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With the College Football Playoff semifinals—cloaked in a lot of Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl signage—set for Saturday night, I figured this would be a good place to take a look at the prospects playing and how they stack up. So I went to a few evaluators this week to try to rank the guys taking the field this weekend who are likely to come off the board first. Here’s the list, with the caveat that injured guys who won’t play, like Ohio State WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba (likely to go in the back half of the first round) and Georgia OLB Nolan Smith (probably going somewhere on Day 2, with an outside shot at being the first round) aren’t part of it, nor are premier 2024 prospects like Buckeyes receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
1) Georgia DT Jalen Carter: Based on tape and pure physical ability, Carter is probably the best player in the draft class. NFL teams are always looking for guys who can wreck games from the inside, like Aaron Donald can, because they’re very hard to find. I’ve heard Carter comped to Ndamukong Suh and Fletcher Cox. I also know that there are some questions he’ll have to answer predraft—he’s more talented but not quite as clean off the field as Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. Still, there’s really no way Carter will fall far. My bet today would be he’ll probably go second or third.
