DRAFT NEWS

Draft-worthy upperclassmen have been sitting out the bowl games for years, fearing an injury suffered in a meaningless bowl game could derail their professional career. This thought process also applies to any player who intends to enter the transfer portal - why risk a bowl game injury and not being able to cash in on a lucrative NIL offer from another school to play in a pointless game? If only the Fighting Irish had declined a bowl bid, it could be written off as Notre Dam

We enter the last three weeks of the regular season and the conference races are picking up steam. Three huge games pit ranked opponents positioning for a playoff berth – (10) Texas at (5) Georgia, (9) Notre Dame at (22) Pittsburgh, and (11) Oklahoma at (4) Alabama. Several potential 2026 NFL Draft first round picks will suit up in those games including QBs Ty Simpson (Alabama) and Arch Manning (Texas), RB Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame), WR Zachariah Branch (Georgia), OT Kadyn P

Last Saturday, draft boards shifted across the NFL when potential top overall selection of the 2026 NFL Draft, QB Drew Allar of Penn State, was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered against Northwestern. Although the injury is quite unfortunate timing for Allar, the truth is that he was already spiraling down draft boards prior to his injury due to his inconsistent play, and this only hastens his fall.

As we enter mid-September, major conference games start to dominate the schedule with a pair of SEC games matching up playoff contenders leading the national slate of premium games scheduled for this weekend – Georgia at Tennessee and LSU at Florida. And on Saturday night, the Texas A&M Aggies travel to South Bend to seek revenge for last season’s loss to the Irish.

Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of the summer and simultaneously the official first weekend of college football where all 136 FBS college football teams are in action! There are several intriguing games on schedule this weekend (through Labor Day!) including, Texas at Ohio State, Alabama at Florida State, LSU at Clemson, and Notre Dame at Miami, Fl.

SNS presents the final mock draft in the run up to the 2025 NFL Draft, that kickoffs Thursday evening in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This mock takes a crack at predicting how the 32 teams use their 257 combined picks over three days and seven rounds. SNS utilized the Comprehensive Eligibility Tracking (CET) database, NFL Teams Needs reports, and the SNS Big Board 300 (ALL AVAILABLE HERE AT SNS!) to conduct this simulated draft.