NFL
By Bill Carroll
Late spring means many things: allergy season, tourist season. For me, and others in the scouting community, it means summer scouting season. I break my process down into four discrete steps. First, I review all my notes from the previous year on players who did not declare. Secondly, I gather information on all draft-eligible transfer players, junior college signees, and injured players returning to the field.
Summer scouting is where the real foundation of evaluation begins.
Rather than waiting for fall film, my process begins in late spring and early summer. I start by organizing prior evaluations, transfer movement, injury returns, and developmental projections. Additionally, I reach out to coaches, evaluators, and even student-athletes for input regarding top players.
Structure matters every year, but this year it matters even more if you care about the FCS and Division II prospects. The top of the early public 2027 NFL Draft market is exactly what you would expect in June. It’s heavy on quarterbacks, receivers, edge rushers, and corners from the Power conferences. The best-known names dominate consensus boards and early rankings.
By the end of the article, I intend to explain:
- How a scout prepares for the upcoming season
- What information matters most before Week 1
- Why summer evaluation is more than just watching tape
- How continuity, context, and roster movement shape draft outlooks
For me, this is a four-step framework organized as follows.
- How Summer Scouting Season Begins:
- My Four-Step Summer Scouting Process
- Where the Scouting Season Really Starts
- Preparing for the Fall: A Scout’s Summer Routine
Finding Players
That does not mean the FCS lacks pro talent. If you’d like to know the board early, you’ll need to build it yourself. The offensive line remains where I begin every board. Offensive tackle, in particular, offers the clearest path to NFL evaluation. An example is South Dakota State left tackle Quinten Christensen, who is listed at 6’5″ 300, and he started all 15 games at left tackle in 2024. South Dakota State averaged 236.1 rushing yards per game, 6.1 yards per carry, and surrendered only eight sacks all season. HERO Sports also ranked Christensen No. 3 among its top returning FCS offensive linemen entering 2026.
Youngstown State’s Desmeal Leigh has a slightly different body type but is the same kind of NFL curiosity. Youngstown State lists Leigh at 6′ 7″ 325, and he enters 2026 after a 2nd-team All-MVFC season in 2025 and a 3rd-team All-America nod from SI.com. HERO ranked him #2 among returning FCS offensive linemen.
Then there is Montana State’s Titan Fleischmann, who anchors the top of this conversation. Montana State’s official roster lists him as a returning offensive tackle, and HERO’s returning FCS offensive line rankings slot him # 1, with Eastern Illinois’ release of the full HERO top five confirming Fleischmann at the top, Leigh second, and Christensen third.
Those names are why Step One matters so much. When I revisit last year’s notes, I am not only rereading what I thought; I am testing what still holds up. A returning player is never a brand-new evaluation, but he also cannot be treated like a frozen one, because development, health, role, and usage could all change by the time June arrives.
Step Two is where the modern game has changed scouting the most. The transfer portal, lower-division movement, and injury returns can all reshape the board before a single snap is played, especially at the FCS level, where proven Division II production now propels the board upward every off-season.
A few of those portal names already belong on the early watch-list. Jordan Barnett is now at Morgan State after a productive run at Shepherd, where he posted 635 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in 2023, 536 rushing yards and five touchdowns in 2024, and 2025 All-PSAC East First Team honors.
At Stephen F. Austin, Jeffery “Speedy” Jones Jr. might be one of the most explosive lower-division additions anywhere in the subdivision. FCS Football Central’s transfer running back analysis notes that Jones arrived from New Mexico Highlands after piling up 1,722 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns, and an absurd 10.8 yards per carry in just 10 games.
Kevin Lalin is another name that fits the modern small-school path. He began at Limestone, transferred to Catawba, and now arrives at Chattanooga with 2,272 career rushing yards, 13 career 100-yard games, and back-to-back All-SAC recognition, including 1,433 rushing yards in 2024 at Limestone and another efficient season at Catawba.
And Xavier Pugh gives Towson another lower-division back worth circling. He came over from Wingate after earning 2025 First Team All-SAC honors and a Harlon Hill nomination, and he rushed for 1,008 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2025.
Even when the player leaves the small-school nest entirely, the movement still matters to the board. Former Minnesota Duluth tight end Luke Dehnicke is now at Northwestern after a breakout season of 61 catches, 1,119 yards, and 14 touchdowns. His jump to Northwestern’s roster is a reminder that the small-school market no longer develops in isolation.
Step Three is my favorite part of the summer because it is where the work turns predictive. This is where you try to identify the next risers before everybody else catches up, and nowhere is that more interesting than the HBCU and lower-division running back pool.
Chase Bingmon is a perfect example. Prairie View A&M’s official roster lists him as a 5’9″ 185-pound back. The red-shirt sophomore will probably be on my watch list for next year. The same is true of Arkansas-Pine Bluff RB,
The NAIA has picked up some higher-profile transfers of late. Dyelon Caradine started at UAPB in 2023 and spent 2025 at Henderson State, which is now called Kansas Wesleyan University. Also, Jaylen Thomas (QB): Transferred to the University of Pikeville (AAC), where he is expected to start and could become a star after his time at D2 Lincoln University. However, he is still one of many. Alec Jackson has officially transferred from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M to Kansas Wesleyan University. The 6’3″, 200-pound quarterback joined the Coyote football program as a mid-year transfer to compete for a key spot in the team’s offensive lineup.
One of the first things that jumps out during the initial build of the 2027 small-school board is the unusual depth at quarterback. The FCS enters the season with a veteran group that is deeper than most years, headlined by Brungard, Ah Yat, Lamson, Williams, Pennington, Chris Parson, Devin Farrell, and Jordan Cooke. Not all of them will become NFL prospects, but together they create one of the strongest early quarterback evaluations the subdivision has produced in recent cycles. Experience, continuity, and proven production should make this one of the most closely watched FCS position groups throughout the fall.
What I am Learning
Perhaps the most intriguing pocket of talent, however, comes from the Division II-to-FCS transfer market. Every off-season, productive lower-division players seek opportunities against stronger competition, creating one of the most valuable scouting inefficiencies in the country. Jeffery “Speedy” Jones Jr., McKinney, Jordan Barnett, Kevin Lalin, and Xavier Pugh have already assembled production profiles that demand immediate attention once fall tape becomes available. Their success—or failure—against elevated competition will tell evaluators far more than another season of dominance at their previous level ever could.
That ultimately shapes the philosophy behind my summer watch list. I build the board from the inside out. I start with offensive and defensive linemen before expanding to veteran quarterbacks. Then, portal additions, developmental runners, and HBCU risers. The goal isn’t simply to identify the best players in June. It’s to identify where the next wave of NFL prospects is most likely to emerge before the rest of the scouting.
Now that we are entering July, the next phase will be to solidify the players in tiers, gather and refine my initial and carry-over information. In addition, whenever possible, add new information.
