Five College Football Stars Already in the Running for the 2026 NFL Draft’s Top Spot

No team starts the season with a goal of securing the first overall pick.

But front offices are prepared for the possibility, and there are clear favorites under consideration for a tentative spot atop draft boards eight months before the pick will be made.

This short list serves as a peek inside the minds of general managers looking for a game-changing player to help lead a turnaround.

Arch Manning, QB, Texas

The Manning name carries first overall pick expectations.

The family has been responsible for four Super Bowls and 20 Pro Bowl appearances between grandfather Archie and uncles Peyton and Eli.

Now that Quinn Ewers is in the NFL — a seventh-round pick of the Miami Dolphins — Arch Manning is expected to push the Longhorns to a College Football Playoff run. The Longhorns are also saddled with high expectations as the preseason No. 1 team in the country.

Manning has a strong arm and NFL-level layering of the football and isn’t purely a pocket passer like his uncles. Because of his age and inexperience after serving as Ewers’ backup, declaration for the draft is by no means guaranteed, and Archie has already suggested he’ll be in Austin for two more years.

Drew Allar, QB, Penn State

Want someone who is guaranteed to be in the 2026 NFL Draft?

Penn State’s senior quarterback was at the top of his high school recruiting class when he committed to the Nittany Lions and would have been given consideration in the first round of the 2025 draft had he declared.

Allar has the strongest arm in college football and the tall, stocky build NFL scouts love. Despite his tools, he maintains the habits of a game manager. If he becomes less cautious and finds an aggressive, courageous approach that opens up the field while keeping his turnover rate low, he’ll be the first selection next April.

Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson

Klubnik is the most accurate of the three quarterbacks on this list and can move around the pocket while maintaining poise.

He excels at running through progressions to keep the offense moving. Klubnik doesn’t quite have the arm strength to be considered a gunslinger, but he’s a calculated risk-taker with top-end talent around him at Clemson. If he can take advantage of that, he’ll have a Joe Burrow-esque profile that will endear him to scouts by the time he’s interviewing at the 2026 Scouting Combine.

Peter Woods, DT, Clemson

If you didn’t already know it, Clemson is loaded.

The Tigers’ defensive line consistently produces top-50 prospects. Although a defensive tackle hasn’t gone first overall since 1994, Woods is on the radar of every general manager in the league. A fearsome athlete at 315 pounds, he moves like an edge rusher with the bulk, mass and power of a nose tackle.

Woods can play at any alignment and succeed thanks to his active hands and loose hips. His pass-rush moves and instincts need to be developed, but his floor as a run-defending 3-technique is starter-level.

Keldric Faulk, DE, Auburn

Faulk has the production and athletic profile to contend for the title of top defensive prospect in the 2026 draft.

With a 72.5 percent pressure rate, he is poised to ascend into top edge rusher conversations as he becomes the new face of an Auburn defense packed with talent. He reportedly squats 700 pounds, the kind of strength profile that will be hard to block and impossible for NFL coaches to ignore.

Developing his technique will be key to unlocking his ceiling, but pro teams pay for potential.