The immediate recapping and evaluating of everything that materialized in the 2025 NFL Draft is coming to a close, but the draft conversation doesn’t have to end in mid-May. Don’t be ashamed to admit you’ve already looked ahead to the 2026 NFL Draft and the crop of top-tier prospects it will provide.
These are my top 10 defensive prospects in the 2026 class before the 2025 college football season.
For those interested in who made this piece in 2024: 10. Dallas Turner, 9. Cooper DeJean, 8. Laiatu Latu, 7. Barrett Carter, 6. Chop Robinson, 5. Johnny Newton, 4. Leonard Taylor III, 3. J.T. Tuimoloau, 2. Kool-Aid McKinstry, 1. Jared Verse
and last year: 10. J.T. Tuimoloau, 9. Harold Perkins, 8. Ben Morrison, 7. Malaki Starks, 6. Nic Scourton, 5. Travis Hunter, 5. Mason Graham. 3. Will Johnson, 2. Deone Walker, 1. James Pearce
Honorable mention: Harold Perkins, LB/EDGE, LSU
I haven’t forgotten about you, Harold — your freshman season in 2022, when you were a fixture in SEC backfields with 72 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles en route to making the Freshman All-American Team, is still fresh in my mind because of the athletic absurdity of it all. It was glorious. Perkins is not big — listed at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds — then again, that is starting off-ball linebacker measurements in today’s NFL. Hopefully 100% healed from his torn ACL during the 2024 campaign, Perkins has the goods to shine as a ubiquitous front-seven player in the Bayou in 2025, and he doesn’t turn 21 until September. I think I actually like him best flying around the corner as an edge rusher yet am tantalized by his immense range to the football off the ball.
10. Mikail Kamara, EDGE, Indiana
Kamara’s entering Year 5 in college football, which isn’t a dealbreaker, however he will be one of the increasingly rare prospects who was able to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted from COVID-19. After playing in 2020 at James Madison, he was redshirted due to injury in 2021.
For as much as older prospects are not my thing, I do love productivity, and Kamara has long loaded the stat sheet. In Indiana’s magnificent 2024 campaign in which the Hoosiers advanced to the College Football Playoff, Kamara had a 16.7% pressure rate, a darn good number for a defender who rushed the passer more than 400 times. While his height — listed at 6-1 — and length could sink his draft stock slightly next winter, he plays with a variety of pass-rush moves and speed-to-power conversion worthy of him making this list.
9. Dani Dennis-Sutton, EDGE, Penn State
What do you know — another long, angular freak athlete from Penn State. Sutton doesn’t quite have the penultimate collegiate season on his resume Abdul Carter had in 2023. He might be more of the prototypical defensive end prospect from a measurement perspective.
The No. 7 defensive line recruit in the 2022 high school class, per 247 Sports, is listed at 6-5 and 265 pounds, and his arms look like they can reach from State College, PA to Pittsburgh. He’s fluid in space dropping in zone and is seemingly just scratching the surface as an explosive and bendy edge rusher. Dennis-Sutton demonstrated calculated, lightning-quick point-of-attack hand work in 2024 en route to a 13.7% pressure rate and even flashed shedding blocks on the interior. The spin move is nasty too. He moves like an All-NBA small forward on the field. With more flexibility when flattening to the quarterback in 2025, Dennis-Sutton will be an elite defensive prospect in the 2026 class.
8. Keldric Faulk, EDGE/DL, Auburn
Faulk is fantastically young — just 19 years old — and showcased supreme flashes last season at Auburn. The No. 9 defensive line recruit in the 2023 class, per 247 Sports, is an incredible talent with an incredible, NFL-caliber frame. He’s listed at 6-6 and 270 pounds. I doubt he’s that heavy. He looks super-long, and he moves like a tight end flying around the corner or attempting to bull rush a guard as a nickel rusher.
After he looked the part as a true freshman in 2023, Faulk upped his pressure rate to 14.4% in 2024 and made serious strides setting edges and withstanding punishment on the interior against the run. The sky is the limit for his exuberant specimen from the SEC. I love how loudly his motor hums on every play.
7. Avieon Terrell, CB, Clemson
There are Clemson and NFL All-Pro bloodlines with this star, as Avieon is the brother of Falcons stud A.J. Terrell. Like his older brother, Terrell is a fundamentally sound outside cornerback who was ready to rock in the ACC from his true freshman season, although he wasn’t considered an enormous recruit.
After four pass breakups and an interception as a true freshman in 2023, Terrell erupted a season ago with two picks, 12 pass breakups, and a trio of forced fumbles. He’s a sleek, speedy athlete without fear against the run, and very natural ball skills at all three levels of the field. It’s rare to see him out of position or unprepared to make a play on the ball as it’s arriving.
