Hello and welcome once again to the 30 Day Countdown! We are almost to week one of the college football season, and it has been a long offseason at that! But we aren’t talking about the season today, instead our focus will be on the next offseason, the 2026 Draft specifically! The Huskies have plenty of draft eligible players at their disposal this season, and today we will attempt to project the first one off the board next April! Let’s get to it!
WR Denzel Boston
This is the most obvious one. Boston had been touted as a future star by coaches and teammates alike during Fall Camp in 2023, and he got to prove that wasn’t all hype in 2024, posting 63 catches for 834 yards and a team leading 9 receiving touchdowns. Now with a year as WR1 under his belt, Boston will look to build on a very solid sophomore season, and place himself into the upper echelon of receivers in the country, and hopefully get some first round buzz in the process!
Projection/Scouting Report:
Boston has been projected to go as high as 9th, and as low as 57th, according to Mock Draft Database. That’s an awful lot of variance, which is something that happens when we’re this early on in the process. But even with that, his scouting report (courtesy of NFL Draft Buzz) paints a picture of a very good possession receiver with elite route running skills, albeit lacking in the speed department, which is something that they spin as a positive, if teams can surround him with speedsters. His frame, contested catch ability, and sneaky ability to find YAC all contribute to why he is already garnering award watch list honors, and make him a very worthy candidate to be the first Dawg off the board in the NFL Draft next year!
RB Jonah Coleman
For years, NFL teams were incredibly reticent to even look at running backs in the first round. And that reticence was not unfounded, because as we all know, running backs tend to drop off in production after their 30th birthday, and aren’t as reliable or known for their longevity. The selections of Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty (6th pick, Las Vegas Raiders) and UNC’s Omarion Hampton (22nd pick, Los Angeles Chargers), prove that maybe the first round running back as a concept isn’t dead.
Jonah Coleman might be that next guy. It’s a longshot, I know, but all the factors are there for him to continue his stellar production. Coleman is coming off of a season in which he rushed for 1053 yards and 10 touchdowns behind an offensive line that can be best described as “makeshift”. Now, with another year of conditioning under his belt (getting his body fat percentage down from 16.8% to 14.2%, or from 236 to 222 pounds), he looks to improve on already stellar numbers since he’s donned the purple and gold. Perhaps the most impressive stat is a low one: Coleman has 1 lost fumble in his 3 seasons, that single fumble coming last year at Oregon.
Projection/Scouting Report:
There is a crazy amount of variance in the mocks for Jonah, according to Mock Draft Database. One has him going as high as 29, and another has him going as low as 121. I don’t know if this is a knock on him, so much as it is where these running backs normally get drafted. Even so, NFL Draft Buzz’s scouting report thinks Jonah is a very good running back prospect, echoing my sentiment that he is a runaway bowling ball, but he also possesses great vision, extending plays to the outside when the line broke down quite frequently last year. They also highlight his great pass catching ability, dovetailing with the ability to make guys miss (just watch his hurdle against Eastern Michigan last year if you want to see that in action). Those abilities, coupled with his great shiftiness and power, lead them to project him as a Day 2 pick. But you never know! He may surprise behind an offensive line with more cohesiveness and experience and rocket into the first round!
CB Tacario Davis
Former Arizona corner Tacario Davis rounds out this list. A second team All Big 12 selection after a season in which he recorded 43 tackles and 6 pass deflections, Davis looks to team with Ephesians Prysock to create a sneaky good corner tandem. At 6’4” and 200 pounds, that length will allow him to get physical and guard bigger receivers, meshing with new DC Ryan Walters’ stated goal to play more man coverage. If Walters can get this defensive unit humming, then Davis has a chance to skyrocket up the draft boards, earning some postseason awards along the way.
Projection/Scouting Report:
Davis has been projected, according to Mock Draft Database, to go anywhere from 10th to 90th. His scouting report highlights his size, his ability to jam receivers at the line, and his tackling ability (only 2.5 missed in his college career, by some metrics), as his chief strengths, while also highlighting his versatility in both man and zone coverages. However, NFL Draft Buzz sees him as needing to develop his technical skills a bit more, so he might need a bit more seasoning before he’s seen as a definitive pro contributor.
My Choice:
I’m going to have to go with Denzel Boston! Maybe I’ve bought too much into the hype, but we know what this guy can do, he’s already proven that he can be that WR1 that the Huskies need, and now his job is to build on that and I have the confidence that he can. That’s not to say that Coleman or Davis can’t, but if I’m thinking like a pro scout, and I see a guy like Denzel Boston, that’s a guy you can build your passing game around. I’m taking him first round, if I’m a GM! If Jonah and Tacario are available in the later rounds, then all the better. I personally feel like Boston is the safer bet to take round 1. But what do you think? Let me know your pick in the poll or in the comments below!