Oregon quarterback Dante Moore drops back to pass against Indiana during the first half of the Peach Bowl last month. (Brynn Anderson / AP)
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By
Jon Wilner
Bay Area News Group
The NFL invited 16 quarterback prospects to the 2026 scouting combine in Indianapolis this week. The collection includes players from Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, North Dakota State and Texas Tech. Even traditional basketball power Connecticut produced an invitee.
Who isn’t represented? Half the country.
Imagine a not-quite-straight line running from Fargo, North Dakota, through Lawrence, Kan., to Lubbock, Texas.
No quarterbacks from schools to the left of that line will be represented in Indianapolis.
From a competitive standpoint for next fall, that’s not all bad.
Several players who likely would have been on the invite list, including Oregon’s Dante Moore, UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava, Arizona’s Noah Fifita and USC’s Jayden Maiava, opted to return to school.
Other promising talents simply aren’t eligible for the draft. BYU’s Bear Bachmeier, Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. come immediately to mind.
But the situation is unusual. Schools in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones typically are represented in Indianapolis (Just two years ago, there were four: USC’s Caleb Williams, Oregon’s Bo Nix, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and BYU’s Kedon Slovis.)
As a result, they have to settle for tracking the progress of former players. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner and presumptive No. 1 pick, began his career at Cal. Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar spent a few months at UCLA. Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia played for New Mexico State. And Arkansas’ Taylen Green spent three seasons at Boise State.
Notably, Mendoza is not expected to participate in the throwing drills — a predictable but disappointing development given the somewhat mundane quarterback class. Alabama’s Ty Simpson, Miami’s Carson Beck and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier are the next-best prospects.
Put another way: The 2026 contingent won’t ever be confused with the 2018 collection, which featured Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield.
Other storylines to watch this week:
— Texas A&M received the most invitations with 13. Alabama and Ohio State were close behind, followed by LSU and Georgia.
(Indiana, the undefeated national champion, had nine players invited.)
Among the Pac-12 legacy schools, Oregon (surprise!) received the most invitations with nine, although tackle Isaiah World won’t participate because of a knee injury.
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USC had seven players invited, with five each for Utah and Washington and four for Arizona State.
We couldn’t help but notice the Trojans and Huskies are each sending just one lineman, whereas the Ducks and Utes have multiple linemen participating.
— The 40-yard dash record (4.21 seconds) set two years ago by Texas receiver Xavier Worthy could be in jeopardy this week.
The prime candidate is Mississippi State receiver Brenen Thompson, whose 58-yard touchdown catch beat Arizona State early in the season.
Thompson reportedly clocked 10.18 seconds in the 100-meter dash in high school.
— Five defensive backs scheduled to participate this week played for Washington coach Jedd Fisch … at Arizona.
Treydan Stukes, Dalton Johnson, Genesis Smith, Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock were with Fisch during his tenure in Tucson. Davis and Prysock followed him to Seattle; the others remained with the Wildcats.
(During his Arizona tenure, Fisch signed four of the five. Only Stukes was on the roster before he arrived.)
— Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq is a good bet to test off the charts. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder runs like a receiver, jumps like a slam dunk contestant and has stupendous body control.
His issue: hands.
Sadiq was an inconsistent pass catcher with the Ducks. If he eases those concerns, the first round awaits.
— Although it’s not part of the NFL Network’s coverage, medical evaluations are a critical component to the combine.
Few players have more at stake in that regard than receiver Jordyn Tyson, who suffered a major knee injury, pulled hamstring and broken collarbone during his career at Colorado and Arizona State.
Based on talent alone, Tyson would be a likely top-15 pick. His draft fate hinges on the doctors.
— Could Washington tailback Jonah Coleman emerge as the No. 2 tailback in the draft?
He is currently (far) behind Notre Dame’s wondrous Jeremiyah Love, a likely first-round pick. But with strong testing, Coleman could establish himself as the best of the rest.
Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, Michigan’s Justice Haynes and Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price are in that group, as well.
— Finally, here’s the workout schedule for the NFL Network broadcasts:
Thursday (noon to 5 p.m.): defensive linemen and linebackers
Friday (noon to 5 p.m.): defensive backs and tight ends
Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.): quarterbacks, receivers and running backs
Sunday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.): offensive linemen
Jon Wilner: jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com. Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.