The first full week of college football action gave us our first look at many of the top quarterback prospects in the 2027 NFL Draft class, and for the most part, they lived up to the preseason hype.
While we didn’t learn anything this weekend that we didn’t already know about some of the biggest names in the class (Arch Manning, Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, Jayden Maiava, Julian Sayin), but a handful of others have their needle pointing in one direction or the other after their first performances of the year.
Here are a few top quarterback prospects who impacted their 2027 NFL Draft stock with their play this past weekend:
Stock Up: Darian Mensah, Miami (FL)
This is how you make a statement in your first start for a new team. One of the biggest prizes in the transfer portal sweepstakes this year, Mensah landed in Coral Gables after an impressive run at both Tulane and Duke, and he delivered on the high expectations in Week 1. Mensah carved up Stanford on the road to the tune of 401 yards and five touchdown passes with no interceptions, throwing more scores than incompletions (27-for-30). It helps when you have Malachi Toney, but Mensah spread the ball around to his other playmakers, and was absolutely surgical with his decision-making and ball placement all night long. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes, but he looked like a first-round quarterback against the Cardinal.
Stock Down: Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State
Another big fish in the transfer portal this offseason, Mestemaker landed with the Pokes after putting up ridiculous numbers at North Texas as a redshirt freshman last season. His first game as a Big 12 quarterback was a struggle, though, as Mestemaker completed less than 60 percent of his passes for 241 yards, one touchdown and a pair of interceptions in a disappointing two-touchdown loss to Tulsa. Mestemaker was a routine top-10 resident in many offseason mock drafts, but one game into his OSU tenure, it sure looks like he should take advantage of at least another year of eligibility before making the jump to the next level. Things will get even more challenging when he gets into the teeth of the conference schedule.
Stock Up: Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
Heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, Chambliss was right next to Ty Simpson behind Fernando Mendoza on my quarterback board, both firmly planted as Day 2 prospects. But if Chambliss was a couple of inches taller, I think we’d be talking about him being way closer to the Arch Manning/Dante Moore tier in the 2027 class. He wasn’t perfect in a shootout win over Louisville, but we saw everything NFL teams are looking for in a franchise passer, from accuracy and power to all levels of the field, athleticism and mobility, and the clutch factor in crunch time to dig out a tough win. This is a talented, experienced playmaker who has all the physical, mental, and intangible traits to be special at the next level, and he needs to be in the first-round conversation moving forward.
