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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The 2027 NFL Draft quarterback class looks very different from what scouts expected a few months ago. Arch Manning entered the year as a potential No. 1 overall pick, but his inconsistency and late-game mistakes have raised plenty of questions. Dante Moore, meanwhile, is set to miss the rest of the 2026 season with a serious concussion, and Julian Sayin will be sidelined for several weeks, if not the entire year, due to an injury to his throwing arm. ESPN's Pete Thamel also noted how LaNorris Sellers and Sam Leavitt were generating buzz before the season, but both have struggled as well.
Thamel reported Saturday that, after polling 25 NFL scouts and executives, 17 voted in favor of another name: Drew Mestemaker, who has taken over as the clear favorite to be the first quarterback taken in the 2027 NFL Draft. The Oklahoma State quarterback received 17 votes, the most of any prospect in the three years ESPN has conducted the poll, ahead of names like CJ Carr with four votes, Darian Mensah with three, and Moore with just one.
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Mestemaker is a redshirt sophomore who transferred to Oklahoma State from North Texas in 2026. His rise has been meteoric. He began his college career as a walk-on at North Texas, where he won the 2025 Burlsworth Trophy, given to the nation's top former walk-on, and was American Conference Player of the Year after setting single-season program records with 4,379 passing yards (led the FBS) and 34 passing touchdowns with just nine interceptions, completing 68.9% of his passes.
Now, he's putting together another impressive season in Stillwater. Through seven games, Mestemaker has completed 65.7% of his passes for 2,326 yards and 20 touchdowns with six interceptions. He led Oklahoma State to a 39-31 upset of Oregon earlier in the year, outplaying Moore, and threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns without an interception in the Cowboys' 57-24 rout of Colorado last weekend.
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Mestemaker also has Oklahoma State potentially flirting with a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Cowboys are 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Big 12 play heading into Saturday's contest at Iowa State. After that, they'll head to Kansas State before hosting No. 13 Texas Tech, traveling to Arizona State, and closing out the regular season at home against Kansas. If they win out, they could play for the Big 12 championship and a spot in the CFP.
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