2023 NFL Draft Stock Watch: Week in Review

With the abbreviated first week of the college football season in the books, who are the players that are trending up or down for the 2023 NFL Draft?

College football is officially here, with the abbreviated first week kicking off this past weekend. The great thing about is that you are able to watch teams that you may not always get to see, or teams you might skip over when there are marquee matchups on a typical Saturday. It is an opportunity to become more adept in your knowledge of college football because who would think that there might be a top-tier wide receiver prospect at a college like Charlotte? We hear so much about the Power 5 against the “Group of 5” and how the power conferences are so much better. Well, this is a good week for you to see that there are great teams and players all over the country. College football, like America, is a beautiful landscape and it’s wonderful to see all these teams get some recognition. Now sit back and enjoy the wild ride to the College Football Playoffs.

Trending Up

WR Grant Dubose, Charlotte

In a year that isn’t heavy in wide receiver prospects, Dubose has a great opportunity to separate himself from the rest as the top guy. Sure, Charlotte isn’t a football hotbed and there’s a high possibility you never heard of Dubose. So let’s start by talking about how Dubose started his season. The first reception he had against Florida Atlantic was a 52-yard touchdown. That is the type of playmaking ability he possesses and we haven’t talked about size yet. He is 6-foot-2 and weighs 200 pounds, but he is also a phenomenal athlete and matchup nightmare. All game long, he gave the FAU defense fits, finishing with 89 yards on only four receptions with two touchdowns. This is a player whose draft stock should be skyrocketing every week.

LB JaQues Evans, Western Kentucky

It’s not surprising to hear about a prospect coming out of Western Kentucky. What is surprising is when the prospect plays defense and that is exactly what we have here. Evans is a player hoping to be a big piece of the Western Kentucky defense after only 43 total tackles his freshman season and he got off to a hot start. He accumulated 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks against Austin Peay, which will make a huge impression as we advance this year. He is still raw and coming into his own as a productive player, but he has the size and athleticism wanted in a linebacker. If he can follow up on this performance next week, he could be off and rolling into a big season.

RB Nathan Carter, UConn

It has been a rough couple of seasons for the UConn football program. Still, there is a lot of hope entering the first season under head coach Jim Mora Jr. One of the players hoping to help kick-start the turnaround for his team is Carter and he didn’t disappoint in Game 1 against Utah State. He carried the ball 20 times for a whopping 190 yards. The only downside was that he didn’t find the end zone. UConn ultimately lost the game, but Carter showed a lot of promise and should be someone we hear more from this year. Carter isn’t the flashiest player, but he has a great overall skill set that gives opposing defenses trouble stopping and that is a very attractive quality for NFL organizations.

Trending Down

QB Casey Thompson, Nebraska

It’s hard to pin the Nebraska loss on one player, especially when a questionable and failed onside kick completely killed the team’s momentum. Unfortunately for Thompson, when you are the starting quarterback, all eyes are on you, and at the end of the day, there was a lot he could have done better. He completed just over 50 percent of his passes, which isn’t good enough. He also had two interceptions that put his team in a couple of bad situations, leading to points for Northwestern. Again, we cannot put all the blame on Thompson when a coaching decision is what led to a complete momentum shift. It was evident that when the chips fell, Thompson couldn’t get his game back on track and that could be a bad omen for the rest of the season.

Wyoming's Lackluster Offense

For a game that, on paper, could have gone either way, it was truly a one-sided affair. Wyoming had the chance to knock off a Power 5 team, but forgot to show up for the game and gave an uninspired performance. The offense had only 212 yards, with 30 yards coming through the air. That isn’t even mentioning the fact that the team did not score a touchdown and had two turnovers (an interception and a fumble). This was against an Illinois team that had a losing record last season and isn’t expected to be much better this year. Wyoming won a bowl game last season and even though they had a lot of turnover on their roster, expectations were still high for the Cowboys. There will undoubtedly be some soul-searching in Wyoming because a performance like this can't be the constant for the season. 

CLICK BELOW FOR MORE NFL DRAFT CONTENT

• 2023 NFL Draft Big Board & Position Rankings
• 2022 NFL Draft Selections
• Scouting Reports
• NFL Mock Drafts