6. Rueben Bain Jr., EDGE/DL, Miami
A large, imposing, ultra-physical defensive end who can disrupt on the interior if needed, Bain has been a wall against the run in his first two seasons with the Hurricanes. While he wasn’t as effective generating pressure in 2024 as he was as a true freshman, he’s an ascending player in that regard technically.
In 2024, he demonstrated a willingness to work the outside shoulder of tackles and use better, more methodical hand work to free himself on the way to the quarterback. He was the No. 10 edge recruit in the country in the 2023 class, per 247 Sports, and has 11 career sacks entering his true junior campaign. The homegrown product from Miami Central plays with power that hints he’s much older. There’s immense upside given the strength already in the arsenal.
5. Peter Woods, DT, Clemson
The No. 8 defensive line recruit in the 2023 class, per 247 Sports, Woods has met expectations early in his tenure at Clemson. He looks legitimately 6-3 and 315 pounds — his listed measurements — and blends power with speed typically unseen at the position. A former Freshman All-American, his film instantly had me harkening back to a young Christian Wilkins, who instantly looked the part of a future first-round pick from the moment he stepped onto a collegiate field.
Woods tripled his tackles for loss from three as a freshman to nine in 2024 and tallied his first three sacks a season ago. He’s immovable on the inside and seemingly loves halting the run as much as getting upfield to push the pocket as a pass rusher.
4. Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee
What I love about McCoy’s game — he’s equally as effective in zone as he is in man coverage. It’s one thing to be simply a better, more sudden athlete than everyone, allowing you to follow receivers at all three levels. You’re on an advanced level when you’re sinking in space, reading the quarterback’s eyes while acknowledging route concepts around you.
McCoy is stellar in both components of playing cornerback right now. In his first two seasons with the Volunteers, McCoy has six interceptions and 16 pass breakups. In comparing 2023 film to 2024, his tackling significantly improved. If that continues to trend upward, he can be the best cornerback in the SEC, and that dude is usually a high draft pick.
3. T.J. Parker, EDGE, Clemson
While the rest of college football was attacking the transfer portal like no other, Dabo Swinney stayed in his lane and recruited the high-school ranks as ferociously as he ever has. And Parker, the No. 6 defensive line recruit in 2023 per 247 Sports, was one of those monster finds for the Tigers.
He’ll turn 21 in September and has already made plays like a seasoned veteran on this upstart Clemson defense in his first two years in Swinney’s program. In 2023, Parker had 15.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and a respectable 13.6% pressure rate as a sizable, three-down defensive end. Bend isn’t the name of the game with Parker. Burst, force upon contact, and heavy hands are his trademarks. If we see another uptick in production, he has the talent to be a Top 10 pick in 2026.
2. Caleb Banks, DT, Florida
In watching eventual Panthers fifth-round pick Cam’Ron Jackson on Florida’s defense during the 2025 pre-draft process, I was awed by No. 88 on the same defensive line — I was immediately reminded of watching No. 88 on Georgia’s defensive line while actually evaluating Travon Walker and Jordan Davis. That man was Jalen Carter.
Banks at least appears to be a comparably sleek, athletic, and refined force on the interior. Seriously. While he may not be quite the 6-5 and 325 pounds listed on the Florida Gators website, his production to date in Gainesville speaks for itself. Banks has registered a pressure on 12.1% of his pass-rush opportunities on the inside, a remarkably high figure for an interior player. And his film features just about every move in the book.
There’s first-step juice, sustained speed into the backfield, and premier length. While a bit older — Banks spent two seasons at Louisville before transferring to Florida, he has the makings of being one of the first defenders off the board in 2026.
1. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State
Downs is one of the genuinely rare recruits who instantaneously meets (or even exceeds) massive hype and rapidly morphs into a supreme NFL draft prospect. And, he’s undergone said transformation at two blue-blood schools. The No. 8 overall recruit in the 2023 class — and top safety — per 247 Sports, Downs was one of the final recruiting home runs hit by Nick Saban at Alabama. And nobody knows defensive backs at the collegiate level like Saban.
All he did as an 18 year old freshman was total 107 tackles with two picks and four pass breakups while wearing a variety of hats in the Crimson Tide defense. The post-Saban transition at Alabama led to Downs’ transfer to Ohio State. During the Buckeyes’ national title run, Downs made 82 tackles, with two more interceptions and six pass breakups. He, again, was everywhere.
At 6-0 and 205 with lightning-quick reflexes, range for days and Pro Bowl like tackling reliability, he enters the 2025 college football season as the best defender in the country and top defensive prospect for the 2026 class.
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