because production at the position is so visible and quantifiable. Teams to watch include Purdue, Maryland and Cal. The three rank fifth, seventh and 14th, respectively, in the FBS in passing yards so far this season, with Cal also boasting one of the top quarterback prospects for the 2028 NFL Draft.
Cal has an opportunity to earn a statement home win as a narrow underdog against a stagnating Clemson team. Meanwhile, Purdue is playing with house money as a 34-point home underdog against Notre Dame — a role the program has historically relished.
Along with Maryland, these teams combine for nine starting draft-eligible wide receivers. Cal’s Chase Hendricks, Purdue’s Xavier Townsend and junior Assad Waseem, along with Maryland’s Chris Durr Jr., are all names worth keeping an eye on.
They’ll face some of the best defensive backs the sport has to offer this weekend, including Leonard Moore and Ashton Hampton. Matchups like these provide the perfect opportunity for an overlooked prospect to emerge, and we so often see players make a name for themselves when they have little to lose.