James Foster's Week 3 Scouting Notebook and Film Room

Every week this season, I’ll be breaking down the key performances from draftable prospects across the country. Here are my thoughts and takeaways from Week 3 tape study. I’ve grouped each player into tiers based on how I rated their performance.

First Week Notebook Here.

Second Week Notebook Here.

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The 2027 defensive line class got off to a slow start, with many of the top prospects, Will Echoles included, underwhelming in their first few weeks of action. But in Week 3, Echoles responded with one of the best single-game performances I’ve seen from a college defensive tackle and reasserted himself as the top player at his position. 

He was unblockable in both phases, recording seven pressures, three run stops, and a sack. Ole Miss identified LSU’s left guard as the weak link and attacked it repeatedly with their best player — Echoles lined up over the left guard on 37 of his 40 B-gap snaps and took full advantage of his one-on-one opportunities, racking up clean, decisive wins for the entire game. 

Echoles is proficient with a wide variety of moves, and he deployed all of them throughout the game to keep his opponent guessing. His wins were equally quick and dominant, whether he used a club-swim, one-hand swipe, two-hand swipe, or long-arm. His effectiveness as a pass rusher declined later in the game, and he looked a bit gassed in the fourth quarter. But I have no concerns about his conditioning, as he played more 50+ snap games (8) in 2025 than any defensive tackle selected in the 2026 Draft besides Landon Robinson (9). 

Echoles took over the game on third down, but also made a high impact in run support. He swam through a reckless Jordan Seaton down block for a TFL, and his quickness off the snap allowed him to defeat zone cutoffs and maintain gap leverage. Though he missed a couple of tackles, they were net-positive plays, as his pursuit funneled the ball carrier towards other defenders.

Working primarily against left tackle PJ Williams, a top-80 player on the consensus board, Clev Lubin had by far his most productive game of the season. He recorded eight wins, six pressures, and two sacks, heating up significantly on the final drive to seal the game. Though he didn’t have any wins along the outside track, he dominated Williams with power and inside moves.

Lubin set up his moves masterfully in this game, using stutters, hesitations, and deceptive stems to influence his opponent’s set and create favorable rush angles. By aggressively threatening the outside track, he forced Williams to bail and prepare for a speed move. This exposed his frame and tilted his weight distribution, softening him up for a bull rush.

By getting off the ball at a more measured pace and taking a direct angle down the midline, he signaled to Williams that he was using power, forcing him to brace for impact and set his anchor. When a tackle plants his roots, he sacrifices most of his freedom of movement and redirection, leaving him vulnerable to inside moves. 

This restrained, nonchalant get-off lulled Williams to sleep and diminished his reactive athleticism. While Lubin was less impactful as a run defender, he didn’t have many negative plays, and he did a decent job setting the edge and preventing blockers from latching onto his frame.

A five-star recruit in 2024, Luke Reynolds began his career at Penn State, where he played two forgettable seasons with a heavy blocking workload and modest receiving production. But he’s broken out at Virginia Tech and is firmly in the running for TE3 in the 2027 class. 

He leads Power-4 tight ends in receptions (25), yards (270), and touchdowns (4) through the first three weeks, and he didn’t slow down at all in his first Big Ten game. Reynolds caught twelve passes for 106 yards and a touchdown in his matchup with Maryland, where his exceptional ball skills and YAC ability were on full display. 

Reynolds was given a lot of contested targets along the intermediate sideline and showed the focus and body control to make athletic mid-air adjustments, land in bounds, and secure the catch through contact. With so few targets in 2025, evaluating Reynolds’ ability at the catch point was nearly impossible. But I’m very encouraged by the hand strength, ball-tracking, spatial awareness, and coordination that he’s displayed up to this point.

The Virginia Tech tight end is elusive after the catch and does an excellent job setting up blocks and manipulating pursuit angles. Near the end of his 14-yard tunnel screen touchdown from Week 3, he gave a subtle fake inside, influencing the last defender to play the block with inside leverage and clearing a path to the end zone. He’s explosive off the line and has the burst to stack man coverage initially, but he lacks the top speed to pull away down the seam/sideline. 

Defenders are consistently able to run with him step-for-step on crossing routes. His average long speed might keep him out of the first round, but he’s absolutely a day two-caliber athlete. While he isn’t in the Jackson Hawes tier of blocking specialists, Reynolds is a capable and experienced inline blocker. 

Devan Thompkins had another big game in Week 3, and as one of the most physically talented players in college football, I’d expect to start seeing his name in mock drafts if this production continues. Over the last two weeks, Thompkins has recorded nine pressures, three sacks, and eight stop tackles, splitting time evenly between 3-tech (41 snaps) and edge (41 snaps). 

