The first weekend of October still feels early in the college football season, but NFL Draft hopefuls are quickly running out of chances to impress scouts and GMs.

What’d we learn about a few high-profile prospects — and some potential sleepers — during Week 6? Our draft experts, Dane Brugler and Nick Baumgardner, take a look.

1. Texas now has two losses, and Arch Manning is still struggling. How close are we to turning the page and talking about Manning as a 2027 draft prospect?

Dane Brugler: Consider the page turned. Manning isn’t a 2026 NFL Draft prospect. He is a 2027 — or 2028 — prospect.

Manning showed signs of progress in Saturday’s loss to Florida. His third-quarter touchdown toss was a great example of his ability to shuffle away from pressure with his eyes elevated to hit his receiver in stride. The way he kept plays alive with his legs helped Texas stay in the game until the final seconds, but the positive moments are still too sporadic.

The offensive line had trouble blocking Florida’s four-man rush, and the run game offered very little relief. Manning was often tardy with his decisions, and when he did find his read, he often rushed his process and fired an inaccurate pass. When your quarterback isn’t anticipating or seeing the field on time and the pass protection falls apart prematurely, the result is what you’re seeing from the Texas offense.

As with any college quarterback with single-digit career starts and an inconsistent supporting cast, any reaction to Manning’s play shouldn’t be an obituary. Development is guaranteed, but it is clear that Manning isn’t ready to be seriously talked about as a 2026 NFL Draft prospect.

Nick Baumgardner: In reality, I think we’ve been there since before the season started. Had Manning played better to this point, that math might’ve changed. But he’s simply not ready.

The talent is obvious — no one was wrong about that. It remains obvious even now, and Manning showed some real grit during the trip to The Swamp. Florida was charged up, Texas’ offensive line was a mess and Manning took shot after shot, but he kept getting up and made a few really nice throws.

The problem? That’s kind of what every game — even those against lower-level opponents — has been. There hasn’t been any consistency from Manning, and the rough stretches are legitimately bad. He can go from looking completely overwhelmed on one series to ripping a shot into a super-tight window the next, but he’s getting stuck on his first read way too often, and some of the hits he’s taking are his own fault. I think he’ll grow from Saturday’s performance. But he’s still a long way from being ready for the next level.

2. Rueben Bain Jr. was the No. 1 pick in our most recent mock, and Francis Mauigoa checked in at No. 11. Is Miami going to land two prospects in the top 10 — or even top five — come April?

Brugler: Bain has played like the best defensive player in the 2026 NFL Draft, and that continued against Florida State. His ability to win with bend around the corner or by overwhelming blockers with power makes him a chore to block. And NFL teams will love that he plays with the same energy (if not more) in the fourth quarter as in the first.

But I think Mauigoa deserves just as much attention for his play on the offensive line. He has the build of a guard and might be maximized with a move inside, but his tape says he can stay at tackle. He is very smooth in his pass slide to mirror rushers around the arc, his play strength is evident once he locks on, and his range as a puller shows up in the run/screen game.

Over the summer, we talked a lot about the promise of the 2026 offensive tackle class. Most of the prospects in that group have been inconsistent — but not Mauigoa, who has been steadily dominant in every game. I don’t know if both Bain and Mauigoa will end up in the top five, but they’ll be viewed as high-floor NFL prospects with plenty of upside — and those types of players go very high.

Baumgardner: Bain has been the best version of himself this year, and it’s been downright dominant. He can move around, he’s a terror against the run, and he can beat offensive linemen several different ways. When he’s healthy and engaged, he’s the biggest front-seven creator of havoc in the country, and it’s probably not very close. If we see this type of play from him the rest of the way, he’ll be a top-three lock.

It feels like Mauigoa’s been at Miami forever, but it’s important to note he’s gotten better every year, including this one. He’s coached by Alex Mirabal (one of my favorite college O-line teachers), and he’s very difficult to get depth against on the edge because of his hand speed and athleticism. I have gripes about him when he plays tall, but he takes a ton of pride in the run game — and it shows.

Miami has turned its program around because it spends as much money as anyone in America. But Mauigoa has been a critical piece of resetting the physical standard for the program, and NFL scouts absolutely know that.

3. Jam Miller and Germie Bernard had big days for Alabama, Keon Sabb made a key pick, Ty Simpson spun it pretty well. Assuming Kadyn Proctor is still the Tide’s top 2026 draft prospect, who else are you buying on that roster?

Brugler: Simpson isn’t being talked about enough. A week after a stellar performance at Georgia, he was nails against Vanderbilt.

What stands out most with Simpson is his ability to play on time. He is very rhythmic in his drops, processing and release, and you can tell he knows what he’s seeing pre-snap by the way he attacks post-snap. Simpson isn’t an elite physical talent, but he is big enough, mobile enough and his arm is strong enough. But again, his mental process jumps off the screen, which is even more impressive considering Saturday’s win was just his fifth career start.

