Good morning, New York Giants fans! Happy Saturday and welcome to “Week 0” of the 2025 college football season.
Thats right. We have two weeks to wait before the Giants will take the field against the Washington Commanders, but that doesn’t mean we’re without football. The college football season kicks off today, and we even get a matchup between ranked opponents.
We’ll take a look at that game, as well as use Dane Brugler’s initial Top 50 prospects to highlight some players the Giants might want to pay attention to this year.
(17) Kansas State vs. (22) Iowa State
ESPN – noon
K-State finished the 2024 as an unranked team with a 9-4 record, but expectations are rising as quarterback Avery Johnson enters his junior season. Johnson was a four-star recruit and received offers from Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Arizona State, but decided to stay in Kansas. He’s a dynamic dual threat quarterback who’s looking to take the next step forward in his development as a passer.
Iowa State, meanwhile, finished second in the Big12 with an 11-3 record and won last year’s meeting between these two teams 29-21. The Cyclones lost a fair amount of talent to the NFL draft last year, but QB (and Pop Tarts Bowl MVP) Rocco Becht is returning for his red-shirt Junior campaign. Iowa State has a habit of punching well out of their weight class, making the most of overlooked recruits, and scheming up frustrating defenses, so the Cyclones could surprise this year.
Both of these teams are well worth keeping tabs on this year.
Players to watch this year
After watching the Giants through camp and preseason, I still think their major areas of need next year will (likely) be offensive tackle, wide receiver, and cornerback. We’re still a long way out from the end of the 2025 season, let alone the 2026 NFL Draft, so there’s plenty of time for players to emerge and ascend. But as things stand now, this looks like a weaker class for wide receivers and corners (five each in Brugler’s Top 50), but a relatively strong class for offensive tackles (10 in his Top 50)
Note: Like last year, this could be a good year for defensive tackles and edge defenders.
We’ll start up front.
Offensive Tackle
Spencer Fano (8th) and Caleb Lomu (15th
(Utah)
The two Utes should be one of the, if not the, foremost tackle duos in college football this year. Todd McShay mocked Fano to the Giants third overall in his “Appropriately Early” mock draft this year, and I could see the team looking hard at both players depending on where they finish. Fano will likely be the more highly drafted of the two, but Lomu has a high ceiling as well.
Kadyn Proctor (Alabama, 3rd)
I’m going to admit, I’m a skeptic where Proctor is concerned. Not because he’s an Alabama offensive lineman, but because I’ve become a believer that it’s possible to be too big to play offensive line in the NFL. One of the chief differences between myself and Brugler is that he loves Height/Weight/Speed guys and will always rank the big guys higher. Personally, I’ve seen enough undersized or “unathletic” players outperform prospects with prototypical measurables that I’ve come to treat them as a tie breaker, not a prerequisite.
Proctor is a truly mammoth young man, listed at 6-foot-7, 370 pounds. He’s able to dominate competition at the collegiate level simply through sheer mass, and he moves well for his size at that. If he’s able to make good on his athletic upside and show solid technique, he’ll be drafted very highly.
Francis Mauigoa (Miami, 14th)
Mauigoa is a player I have my eye on for the Giants. Ideally, they’ll be drafting in a range where he is both available and is a solid value. He was one of the top left tackle recruits in the country when he committed to the Hurricanes (the other being Proctor), and has since become one of the best right tackles in the country.
Mauigoa is a good-sized tackle at 6-foot-6, 320 pounds, with good movement skills as well as power. Marcus Mbow looks as though he could develop into a starter with some time and strength. That said, Mauigoa has starter potential if the Giants want to go in a different direction.
Wide receiver
Jordyn Tyson (Arizona State, 12th)
Tyson got his start at Colorado in 2022, but transferred to Arizona State after a bad knee injury late in the year. He has since returned to form and has been coached by Steelers’ great Hines Ward at Arizona State. As Brugler notes, health and medicals will be the big factor in Tyson’s draft slot, as he has the traits and talent to be a true WR1 in the NFL.
Ideally, the Giants’ won’t be in position to draft Tyson, because he’ll be healthy and selected too highly, and the Giants will be drafting too late.
Chris Bell (Louisville, 25th)
Bell is a big and athletic receiver who’s gotten better every year at Louisville. He averaged over 17 yards per catch last year with Tyler Shough, and had five receptions of over 40 yards. He weighs in at 6-foot-2, 227 pounds yet is expected to run in the 4.4 range. It remains to be seen whether Bell will be able to take the next step in his development with transfer quarterback Miller Moss. Moss was accurate with an adequate deep ball, which should bode well for Bell.
We know Jaxson Dart is an aggressive quarterback who’s constantly looking to attack, and he could become fast friends with Bell.