Compared to Week 2, his motor and play speed were much more consistent snap-to-snap against Florida State. He dusted Xavier Chaplin (LT) with an inside spin and beat Chaplin and the right guard with a bull rush. He tends to raise his pad level when attempting cross-face moves, allowing blockers to latch onto his frame and tie him up. He eviscerates tight ends that try to block him one-on-one and did a decent job withstanding double teams in Week 3, though he needs to sink his hips lower and establish a more pronounced leverage advantage. His biggest issue in this game was getting pancaked (2X) or sealed (1X) by backside cutoffs.

Boubacar Traore is currently ranked 73rd on the consensus board, but I expect him to be at minimum a top-50 pick in April given his traits and high level of play early in the year. Traore finished this week’s game with seven pass rush wins, six pressures, and a strip-sack. He won with an even blend of speed and power, generating consistent displacement with his bull rush and clearing the outside track with a cross-chop or hook-rip. 

Near the end of the game, he won with his signature outside spin but couldn’t flip the edge tightly enough to finish the sack. He came free on a flush stunt and got an unblocked strip-sack. Then, he indirectly forced another turnover, bull-rushing the right tackle into the quarterback and forcing an errant throw, which Adon Shuler intercepted. He dented a puller and assisted the tackle, though his run defense tape was mostly uneventful this week.

Mario Craver is one of the most dynamic playmakers in college football and the Texas A&M offense’s lone redeeming quality. The Aggies ran their offense through Craver in Week 3, targeting him 18 times, the most for a receiver in a single game this year. He finished with only 119 receiving yards, primarily due to Marcel Reed’s abysmal ball placement and partially because of Craver’s lack of physicality at the catch point. In this game, he made a strong catch through contact over the deep middle but also left several contested catch opportunities on the field.

He’s an easy mover with instant acceleration off the line and elite burst out of breaks. His rare freedom of movement allows him to cut on a dime at acute angles and run complex routes with multiple breaks and tempo changes. His ability to fully commit to a route fake, make a severe cut in the opposite direction, and gain speed out of his transition makes for highly convincing blaze-outs and double moves.

Craver’s movement skills unlock every branch on the route tree and give play callers unique ways of getting him the ball. Craver is just as dynamic after the catch. He led Power-4 receivers with 9.7 yards after the catch per reception in 2025, often turning five-yard gains into explosive plays.

Despite being one of the most naturally talented separators in this class, I’m looking for him to develop into a more precise and efficient route runner in 2026, which will make him a more dependable target in a timing-based NFL offense.

Over the summer, I graded Jadan Baugh as the uncontested HB1 in the 2027 class. After two weeks of eviscerating FCS/G5 competition, he faced his first real defense in Week 3. 

He made Auburn look like Florida Atlantic. 

On 26 carries, Baugh forced thirteen missed tackles and recorded 172 yards and three touchdowns. He’s elusive and slippery in the open field, with nimble feet to avoid ankle tackles and fluid cuts/spins to shake defenders at the second level. He can plant his foot and decelerate on a dime, weaponizing his violent stop-start ability to punish reckless angles. 

His stiff-arm batters defenders in the alley and was particularly deadly in Week 3. As per usual, Baugh consistently found cutback lanes on stretch zone and gracefully maneuvered through traffic on power/counter. While Auburn did gift him several explosive plays because of poor gap integrity or being outnumbered pre-snap, this was still an outstanding performance on the ground. 

Usually a dependable receiving back, Baugh struggled in the passing game against Auburn, which reduces his game rating to ‘Good’. He dropped a screen and tipped it up to a defender, leading to an interception. He also missed an assignment in blitz pickup, resulting in a QB hit.

Trinidad Chambliss had an excellent Week 3 performance and is probably playing his way into the first round. He picked apart LSU's zone coverage from the pocket, made plays with his legs when necessary, and showed up in high-leverage moments. Even after watching 12-15 of his starts over the last two years, I still find myself surprised by his composure and anticipation over the middle at his size. 

He was late and behind on a backside dig in the first quarter, but hit several on time later in the game. His receivers heard footsteps and dropped a few catchable in-breakers. He got hit as he released the ball and threw an interception to the deep safety, and placed a swing pass behind Kewan Lacy, resulting in a 14-yard loss. Near the end of the game, he beat Ty Benefield to the edge for the go-ahead touchdown.

