The NFL Draft allows the opportunity to retrospectively examine what we thought of future top draft picks as high school prospects. In doing so, we can learn from successes and mistakes to improve our scouting and ranking process in the future.2026 NFL Draft Report Card: How every recruiting service stacked up
The first three rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft saw several prominent hits and misses. Here are a few that stick out.
Drafted: No. 3 by the Arizona CardinalsOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 79 in 2023Next Highest Ranking: 4-star, No. 93 (ESPN)Industry Comparison
Jeremiyah Love was a steady riser at running back in the 2023 cycle, ultimately finishing as the No. 4 back and inside the top 100. Love was an elite athlete both on the track and in the combine setting. He first caught our eye coming out of his junior season and moved into the On300 in February 2022. Love was an explosive, big-play back who we wanted to see get more carries as a senior. We saw that improvement as a senior, with the Notre Dame pledge rushing for 1,292 yards and 22 touchdowns at 9.2 yards per carry, in addition to 13 catches for 370 yards and five touchdowns. Love put a huge exclamation point on his high school career heading into the final rankings with a 318-yard, five touchdown performance in the state championship game. A prospect who was younger for the class (late May birthday) Love showed consistent improvement and is in hindsight the clear top running back to come from the 2023 cycle, though there were signs of an upward trajectory as a prospect.
Drafted: No. 4 by the Tennessee TitansOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 47 in 2023Rivals Industry Ranking: 4-star, No. 41Industry Comparison
Carnell Tate was one of the more skilled wide receiver prospects in the 2023 cycle with advanced route-running ability and ball skills. Tate was a standout wide receiver at IMG Academy and had a very good senior season. His raw production wasn’t eye-popping: 37 catches for 750 yards and eight touchdowns. But when accounting for IMG’s short nine-game season and traditionally run-heavy offense, it’s by far the best season a wide receiver has had at the talent powerhouse in at least a decade. It’s something that we should have better accounted for at the time. The biggest question with Tate was the top-end gear, as he never ran faster than 4.72 seconds in the 40-yard dash. With that said, he tested well in about every other drill. The high skill level and per game production against top competition should have had him ranked higher. The 2023 wide receiver cycle was stacked with big, gifted athletes who were raw technically. Tate’s high floor and steady production are a reminder that wide receiver is a true skill position.
Drafted: No. 5 by the New York GiantsOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 142 in 2023Next Highest Ranking: 4-star, No. 204 (247Sports)Industry Comparison
Arvell Reese was a relative late riser in the 2023 cycle bursting on the national scene after his junior season, which was his first year of varsity football. Reese almost immediately moved into the On300, where he stayed for the rest of the cycle. We knew he was a top physical talent. Reese measured over 6-foot-3, 225 pounds with plus length and consistently ran in the high 4.5’s to mid-4.6’s at college camps. He transferred to Cleveland Glenville for his senior season where he continued to look like one of the more high upside linebackers in the cycle while adding much needed consistency to his game. One of the younger players in the cycle with a late August birthday, Reese continued to grow while on campus at Ohio State and ultimately had a huge breakout season in 2025.
Drafted: No. 7 by the Washington CommandersOn3 Ranking: 5-star, No. 4 in 2022Next Highest Ranking: 5-star, No. 11 (Rivals’ previous scouting team)Industry Comparison
Sonny Styles was initially tabbed as a five-star prospect early on in the 2023 cycle, ranking in the top three of On3’s first 2023 On300 alongside Arch Manning. He reclassified to the 2022 cycle prior to his final high school season and is the first former reclassification to be taken in the first-round, bucking what is a growing trend. Styles was a jumbo safety at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, who we felt would grow into either a linebacker or EDGE long-term. He was an elite athlete with some of the best combine results in the cycle, something we saw him carry over to the NFL Combine. He was a great two-way player on Friday nights and just oozed elite upside, which is ultimately why we opted to keep him in the top five despite the increased competition with the reclassification. Styles needed four years at Ohio State to develop into an elite linebacker, but it was a matter of when, not if, that would happen.
