Indiana safety Amare Ferrell and LSU edge rusher Jordan Ross played their way up 2027 draft boards in Week 7 of the college season, while quarterbacks Julian Sayin of Ohio State and Arch Manning of Texas headed the other way, according to Daire Carragher’s weekly stock report.
Carragher noted that more than half of the top 32 players on his outfit’s 2027 big board were on the losing side that Saturday, something that had not happened in any other week this season. But, he wrote, “not every draft prospect who came away on the losing side on Saturday necessarily worsened their stock, and likewise not every winner boosted their place.”
Week 7 stock report
| Stock | Player | Pos. | School | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | Amare Ferrell | S | Indiana | Two interceptions vs. Ohio State; one catch for 7 yards allowed on five targets |
| Down | Julian Sayin | QB | Ohio State | Second straight grade in the 40s; six turnover-worthy plays in two games; shoulder injury |
| Up | Charlie Becker | WR | Indiana | Nine catches, 165 yards; still no career drops |
| Down | Arch Manning | QB | Texas | Career-low 43.4 grade vs. Florida; six sacks taken, 18 on the season |
| Up | Jordan Ross | EDGE | LSU | Three sacks, seven pressures on 26 pass-rush snaps vs. Mississippi State |
| Down | E.J. Lightsey | LB | Georgia Tech | 30.3 grade vs. Virginia Tech; 76 coverage yards allowed |
| Up | Chase Sowell | WR | Penn State | 151 receiving yards vs. Michigan; 91.0 grade, best of any FBS offensive player |
Two Hoosiers rise in a loss to Ohio State
Ferrell was not even on the top-150 board before the game. With cornerback Jamari Sharpe and others busy doubling and tripling Jeremiah Smith, it fell to the Indiana safety to handle the rest of Ohio State’s passing game. He intercepted two passes, broke up two more and gave up one catch for 7 yards on five targets, and his run-defense grade was the best of his four seasons. With more than 2,000 career snaps at deep safety, in the box and in the slot, Carragher sees him as “an attractive proposition for the middle rounds.”
Charlie Becker had the best day of the three receivers with first-round grades in the game, nine catches for 165 yards, and has yet to drop a pass in college. Carragher said it was Becker’s second straight game with multiple contested catches. The only knock: he has forced just two missed tackles this season. Field Yates sends Becker to the Eagles at No. 6 in his new top-10 mock.
Sayin hurt, Manning at a new low
Sayin posted a grade in the 40s for the second game in a row, something he had never done as a starter, and has six turnover-worthy plays over those two games, as many as he had all of last season. His biggest completion was an underthrown deep ball that Smith caught for a touchdown anyway. He hurt his shoulder on a fourth-quarter strip sack and will miss several weeks of practice. “He needs to be productive every single week to earn his place in the first round,” Carragher wrote.
Manning’s 43.4 grade in the loss to Florida was the lowest of his career as a starter, even though his passer rating was 107.8. He had three turnover-worthy plays, including two strip sacks, the second of which Florida recovered to seal the upset, and was sacked six times, bringing his season total to 18. “We simply haven’t seen the positive aspects of Manning’s game in over a month now,” Carragher wrote, noting that his grade since the win over Ohio State is just 58.8 and that he has six SEC games left to turn it around. Mel Kiper Jr. had already dropped Manning to sixth among quarterbacks and 24th overall on his first 2027 Big Board.
Ross breaks out; Sowell and Lightsey
Ross had three sacks and seven pressures on only 26 pass-rush snaps in LSU’s rout of Mississippi State, a 92.9 grade that was the best of his career and the best of any Power Four defender that weekend. He came into the season with two career sacks and now has eight with five regular-season games left. Production, Carragher said, was the one thing missing from a player who already had “every trait you’d want in an edge defender.”
Penn State receiver Chase Sowell, who followed coach Matt Campbell from Iowa State, had 151 yards in the loss to Michigan and another 37-yard catch wiped out by a penalty. His 91.0 grade was the top mark for any offensive player in the FBS. At 6-foot-3, with four straight seasons of 500-plus receiving yards at four schools, he profiles as a later-round value pick for teams not spending a premium selection on a receiver.
On the other side, Georgia Tech linebacker E.J. Lightsey, previously projected as a middle-round pick, had a 30.3 grade against Virginia Tech, the second lowest of any Power Four defender. He allowed 76 yards in coverage, more than in his first five games combined, and missed two tackles. Carragher said one bad game should not sink him, but that Lightsey “doesn’t flash the high upside to balance out the bad.”
For Jordan Reid and Kiper’s take on the same weekend, including Reid’s case for Becker as the WR2 in the class, see their Week 7 notes.
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