College Football Week 7: 2027 NFL Draft storylines to watch
By Jack Brentnall
Week 7 brings another loaded slate of college football, with a meeting between unbeaten Ohio State and Indiana headlining the action. Notre Dame’s trip to BYU and Alabama’s visit to Tennessee also offer several important tests for prospects hoping to strengthen their standing in the 2027 NFL Draft class.
Here are six storylines to watch in Week 7.
Spotlight Game - CJ Carr (QB, Notre Dame) vs BYU
A prospect taking centre stage in one of the weekend’s biggest matchups.
CJ Carr has been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in college football this season.
The Notre Dame quarterback has completed 102 of his 144 passes for 1,378 yards, 16 touchdowns and only one interception. That interception came against Purdue in Week 4, but Carr has responded by throwing seven touchdowns without a turnover across his past two games.
Carr wins primarily from within structure. He is a sharp pre-snap operator who identifies pressure and communicates protections at the line of scrimmage, while showing some impressive anticipation. His accuracy and trajectory control are particularly impressive in the short and intermediate areas, where he consistently places the ball away from defenders and creates opportunities after the catch.
The concern entering the season was whether those strengths would be sufficient to overcome his physical limitations. Carr does not possess an overwhelming arm and his passes can lose velocity when he is forced to throw without a firm platform. His decision-making has also deteriorated under pressure in the past, with a tendency to retreat from the pocket rather than climbing into space.
Saturday’s trip to Provo should provide a much more revealing test for Carr than many of the teams he has faced so far this season. BYU remains unbeaten and LaVell Edwards Stadium will represent the most hostile environment Carr has encountered this year. If he can have another big game here then he’s going to get a lot more talk as a potential 2027 quarterback to know.
The Proving Ground - Carter Smith (OT, Indiana) vs Ohio State
A prospect facing one of the toughest individual matchups on his schedule.
Carter Smith has quietly assembled one of the most substantial résumés among the offensive tackles eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft.
The Indiana left tackle possesses more than 3,000 snaps of college experience and has played an important role in the programme’s transformation into the defending national champion. His reliability has continued this season, helping Indiana remain unbeaten heading into Saturday’s enormous meeting with Ohio State.
Smith’s game is built around leverage and control. He plays with natural knee bend and a flat back, allowing him to sink his hips and absorb power without conceding the depth of the pocket. His hands are tight and accurate, and once he wins an opponent’s chest, his grip strength makes it difficult for rushers to disengage.
There are nevertheless questions about his projection to the NFL. Smith possesses a relatively thin frame and below average arm length, which can force him to lean and overextend when taking deeper pass sets. He also lacks an explosive initial kick step and can panic when isolated against speed, lunging for contact rather than trusting his feet.
Ohio State is well equipped to target those limitations and will represent by far the biggest test of Smith’s season so far. This is the kind of game that scouts will circle, so it is a big opportunity for Smith to impress. I’m still of the view that his NFL future is best on the interior – ideally at center – but a strong performance against one of the best defensive fronts in the country would still be a significant addition to his résumé.
Bounce Back - Jadan Baugh (RB, Florida) vs Texas
A prospect looking to respond after a disappointing performance.
The opening month of the season could hardly have gone better for Jadan Baugh. He rushed for more than 135 yards and scored multiple touchdowns in each of his first four games. That run included three-touchdown performances against both Auburn and Ole Miss and established him as one of the most productive running backs in college football.
The last two weeks have been very different. Baugh was held to 13 yards on 12 carries as Florida suffered a heavy defeat against Missouri, before managing 59 yards on 15 attempts in last weekend’s loss to South Carolina.
At 6’1” and 228 pounds, Baugh combines excellent contact balance with unusually light feet for a back of his size. He reads defensive flow well and possesses the creativity to locate alternative routes when the designed lane collapses. His stop-start quickness and ability to alter his pace allow him to manipulate second-level defenders, while his physicality ensures that he consistently generates yardage through first contact.
There are areas that require improvement. Baugh can run too upright into contact and occasionally spends too long searching for the perfect crease rather than accepting the available yardage. His pass protection also remains unreliable, particularly when identifying more complicated pressure looks.
