Justin Melo’s list of the five biggest risers on 2027 draft boards, published Sunday, names Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker, Utah tackle Zereoue Williams, Georgia linebacker Chris Cole, Tennessee defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam and Kentucky tackle Lance Heard. He says all five “will be included in first-round mock drafts moving forward.”
Two of them meet this Saturday. Kentucky, ranked in the top 10, visits No. 16 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium, and Heard, Kentucky’s left tackle, is a former Tennessee starter who left in the offseason. Gilliam, whom Melo calls arguably the biggest riser of the group, will be on the other side of the ball.
Melo’s five risers and the numbers behind them
| Prospect | Pos. | School | Melo’s case | Season numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drew Mestemaker | QB | Oklahoma State | Aggressive three-level thrower; the current favorite to be the first quarterback drafted if he declares | 2,649 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in eight games |
| Zereoue Williams | OT | Utah | Has entered the top-tackle conversation; Melo says his tape is arguably better than Spencer Fano’s and Caleb Lomu’s was last year | Not cited |
| Chris Cole | LB | Georgia | Sideline-to-sideline defender with elite athleticism; could have a rookie impact like Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles | 40 tackles, 3 pass breakups, 2.5 sacks |
| Xavier Gilliam | DT | Tennessee | Penn State transfer who is explosive and constantly penetrates the backfield; Melo calls him arguably the biggest riser | 26 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 6.0 sacks |
| Lance Heard | OT | Kentucky | Physical mauler who Melo says belongs in the first round of every mock from November on | Pressure rate under 2.5% |
The Mestemaker line is through eight games, and the Cole, Gilliam and Heard numbers are the ones Melo cites in his list. Utah had two tackles taken in the first round last April, so Melo’s comparison for Williams is a high bar.
Where the five sit on boards and mocks
The risers are not equally accepted yet. A consensus big board built from 48 public boards, updated October 30, has Mestemaker 13th, Cole 14th, Gilliam 31st, Heard 47th and Williams 58th. A separate 15-board consensus updated Tuesday has Gilliam up 31 spots in two weeks, to 38th, the biggest jump on its top 50.
| Prospect | Wilson’s mock (Nov. 2) | DraftBlaster’s mock (Nov. 3) | Our 13-mock count (Oct. 28-Nov. 1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drew Mestemaker | No. 6 | No. 4 | 12 of 13 first rounds, 7.8 average pick |
| Chris Cole | No. 10 | No. 20 | 11 of 13, 21.1 average |
| Xavier Gilliam | No. 11 | No. 28 | 11 of 13, 22.2 average |
| Lance Heard | No. 9 | Not in first round | Not among the top 32 players counted |
| Zereoue Williams | Left out as a best-available name | Not in first round | Not among the top 32 players counted |
Melo himself has Mestemaker third, Cole sixth and Heard 13th in the first-round mock we matched to the draft order in our Week 9 draft order post. Wilson’s mock, covered in his own post, has Heard and Gilliam in the top 11, and our consensus counted 13 mocks from October 28 to November 1.
Saturday in Knoxville: Gilliam against Heard’s old team
Kentucky has won six straight since a 45-17 loss to Alabama on September 12 and is tied atop the SEC at 5-1. Tennessee is 3-2 in the conference and beat then-No. 6 Alabama 26-10 on October 17. Both teams are coming off byes. It is the 122nd meeting in the series, and just the fourth time both teams have been ranked, after 1950, 1951 and 2022. Kickoff is at 6:15 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, November 7, with Tennessee in its Homecoming and first home night game of the SEC season.
Heard was a five-star recruit who began at LSU, then transferred to Tennessee before 2024 and played 24 games for the Vols at left tackle, including through an injury in 2024. He transferred to Kentucky this offseason and has started all eight games at left tackle for the Wildcats, playing 517 snaps with three penalties. Tennessee moved David Sanders Jr. to left tackle after he left.
Gilliam is an interior lineman and Heard works on the left edge, so the matchup is less a one-on-one than a test of Tennessee’s whole front against Kentucky’s protection. Josh Heupel framed it that way on Monday: “Defensively, we got to control the line of scrimmage. You got to get them into third and long situations.” Heupel also said Kentucky is “a complete football team,” and called their turnover margin “elite.”
Gilliam spoke to reporters Tuesday ahead of the game, in the video above. Our mock draft tracker had already flagged Heard as one of the week’s biggest first-round risers, from about 36th to 17th on average.
Cole and Williams
Cole is the most accepted of the four non-quarterbacks on the boards. Wilson has him at No. 10 to the Jets, Melo at No. 6 to the Jets with their own pick, and DraftBlaster at No. 20 to Dallas. A profile posted Tuesday night described him as an All-American who wants to play in the NFL and also become a doctor, and quoted Kirby Smart calling him one of the hardest workers in the building.
Williams is the one the mocks have not caught up with. He is 58th on the 48-board consensus and not in either of the two November first rounds above, though Melo says his tape is at least as good as the two Utah tackles drafted last year. His team is helping: Utah is third in the latest College Football Playoff committee ranking, released Tuesday.
The next test for Gilliam and Heard is Saturday, and the next round of mocks will show how many of these five stick in the first round.
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