Week 10 SCOUTING NOTEBOOK: Carson Beck's stock tumbles further, Davison Igbinosun and more

By Jack Brentnall

We might be 10 weeks into the college football season, but Week 10 showed that there is still plenty left to play for if you’re a 2025 NFL Draft  hopeful. 

Whether it was quarterbacks having a meltdown or underrated defenders making headlines, there was a lot to dig into.

Here are some of the things that caught my eye in Week 10.

We need to talk about Carson Beck

It never fails to amaze me just how quickly draft prospect evaluations can change. Cast your mind back to the middle of September. Georgia had started the season 3-0 and quarterback Carson Beck was the betting favourite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Fast forward six weeks, and there is now serious conversation about whether he even warrants a day two selection. The cracks with Beck’s game really started to show in his three interception performance against Alabama in Week 5. It felt like things hit a new low this weekend against Florida though.

The Bulldogs may have won the game, but Beck’s performance left a sour taste. He threw three interceptions against a Gators pass defense that has been poor this season and now has 11 picks this season. Eight of those have come in his last three games.

The problem for Beck has been his inability to operate effectively when pressured. That was painfully apparent again on Saturday. The Gators only pressured him on 10 of his 43 dropbacks, but the result of those plays were horrendous. Beck took two sacks and completed just one of eight passes. Three of those throws were interceptions.

So far this season, Beck has been pressured 66 times. On those dropbacks he’s completed just 17 passes, averaging 4.9 yards per attempt with three touchdowns and four interceptions.

For a player like Beck whose selling point was his floor as an NFL prospect rather than his ceiling, it is really tough to overlook this sort of play. It is almost impossible to survive as an NFL quarterback if you can’t perform effectively under pressure, and he’s bound to face more pressure in the pros than he has during his time at Georgia.

Whilst any chance of Beck being a first round pick seems to be firmly out of the question at this point, the next few weeks will still be crucial for him. If he doesn’t arrest this tailspin he’s going to find himself dropping even further down draft boards.

Davison Igbinosun shines for the Buckeyes

In my Week 10 prospect watch article I included three players from the Penn State-Ohio State matchup. Igbinosun wasn’t one of them, but he is the player that I ended up being most impressed by.

The junior cornerback has had a solid season to date, but the Penn State game was undoubtedly his best performance so far. He was consistently able to lock down Penn State’s receivers and had some nice play at the catch point with a pass breakup and an interception.

The interception was one of the best you’ll see this year. Penn State quarterback Drew Allar delivered a perfect ball into the endzone but somehow it was Igbinosun rather than receiver Harrison Wallace that came down with the ball.

It wasn’t just a couple of splash plays though. Igbinosun looked good down-to-down and his physical playstyle and ability in press coverage allowed him to blanket opposing receivers effectively and make life difficult for Drew Allar. He had some nice plays as an open field tackler too.

The knock on Igbinosun as a prospect is that he does have a tendency to get a little grabby and risks being flagged as a result. That has cost him on several occasions this year and did again this weekend – his eight penalties are the most of any Power Four defender. That said, if he can continue making plays at the catch point and winning in press coverage he is going to earn himself plenty of fans in scouting departments.

Another excellent outing for Kaimon Rucker

It hasn’t been plain sailing for UNC edge rusher Kaimon Rucker this season, but he was outstanding against Florida State in Week 10. Rucker led the Tar Heels with 60 pressures in 2023 and was widely touted as a breakout draft prospect in the summer, but a torn meniscus led him to miss several weeks early this season.

He is now back to full health and making up for lost time. Rucker was coming into this weekend off the back of an exceptional game in Week 9 that saw him log seven pressures, six stops, and an interception against Virginia. He had another really strong outing this weekend against Florida State.

Rucker was practically unblockable and found himself living in the Seminoles’ backfield. He generated eight pressures on his 24 pass rushing snaps, one of which resulted in a sack. His 15 pressures over the last two weeks lead all of college football and he’s fifth in stops amongst defensive linemen too.

NFL teams are going to love Rucker’s tenacious playstyle and athletic ability. There will be some questions about his lack of length, but if he carries on producing like this he’s going to be difficult for scouts to ignore.

A record day for Jordan Watkins

Take a bow Jordan Watkins. With star receiver Tre Harris ruled out, Watkins emerged as Ole Miss’ biggest receiving threat and put on a historic performance as the Rebels lit up Arkansas’ secondary.

Watkins has served primarily as a complementary pass catcher during his college career, but he showed this weekend that he is capable of taking over a game. His numbers look like something out of a video game. Watkins finished up with eight catches for a whopping 254 yards and five touchdowns. He averaged 31.8 yards per catch and every single one went for a first down or a touchdown.

This was a record-setting outing, setting single game school records for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. His five touchdown grabs also tied the SEC single game record, matching Jalin Hyatt’s tally against Alabama in 2022.

When projecting to the NFL, Watkins might not possess high level size or athletic traits, but his sure hands (four drops on 165 catchable targets in college) combined with his ability to add value on special teams as a punt returner means he may be able to land a roster spot at the next level.

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.

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