Boise State lands one player on national preseason top 100 list

Oregon, Boise State’s Week 1 opponent, leads college football with eight selections

Boise State's Jayden Virgin-Morgan | Boise State Athletics

ESPN released its annual list of the top 100 players entering the upcoming college football season, and Boise State fifth-year senior edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan was one of two Group of Six players to make the cut. 

The 6-foot-3, 257-pound Virgin-Morgan, a two-time all-Mountain West selection, checked in at No. 61 on the list. 

“The most proven disruptor in the Group of Six, Virgin-Morgan returns for a third season as a Boise State starter. … Virgin-Morgan boasts NFL size and enough speed to occasionally line up at inside linebacker, and in 2026, he could drive another College Football Playoff run for the Broncos,” ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote of Virgin-Morgan.

Virgin-Morgan has started all 14 games for the Broncos each of the last two seasons. He tallied 56 total tackles as a junior while leading the team in tackles for loss (13) and sacks (six). 

Virgin-Morgan was the new Pac-12’s lone representative in the top 100. The rebuilt conference will feature Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State and Washington State for the 2026 season. 

New Mexico fourth-year senior linebacker Jaxton Eck was ranked No. 100 by ESPN. Eck earned MWC Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors as a junior after recording 129 total tackles and ranking 10th nationally in tackles per game. 

“After an FCS All-America campaign at Idaho, which featured 134 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss, Eck made the jump to FBS and produced almost identical numbers. He made a tackle for every 5.7 snaps, swarming from sideline to sideline and leading a defense that improved from 130th in scoring defense in 2024 to 46th in 2025,” Connelly wrote of Eck. 

Oregon, ranked second in the preseason Coaches Poll and AP Poll, led the country with eight players in the top 100, highlighted by Heisman Trophy candidate Dante Moore (No. 11) at quarterback and defensive lineman A’Mauri Washington (No. 16). 

Boise State will open the 2026 season at Oregon on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Entering last season, ESPN ranked six Group of Five players in the top 100: San Diego State edge rusher Trey White (No. 36), Virgin-Morgan (No. 48), Navy quarterback Blake Horvath (No. 50), Old Dominion linebacker Jason Henderson (No. 60), Boise State offensive tackle Kage Casey (No. 63) and Buffalo linebacker Red Murdock (No. 90). Casey was selected in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos. 

The Group of Five expanded to the Group of Six this season with the inclusion of the Pac-12.