James Foster's Week 6 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 6 tape study. I’ve grouped each player into tiers based on how I rated their performance.

First Week Notebook Here.

Second Week Notebook Here.

Third Week Notebook Here.

Fifth Week Notebook Here.

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Xavier Gilliam had his most productive and disruptive performance of the season, recording six pressures, five stops, and a strip-sack on 42 snaps. Unfortunately, I do feel the need to throw a wet blanket on the first-round hype that he’s started to garner. This tape further highlighted both his strengths and weaknesses and doesn't serve as much more than a corroboration of the good and bad from his scouting report heading into the game. 

He verified his elite short-area athleticism, his technical polish as a pass rusher, and his range to make plays up and down the line of scrimmage but did nothing to address his lack of power or inability to hold the point of attack. 

Gilliam breaching the pocket is inevitable  —  he's yet to face a center who was capable of mirroring him or cutting him off laterally. But he also hasn't recorded a single win with power all year and will need to expand his one-dimensional pass-rushing repertoire to sustain his production against NFL blockers, who are much better equipped to contain his cross-face moves. 

While his third-down skillset is undeniable, and it only takes one team placing premium value on that for him to be a first-round pick, his lack of anchor will keep him off the field on early downs and will most likely limit him to a Day 2 grade on most boards.

Dylan Stewart played only 29 snaps in his first game back from suspension, but that was all he needed to remind everyone of his talent. He got a strip-sack with a double-swipe and also won with a ghost move and cross-chop, showcasing his elite burst and flexibility. 

He was excellent in run support, taking on pullers and chasing down screens, though he did get sealed on a stretch run. EDGE #1 is Stewart’s for the taking if he maintains this level of play on a higher snap count. He’s a better run defender and power rusher than Colin Simmons, and his frame is closer to the NFL prototype.

I highlighted Mayo last week, but his performance against Kansas State was even more impressive. He allowed one reception for 12 yards on four targets, while playing a lot more man coverage than he did in Week 5. He smothered and broke up a quick slant on 3rd and 6 in the low red zone and intercepted a goal-line fade on a two-point conversion. 

He’s a barricade at the line of scrimmage and a weighted blanket down the stem, with sufficient mirror skills to stay in-phase through route breaks. He fearlessly attacked blocks when given the opportunity and made a couple tackles in screen/run support. Mayo entered the year just outside of my top-100, but is rising up my board every week.

Charlie Becker will probably be Indiana’s highest-drafted receiver, but Nick Marsh is their most well-rounded, and he’s emerged as Hoover’s favorite target in Big Ten play. He caught six of eight targets for 187 yards and two touchdowns, eclipsing 100 receiving yards for the second consecutive game. 

He housed an RPO glance for a 75-yard touchdown, then scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 4th-and-short leak concept. He also drew a DPI on a go route and stacked man coverage on a sluggo, but the throw was uncatchable. Compared to the last two games, he was less effective at sustaining run blocks and creating intermediate separation.

Trevor Lauck had only four true pass sets in Week 6, which were uneventful, but it was his best run-blocking performance of the season. He deleted both of Washington's linebackers from existence at the second level — two of the most dominant climbs and finishes I've seen from an offensive lineman all year. 

He cut off and displaced the 3-tech routinely on the backside of wide zone and only lost one (of many) backside cutoffs. He also used his torque to uproot defenders and widen rushing lanes on the frontside. Lauck has been an extremely consistent pass blocker all year, but providing more value as a run blocker could vault him into the first round.

Austin Simmons’ mediocre stat line (147 passing yards, 50% completion rate, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception) shouldn't hurt his draft stock, as his tape was much better than the box score suggests. While he missed a couple of throws, his receivers dropped three passes, and his interception was tipped at the line of scrimmage. The RB pass pro was awful, but he remained poised in the pocket and threw darts while getting clobbered by free rushers. 

His decision-making was sharp, as was his ball placement to the intermediate sideline. He missed a movement throw to his left but hit several later in the game and has made that throw consistently throughout the year. He showed an outstanding blend of touch and velocity to fit a hole shot between the safety and sinking flat defender. I still question Simmons’ creativity out of structure, however. He has yet to scramble in three SEC games, and the vast majority of his production has come from within the pocket or on designed rollouts.

Chris Cole is the easiest mover in this class (size-adjusted) and the perfect antidote to mobile quarterbacks, seam-stretching tight ends, and off-tackle rushing schemes. He made an impact in every phase against Alabama, recording four tackles, three stops, three pressures, a sack, and a pass breakup. 

The Georgia linebacker keys and triggers quickly in run support and has rare closing burst and sideline-to-sideline range. It's nearly impossible to beat his pursuit angle to the edge or get him out-leveraged with pre-snap motion. 

This was the first time Cole’s lack of mass showed up as an issue vs. the run, however. He struggled to shed blocks and play through contact, and had trouble staying on his feet at the point of attack. While he has the length and hand usage to stack climbers at the second level, he lacks ideal base strength to hold his ground against stronger opponents. 