KJ Bolden will be in contention for being the top safety in the 2027 class. In his first Power-4 matchup, he played 39 snaps and recorded five tackles and a pass breakup. He blew up a shallow crosser for a short gain, then broke up a dig on the very next play. 

However, he took a bad downhill angle from centerfield and whiffed on the tackle, turning a chunk play into an explosive. He swarmed to the ball and fit the run with violence, which has been a consistent theme on Bolden’s tape since his freshman year.

Junior Sherrill is one of the more underrated receiver prospects in the 2027 class, and his first Power-4 matchup of the season did not disappoint. He caught six of his seven targets for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Sherrill’s double moves were lethal in this game, as he scored touchdowns on a sluggo (12 yards) and stop-and-go (43 yards). 

He also worked back for a jump ball and secured it through contact. However, he was unable to track the ball over his shoulder after stacking man coverage and missed an opportunity for another 40+ yard reception. He also dropped an easy underneath target in the red zone.

Jacarrius Peak saw his first action since injuring his knee in February, and I was pleasantly surprised by his tape. He played 37 snaps, most of which were pass blocking, and didn’t have any trouble readjusting to the speed of the game. Charters like Pro Football Focus didn’t fault Peak with a pressure, but I would argue he allowed three or four. 

He has outstanding strike power and grip strength and played with more violence in pass protection than I saw on his 2025 tape. He consistently stymied his opponent with a firm punch, then worked to bury him in the grass. Peak’s anchor remains his biggest issue, however. He gradually cedes ground and allows power rushers to displace him or dent his edges. 

He struggles to completely stamp out speed-to-power, and oftentimes the best he can do is limit it to a slow burn. While Peak must fortify his anchor for the next level, he looked healthy against Mississippi State and showed the athletic tools that make him such an enticing prospect.

Vicari Swain is a young, talented press corner with top-50 upside. He played well in his first non-cupcake matchup, allowing just one catch for three yards on five targets — though his box score is slightly misleading, as a couple of his targets were open but uncatchable. Swain’s success is almost entirely dependent on whether he jams aggressively at the line of scrimmage. 

When he uses his hands proactively, he’s a suffocating presence in press, with good length and strike power to disrupt the timing of the release. He has the foot speed and hand-fighting skills to contain intricate releases without getting crossed up, along with the lateral quickness to cut off inside releases and get back in-phase with the route. 

When his receiver takes an outside release, he instinctively reroutes it to the sideline and makes that receiver ineligible. On his best play of the week, he blanketed a quick slant and raked the ball out with precise hands (first play of the cutup). 

However, he gets burned off the line of scrimmage consistently when he doesn’t jam, as he lacks elite recovery speed to make up ground. He can't afford to play soft-shoe press and try to win footraces vs. true deep threats. As the route develops, Swain has fluid hips to mirror sharp breaks and decelerate abruptly. He also plays with the physical edge of a safety in run support.

Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa played just 22 snaps against Michigan State, but this was our first real look at him in 2026. He quickly showed his ability to both shed and evade blocks. In the first quarter, he dodged the center in a phone booth and slipped into the A-gap, barely even making contact with the block. Then in the second quarter, he jolted the left guard with a ferocious punch and met the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage. 

However, he was partially responsible for the 15-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, as he got stuck to a block early and couldn't disengage. On his only significant coverage rep, he bit on play action and lost leverage vs. a crossing route, resulting in an 18-yard completion. He recorded two pressures, both of which came after demolishing Michigan State’s running backs in blitz pickup, though he missed an unblocked sack opportunity later in the game. 

Jordan Seaton’s tape was closer to ‘Good’ than ‘Above Average’, but he committed two false starts, which warrants a downgrade. In the first quarter, he was a bit too passive with his punch and got displaced by Kam Franklin’s long-arm, before eventually finding his anchor. Aside from that play, Seaton didn’t have any losses in pass protection. His explosive vertical sets effortlessly match speed up the arc, and his hand placement and timing were noticeably more precise than usual. 

He showed his elite fluidity on play #2, mirroring a euro-step inside, then urgently expanding & gaining depth to protect the corner. Seaton’s nuanced hand technique gives him an answer for every pass rush plan, and he’s started to anticipate moves from tape study and neutralize them proactively. When he expects a spin move, for example, he jabs the rusher’s inside shoulder to disrupt his transition. 

He’s still, however, a net-negative in the run game. He whiffed on a down block vs. Will Echoles and gave up a TFL. He consistently struggles to take proper angles and sustain blocks at the second level. He did spring an explosive play by cutting off a WLB blitz and torquing him out of the gap. His gallop technique annihilates the 2i/3-tech, but he needs to learn to climb from the combo to the second level with more control.