The sample is still much too small to make any definitive statements about his pro projection, but if Simpson stays on his current trajectory, an NFL team will be more than happy to draft him in the first round. It helps that Alabama has arguably the best wide receiver depth chart outside of Ohio State’s and that its offensive line is playing well. But Simpson’s consistent process and execution separate him from other quarterback prospects.

Baumgardner: Bernard has been very good this season — that’s four straight weeks with a touchdown, and he has 25 catches already.

We can also point to Alabama center Parker Brailsford as a big factor for Simpson’s great start, especially from a protection standpoint. Brailsford is undersized, but he’s very smart and very quick. He was a young starter for Kalen DeBoer at Washington and has been solid through two years in the SEC.

Defensively, junior edge Yhonzae Pierre (6-foot-3, 248 pounds) has been very active so far. He was a five-star prospect who weighed around 220 pounds in high school but added power to a frame that’s long with natural bend. He’s a very intriguing player.

4. We’ve talked a lot about Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love, but not so much about the running backs ranked behind him. How do you view Michigan’s Justice Haynes — who’s on pace for about 1,300 yards rushing this season — in the 2026 class?

Brugler: The RB2 spot has been wide open since the summer, and it remains that way. But Haynes has emerged as a strong contender to be the second-ranked back in this class.

He really shines with his vision, tempo and contact balance at the line of scrimmage, all of which allow him to maximize the blocking in front of him. I have some questions about his ability to create against NFL speed with his short-area burst, but he consistently gets what is blocked for him, plus a little more. Haynes’ reliability (he doesn’t fumble) and passing-down skills (both blocking and pass catching) could be differentiating factors for him.

Love ultimately might be the only running back drafted in the top 50, but Haynes has the goods to be a quality NFL back and a Day 2 pick.

Baumgardner: Haynes has been faster than I thought he’d be this season, and he’s really shown off some terrific vision — especially on gap concepts. He’s popped a few really long runs, in part because they were blocked well and schemed up at the right time, but he’s rarely missed a cut and has shown great contact balance.

Michigan has had a gaggle of special running backs over the last century-plus. The only one to rush for 100 yards or more in his first five games with the team? Haynes. He’s definitely in the top-five running back discussion and might have an argument as a top-100 pick, too.

5. On a wild day in college football, which other prospects stood out for you?

Brugler: I’ve been talking up Cincinnati linebacker Jake Golday all season, but it was Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby and running back Evan Pryor who shone in an upset of Iowa State.

Sorsby has the arm talent to throw lasers to every level of the field, and he did that with three completions of 25-plus yards against Iowa State, including an 82-yard deep shot to Caleb Goodie that proved to be the game-winning touchdown. His passes will spray at times, and his decision-making needs to improve, but the redshirt junior is a future draft pick. Several SEC programs tried to lure him away this offseason, but he earned substantial NIL money to stay at Cincinnati — and he showed why Saturday.

Pryor, an Ohio State transfer, averaged a cool 11.1 yards per carry with a pair of touchdowns against the Cyclones. At just 200 pounds, he has a slender, tapered frame and won’t push the pile. But he hits the hole with speed to gash the defense. Pryor grades as a priority free agent prospect right now, but a few more games like Saturday’s and NFL teams will keep an open mind on his evaluation.

One more: Louisville wasn’t able to pull out a victory over Virginia, but I wanted to bring up wide receiver Chris Bell, who had another big-time performance (12 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns). At 6-2, 227 with 4.4 speed, Bell keeps putting more and more positive reps on tape, especially when he uses his big frame to win at the catch point. He debuted at No. 25 (second-round grade) on my preseason top 50 — which turned some heads — but he’s playing up to his immense potential the last few weeks.

Baumgardner: The best slot back in America is Navy’s Eli Heidenreich. A running back/wide receiver hybrid, Heidenreich (5-11, 205) is a very explosive athlete with terrific ball skills and route nuance. He set a Navy record with 243 receiving yards on eight catches Saturday, including three touchdowns, in a win over Air Force. He is now Navy’s career leader in receiving TDs with 14 and has more than 1,400 career receiving yards with another 890 on the ground.

He’s obviously a very niche prospect who’d have a limited role in an NFL offense, but his uniqueness as a running back who can run routes like a true receiver will be very interesting for teams to scout.

Another running back known for something other than running the ball: Michigan fullback Max Bredeson. I’m not sure we’d find three tight ends nationally who are better one-on-one blockers in space than Bredeson, the younger brother of former Michigan and current Bucs guard Ben Bredeson. A team captain, Max Bredeson is also an outstanding leader who has helped set a physical standard at Michigan since the Jim Harbaugh days.

He’s a possible priority free agent, and his lack of a presence as a receiver or on special teams could keep it that way, but I think someone — one of the Harbaughs, or a coach in the Shanahan tree — might spend a draft pick on him.

(Top photo: Matt Pendleton / Imagn Images)