Carnell Tate (Ohio State, 31st)
Another year, another Ohio State receiver getting first round buzz. Tate is the next in the pipeline of talent coming out of OSU, and he has the chance to shine in 2025. He was behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka on the depth chart in previous years, but now Tate will be a full time starter, and an experienced option for new QB Julian Sayin.
Jeremiah Smith will likely get the bulk of attention at the national level, but Tate is the draft-eligible receiver. He has the chance to establish himself as a first round prospect with a good year.
Nyck Harbor (South Carolina, unranked)
I’m going off-script a bit here to flag Harbor as a wildcard in the whole wide receiver conversation.
Harbor is more potential than anything else at this stage of his development. He has rare size at 6-foot-5, 235 pounds and legitimate “Olympic” speed (he reportedly runs in the 4.3s). That, however, has been more of a curse than a blessing to this point, as his Olympic aspirations have gotten in the way of his football career. He has reportedly dedicated himself to football and his craft as a receiver this year, and could be the beneficiary if Gamecocks’ QB LaNorris Sellers takes the anticipated step forward.
Harbor has the potential to put on a “D.K. Metcalf” style show at the NFL Scouting Combine. but his draft stock could range anywhere from a mid-round flier to a first round pick. It’ll all depend on whether he can put it together this year.
Cornerback
Avieon Terrell (Clemson, 16th)
Younger brother of Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell, Avieon aims to continue the family business of making receivers’ lives miserable.
He’s a bit undersized at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, but he’s a quick, fast, agile, fluid, and explosive athlete. He’s also a highly aggressive corner who uses great instincts and effortless movement skills to be highly disruptive. He had two interceptions, three forced fumbles, and 12 passes defensed last year, and could be even more dangerous this year.
Clemson could have a frightning defensive front as well as a great offense with (potential QB 1) Cade Klubnik at quarterback. Terrell could have an embarrassment of opportunities to stuff the box score.
DJ McKinney (Colorado, 32nd)
There were only two players the Giants didn’t have the opportunity to draft in 2025, and one of them was Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter. They could get a Colorado cornerback this year in McKinney.
Colorado’s “other” cornerback finished the year with nine passes defensed and three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown). The former Oklahoma State corner consistently improved over his time under Deion Sanders, and as Brugler says, it’ll be interesting to see what another year of development yields.
McKinney has good size at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, though we’ll need to see if he has man coverage traits or if he’s more of a zone corner at the NFL level.
Will Lee III (Texas A&M, 43rd)
Lee has had a winding road to the NFL, with two years at a community college and another at Kansas State before transferring to TAMU last year. He adapted well to life in the SEC with 10 passes defensed and two interceptions (one for a touchdown) last year.
Lee, nicknamed “The Blanket”, is a long and athletic at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds. He has quick feet, fluid hips, and obvious ball skills. His draft stock will likely depend on his overall testing and whether or not the NFL thinks he has press-man coverage traits. That said, Lee could still be an option for the Giants if they evaluate him as more of an off-man player, considering how often they mixed Cover 1 and Cover 3 alignments to disguise their coverages in 2024.
A.J. Harris (Penn State, 45th)
The Giants have spent a lot of time studying Penn State over the last two years, so I’m sure Harris in on their radar. He also has the opportunity to rise up draft boards, even if he doesn’t put up stats. It isn’t that Harris isn’t capable of disrupting or putting up numbers, but rather that opposing quarterbacks might find easier pickings elsewhere.
Harris has very good size at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, with the play strength and fluidity to match up in man coverage with most receivers. He’s a physical defender who excels at getting in receviers’ hip pockets and taking them out of the game, as well as closing disrupt at the catch point. He’s also very physical when coming downhill in run support.
Harris isn’t quite as high profile as some of the other corners being talked about as potential first rounders, but he’s a good candidate to be a “late riser” as people get a closer look at his tape after the season.
(It’s also notable that he got his start at Georgia before transferring to Penn State for the 2024 season. The Bulldogs have a pretty good reputation for defense.)
Jalon Kilgore (South Carolina, unranked)
Okay, so I’m doing this twice… My piece, my rules.
South Carolina has done an incredible job of finding and recruiting athletes to their program. Their contingent put on a show at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, and they could do so again between Kilgore and Harbor.
Kilgore is more of a “Nickel” or “DB” than a true cornerback. He has safety size at 6-foot-1, 211 pounds, but is very fluid for a big defensive back. That allowed him to play corner, safety, slot, and hybrid linebacker for South Carolina’s defense last year and it will be interesting to see how he’s used with O’Donnell Fortune in the NFL. If the Giants aren’t in need of a pure cornerback but could use some more help in the secondary, they could look at Kilgore as a Back 7 Swiss army knife.
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