This weekend he will have a tough test against Texas, who are allowing just 2.81 yards per carry this season. Nevertheless, he will be very keen to show that he can get back to his productive best. Baugh remains the top back in the 2027 class, but he will need to get back to his early season form soon if the talk of him as a first round pick is to hold up.
Rising Stock - Xavier Gilliam (IDL, Tennessee) vs Alabama
A prospect whose stock is rising and who has an opportunity to build further momentum.
Xavier Gilliam was not among the defensive tackles receiving significant NFL Draft attention entering the season. That is beginning to change.
The Penn State transfer has recorded 22 pressures, six sacks and 21 defensive stops through his first six games at Tennessee. He has consistently created disruption from the interior, but last weekend’s victory over Arkansas represented his most dominant performance yet.
Gilliam generated six pressures and batted down a pass on only 25 pass-rushing snaps, producing a pass rush win rate of 25%.
It was the type of complete performance that forces you to take notice. Gilliam repeatedly created penetration with his first-step quickness, while his natural leverage at 6’2” and 305 pounds allowed him to play underneath the pads of Arkansas’ offensive linemen.
Alabama provides the perfect opportunity to legitimise his breakout. Another disruptive performance on a major stage would move Gilliam from an interesting in-season riser to a player who warrants serious attention within the 2027 defensive tackle class.
Backing It Up - Nick Marsh (WR, Indiana) vs Ohio State
A prospect coming off a standout performance with the chance to show it wasn’t a one-off.
Indiana appeared destined for its first defeat of the season when it was trailing Nebraska 17-6 in the fourth quarter, but Nick Marsh had other ideas.
He started off the comeback by catching a short crossing route and accelerating through the Nebraska defense for a 75-yard touchdown. Less than five minutes later, he slipped behind the defense on fourth-and-one and turned another short pass into a 44-yard score.
He finished with six catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for more than 70% of Indiana’s passing production. Marsh now has 29 receptions for 528 yards and six touchdowns this season.
The Nebraska performance showcased what makes Marsh one of the most complete receivers eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft. At 6’3” and 213 pounds, he possesses prototypical boundary size without sacrificing the acceleration required to threaten defenders vertically. He is also a nuanced route runner who varies his tempo, attacks leverage through his stem and sinks sharply to create separation on breaking routes.
Marsh has the potential to be the second receiver off the board in the 2027 NFL Draft, but if he’s to achieve that he will need to show that he can translate this promising production to top opposition like Ohio State. This could be a statement game.
Under the Radar - Patrick Overmyer (TE, Houston) vs Oklahoma State
A lesser-known prospect with an opportunity to earn more attention.
Patrick Overmyer entered last weekend as a relatively anonymous name within the wider 2027 NFL Draft conversation. Four touchdowns later, that is beginning to change.
The Houston tight end caught eight passes for 83 yards in the Cougars’ victory over Kansas State, tying the FBS record for touchdown receptions by a tight end in a single game. His four scores covered one, two, two and eight yards, illustrating how heavily Houston trusted him near the goal line.
It would be easy to dismiss the performance as a statistical curiosity built entirely on red zone usage, but there is enough to Overmyer’s game to be intrigued. He has caught 33 passes for 393 yards and six touchdowns this season, ranking second among FBS tight ends in receptions and receiving yards while leading the position in touchdowns.
The former high school quarterback spent three seasons at UTSA before transferring to Houston and has steadily grown into the position. At 6’5” and 240 pounds, he presents quarterbacks with a large target over the middle and understands how to locate space against zone coverage. His intelligence and movement skills have allowed Houston to deploy him from multiple alignments.
Saturday’s meeting with Oklahoma State provides an opportunity to prove that the Kansas State performance was more than a memorable afternoon. He’s unlikely to have another four touchdown performance, but he has a chance to turn some heads in this ranked matchup.
JACK BRENTNALL
HEAD OF NFL DRAFT CONTENT
Previously the founder of The Jet Sweep, Jack joined The Touchdown as head of Draft Content in 2024. A Scouting Academy alumnus, Jack has been Covering the NFL Draft since 2020. Follow him on Twitter @Jack_Brentnall.