Drafted: No. 15 by the Tampa Bay BuccaneersOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 129 in 2023Rivals Industry Ranking: 4-star, No. 57Industry Comparison
Rueben Bain‘s evaluation out of high school mirrored much of what we saw from him as a NFL Draft prospect. He was a dominant player at at Miami Central, racking up an astounding 70 tackles for loss and 48.5 sacks in his final two years. As he did in college, Bain rose to the occasion against the best competition, dominating IMG Academy as a senior, notching three sacks as an interior rusher while leading Miami Central to a big upset win. We didn’t know what to make of Bain’s physical upside, given he was 6-foot-1.5, 250 pounds with arm length that was in the 1st percentile, and average testing numbers (at very best). Ultimately, he beat the odds despite being a huge physical outlier with his skill level, effort, and production compensating for the limitations.
Drafted: No. 19 by the Carolina PanthersOn3 Ranking: 5-star, No. 7 in 2023Next Highest Ranking: 4-star, No. 33 (247Sports) Industry Comparison
We were the highest on Monroe Freeling for the entirety of the 2023 cycle and he ended up being a five-star outlier for On3. He started out as a high upside, developmental tackle prospect with a great frame and top notch athleticism. Freeling made really impressive strides as a senior, adding good weight and functional strength and made a big jump on film. We saw Freeling alongside other first-rounders like Spencer Fano, Kadyn Proctor, and Caleb Lomu at All-American Bowl practices after the senior season, and he looked like the most physically talented of the group. Unlike Fano and Proctor, Freeling didn’t see the field early as a true freshman, but closed the gap considerably down the stretch of his final year in Athens. Had he returned to school as a senior, we think he’d push to be the top offensive tackle in what looks like a loaded 2027 NFLF Draft.
Drafted: No. 28 by the New England PatriotsOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 79 in 2023Next Highest Ranking: 4-star, No. 121 (Rivals’ previous scouting team)Industry Comparison
Caleb Lomu was an outlier for On3 for the majority of the 2023 cycle. We loved his functional movement skills on film and in the camp setting. Lomu definitely needed go get stronger, but looked to have the frame to tack on good mass. He impressed alongside future teammate Spencer Fano at All-American Bowl practices, providing a look of things to come in their time at Utah.
Drafted: No. 29 by the Kansas City ChiefsOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 75 in 2023Rivals Industry Ranking: 5-star, No. 19Industry Comparison
Peter Woods was one of the first prospects to emerge in the 2023 cycle, initially ranking inside the top ten in On3’s early rankings. A dominant defensive lineman at Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson, the top high school program in the state of Alabama, Woods played alongside several other blue-chip and Power 4 prospects. While he didn’t have the eye-popping stature or frame of some other top defensive linemen, he consistently produced and put together several strong all-star showings. I recall watching him dominate practice at the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game. In the end, we had Woods ranked too low, as his polish and movement skills led to an instant impact at Clemson. This miss isn’t quite as bad as it looked heading into the season, though. Woods was considered by some to be the top player in the draft, but saw his stock slip a bit with a lackluster final season at Clemson.
Drafted: No. 31 by the Tennessee TitansOn3 Ranking: 4-star, No. 115 in 2023Rivals Industry Ranking: 4-star, No. 64Industry Comparison
Keldric Faulk was a foil of Peter Woods, and serves as a good example that both high ceiling and high floor prospects can go in the first round. Faulk was one of the more physically-imposing prospects in the 2023 cycle. I first saw him at a college camp heading into his junior season. He was around 6-foot-5, 225 pounds at the time and looked to be a plus athlete, but clearly had a lot of room to continue developing. I saw Faulk again at Alabama-Mississippi All-Star practices over a year later and he looked to have grown an inch and added at least 40 pounds to his frame. He was one of the younger players in the cycle, turning 18 in September of his true freshman season at Auburn, meaning he could’ve really been a 2024 prospect. We always viewed him as a high upside, developmental prospect who was still figuring things out as a player. Ultimately his physical upside led to the first round selection, but there’s no doubt we should’ve had Faulk higher off of the ceiling alone.