Prospect Watch: Five Early 2025 NFL Draft Risers

You never want to overreact after just one week of college football. So how about overreacting after the second week instead?

Below are five players who have stood out in the early weeks of the fledgling college football season from a draft perspective. We’ll talk about fallers in the future, but today is all about the exciting performances. I don’t like to be too negative on prospects early in the year, as even the disappointing ones have time to turn things around. But the positive standouts are worth talking about because they can springboard from encouraging early-season results to real momentum-building movement over the course of a season.

It’s early, and these players still have work to do to make these first two weeks mean anything come April. But they’re on the right track. Here are five draft risers I’ve identified through two weeks of college football:

Texas QB Quinn Ewers

Ewers has done good work to make himself a riser in this class. Last year there were clear flaws on tape that kept him from being projected as a top pick and led him to return for another season at Texas. Through the first two games of 2024, he’s attacked those weaknesses and turned them into strengths. This quarterback class is starving for a player to cement themselves at the top of the draft and Ewers could be that guy.

I had Ewers as my QB8 entering the season, well outside my top 50 overall players. This was largely due to two factors: erratic ball placement and a lack of consistent anticipation and timing in his throws. Accuracy was a struggle for Ewers in the past, missing easy throws and failing to hit timing routes with enough consistency to succeed in the NFL. He would take too many sacks and negative plays, always trying to hit a home run instead of taking the base hit. He had an NFL arm and good traits for the position but couldn’t seem to put it all together.

That’s changed so far this season. Ewers looks like a different quarterback. PFF has him with an 84.1 overall grade through two games and some of their more advanced metrics paint an even prettier picture. He’s in the 99th percentile on throws at or beyond the line to gain, 81st percentile in avoiding negatively graded throws and has two big-time throws — and no turnover-worthy plays to offset that.

The counting stats reinforce his improvement. Ewers is completing almost 70 percent of his passes and has six touchdowns to just one interception. All these fancy numbers paint the picture of a quarterback who has reinvented himself — and the tape backs that up too. Ewers is playing with more confidence and rhythm than in past seasons. He’s learned to hit the big plays while avoiding sacks and turnovers, to protect the football while still exploiting the defense when they give him a look he likes.

It’s early, but Ewers is rapidly entering the first-round discussion after helping the Longhorns dominate reigning national champion Michigan. Georgia QB Carson Beck and Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders are viewed as consensus first-round quarterbacks, but neither are exciting, high-upside prospects that teams rush to take with their top picks. Ewers can be that prospect. If he keeps up this level of play, he might become the favorite to be taken first overall.

Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

The No. 12 overall player on my preseason big board, Jeanty flew a little under the radar coming into the year, with draft analysts and fans alike focusing on Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins and Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon III more. Jeanty isn’t hiding in relative obscurity anymore. Just two games into the 2024 season he already has 459 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, averaging a whopping 10.2 yards per carry. A chunk of that production came against Georgia State — but the other chunk was against Oregon. 

Jeanty has been college football’s most electric player through two weeks, and PFF’s metrics are even more bullish on him with an elite 91.3 overall grade and 28 explosive runs. Jeanty is in the 100th percentile in four of the five stable rushing metrics PFF charts. The other? He’s in the 99^th percentile.

Jeanty has been not only the best player in college football through two weeks, but he’s putting up numbers better than the best running back prospects in recent memory. It takes a lot for a running back to crack the first round these days. Typically, they need to not only be elite, game-changing runners, but also add significant value in the receiving game. Jeanty’s receiving numbers have been down so far this year, mostly due to opportunity, but his 2023 season tells a different story. He was a 99th-percentile player in PFF’s metrics in both receiving grade and yards per route run, and 97th percentile in missed tackles forced per reception. These are three of the most bankable stats in running back receiving production when trying to project to the NFL.

While I was high on Jeanty entering the season, he’s gaining wider traction in scouting circles as a potential first-round guy. He’s cementing his status as a back that can break the mold and be a highly coveted weapon in the first round.

Miami QB Cam Ward

Ewers is my biggest riser from this quarterback class, but Ward has been grabbing plenty of headlines. And rightfully so. He was projected as a mid-round pick after his 2023 season at Washington State, so he elected to transfer to Miami and try and boost his stock. And boy has he.

Through two weeks, Ward is 90th percentile or above in all of PFF’s stable quarterback metrics, and 100th percentile in three of them. He has a 92.5 overall grade and six big-time throws to one turnover-worthy play. I want to see Ward keep this up over a few more games before I slide him too far up my rankings, but I have my eye on him. In a class desperate for quarterback talent, Ward is an intriguing prospect.

Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan

I don’t have too much to say on McMillan that I didn’t say over the summer. He was my WR1 entering the year and the 13th overall player on my big board. That said, I may have been too low on him. He’ll be a surefire top-ten guy when I update my rankings.

McMillan has been unguardable through two weeks. While 315 yards and four touchdowns is impressive enough, PFF’s advanced stats are even more eye-popping. He’s 100th percentile in receiving grade, against zone, yards per route run, and yards after the catch per reception. McMillan’s separation grades are more middle-of-the-pack, but that’s to be expected given his build and playstyle. The fact is, few human beings move like he does at his size, and he dwarfs most cornerbacks. The 2025 wide receiver class is shaping up to be another great one.

Miami ED Tyler Baron

I wanted to end this piece with a player I didn’t scout over the summer. Baron is a transfer from Tennessee and has four sacks in two games for the Hurricanes, who look like the early favorites in the ACC race. Nine total pressures and seven positively-graded run defense snaps showcase his all-around game. If he keeps this up, he can be a significant riser in this edge rusher class.

Across two games, Baron is in the 100th percentile in all six of PFF’s stable edge rusher metrics. That’s ludicrous, and while that number will likely come down a bit over a larger sample size, it goes to show how good Baron has been to start the season. He’s a fifth-year player who may not test as the best athlete, so his upper range in the draft is difficult to pinpoint. But he’s already played himself into the Day 2 conversation and could keep rising from there.