Despite his production, this was Cole’s worst performance as a pass rusher. All of his pressures were unblocked or against tight ends, and he didn’t win any of his one-on-ones against Alabama’s tackles. He also missed a sack and let Keelon Russell escape for an explosive scramble. In coverage, he crashed downhill from the hook-curl and broke up a hitch to Ryan Coleman-Williams.

Devan Thompkins added another strong performance to his resume and seems likely to be a first-round pick next April. He was a destructive presence in run support, recording four tackles and two stops, though he disappeared on passing downs. 

He has textbook lock-peek-shed technique, with the length to press blockers off of his frame and the upper-body twitch to discard them with authority. He has the mass to remain stout at the point of attack and the burst to make plays behind the line of scrimmage. 

Thompkins didn't win any reps as a pass rusher, although he had run-first responsibility on many of those plays. His upright pad level diminishes the effectiveness of his speed-to-power, and he initiates too many pass rushes without a cohesive plan. He gets stymied by jump sets/aggressive strikes and lacks intuitive counters to find a second wind.

Drew Mestemaker had a clean outing against UCF, continuing his push for QB1 — although a lot of his production was wide open. He stood in the pocket and hit several dagger concepts and also made some impressive off-schedule throws on the move. His intermediate accuracy was good, but his deep ball was inconsistent. NFL teams will covet Mestemaker’s processing, anticipation, and field vision, and as his rough Week 1 performance becomes more of an outlier, the likelihood that he declares for the 2027 class increases.

This was A’Mauri Washington’s best game of 2026 by far, a much-needed positive development from an otherwise underwhelming defensive tackle class. He yanked the right guard off balance and exploded into the backfield to force an incompletion, then long-armed his backup and corralled Nico Iamaleava for a minimal gain. He was disruptive vs. the run and did a better job defeating zone cutoffs than he has for most of the year, but still got put on the ground twice. At 325 pounds, Washington should have a much sturdier anchor. He also showed his instincts and football IQ, sniffing out a tunnel screen and forcing an incompletion.

Isaac Brown rushed for 245 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries this week, with 97- and 68-yard touchdowns making up the majority of his production. He has rare speed to burn angles to the edge and can turn a slight crease into a home run, but his work between the tackles leaves a lot to be desired. 

Brown frequently ran into his blockers and got tripped and/or tackled immediately and didn’t run with enough patience to set up power/counter for most of the game. 

However, he did an excellent job waiting for his blocks to develop and hitting the jets on GT-counter in the 4th quarter, leading to a 67-yard touchdown. He was slippery and elusive when isolated in open space, though on several occasions, he lacked the getaway burst to hit an open crease. He has no power or contact balance as a runner, and his small stature makes it unlikely that he’ll significantly improve.

Jamal Roberts had his second consecutive 200+ yard game, but his rushing production was overshadowed by terrible pass protection, and his lack of elusiveness in the open field makes me skeptical of his NFL upside. He runs with excellent patience on wide zone, allowing scoop combos to develop and frontside creases to emerge. 

While he made some questionable lane choices in the first half, his vision and decision-making improved later in the game. He lost his footing behind the line of scrimmage once while trying to hit a cutback lane, and he might lack the ankle flexion to make severe cuts against his momentum. Roberts did a good job, particularly in the second half, of high-stepping ankle tackles and could evade a few defenders at the second/third level by baiting them into bad angles and abruptly veering into daylight. 

But he struggles to make quick cuts at full speed, and was repeatedly stopped by solo tackles that most NFL backs would have shaken. He’s a powerful runner with above-average contact balance, consistently lowering his shoulder and falling forward through tackles. Roberts lost three of his five pass-blocking reps and will need to show a lot more to be trusted as a third-down back. He didn't have any blatant missed assignments, but he took poor angles and didn't slide his feet with enough urgency to cut off the rusher's angle.

Myles Graham recorded six stops, three pressures, and a sack on just 48 snaps. He’s a dependable run defender who triggers decisively, but has exceptional patience and discipline to avoid overflowing and opening up cutback lanes. He’s a balanced and controlled wrap-up tackler with a knack for finding the most efficient path to the ball. 

While he didn't have to take on many blocks in this game, he’s proven his stack-and-shed ability over the last two seasons. This was also his most productive game of the year as a pass-rusher. He beat the running back with power and flushed Sellers out of the pocket, and then tracked him down for a sack later in the game. He allowed his assignment to leak out for a 14-yard completion, but didn't have any other targets or gradable coverage reps.

I have similar takeaways from both Arch Manning and Cam Coleman’s Week 6 performances. While they showed the ability to throw/catch a deep post, their lack of refinement and mediocre down-to-down execution make it tough to count on them for more than a few explosive plays each game. Coleman caught five of ten targets for 110 yards and a touchdown, his first 100-yard receiving game as a Longhorn, but his grade will continue to decline if he doesn’t display more consistency and route polish going forward.