The ACC sent six players off the board in Thursday night’s first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. It’s the conference’s strongest showing since 2021, and a run that brings the conference to 26 first-rounders since 2021 and 128 since 2000.
The six picks, in order:
- No. 10 Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami → New York Giants
- No. 15 Rueben Bain Jr., Edge, Miami → Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- No. 17 Blake Miller, OT, Clemson → Detroit Lions
- No. 22 Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami → Los Angeles Chargers
- No. 26 Keylan Rutledge, OG, Georgia Tech → Houston Texans
- No. 29 Peter Woods, DT, Clemson → Kansas City Chiefs
The overall Round 1 narrative was quarterbacks early. Fernando Mendoza went No. 1 to Las Vegas as expected, and the Rams made the night’s biggest shocker by taking Alabama’s Ty Simpson at No. 13 with a heavy run on trench players and front-seven talent through the middle of the round.
The ACC fit that trend almost perfectly. Five of the six ACC first-rounders were linemen on either side of the ball. Only the edge-rusher duo of Bain and Mesidor out of Miami broke the offensive-line/defensive-tackle pattern, and they’re still trench players in their own right.
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Two programs carried the conference’s Round 1 flag in the NFL Draft. Miami produced three first-rounders (Mauigoa, Bain, Mesidor) and Clemson added two (Miller, Woods). Georgia Tech’s Rutledge was the lone outlier from outside that pair and a significant one, given PFF’s grade of him as the nation’s No. 5 offensive guard heading into the draft.
NFL Draft
The conference continued to underperform against the SEC and Big Ten in skill-position Round 1 selections. Zero ACC wide receivers, running backs, tight ends, or defensive backs heard their names Thursday. These are positions where the SEC and Big Ten dominated the top half of the round. That’s a narrative with legs as the NIL/transfer portal era continues to reshape where skill talent lands.
NFL Draft Day 2 Composite Projections
What follows is a composite view drawn from three of the most widely read Day 2 mocks: CBS Sports (Josh Edwards), Sports Illustrated (Daniel Flick), and Athlon Sports (Luke Easterling). Each analyst had meaningfully different reads on several ACC prospects, so the range here matters more than any single projected slot.
Round 2: The Clemson-Heavy Round
T.J. Parker, Edge, Clemson The strongest consensus of any ACC Day 2 prospect. SI puts him at No. 34 to Arizona, Athlon at No. 40 to Kansas City, CBS at No. 47 to Indianapolis. Composite range: picks 34–47, with the early-to-mid second round the most likely window. Physical run defender with three-down upside and one of the better pure pass-rush profiles outside Round 1.
Avieon Terrell, CB, Clemson More spread here. CBS has him at No. 42 to New Orleans, SI at No. 44 to the Jets, Athlon all the way down at No. 63 to New England. Composite range: picks 42–63. Mid-second likely, but his slide in the Athlon mock reflects real concern about pre-draft injury questions. An NFL legacy whose inside-outside versatility makes him valuable if teams trust the medical.
Chris Bell, WR, Louisville An often-overlooked ACC name who lands solidly in Round 2 of the NFL Draft on all three boards. Athlon No. 53 (Pittsburgh), CBS No. 58 (San Francisco), SI No. 61 (L.A. Rams). Composite range: picks 53–61, late Round 2. A torn ACL in November creates boom-or-bust uncertainty, but his pre-injury ball skills had him in the first-round conversation.
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Round 3: Miami’s Second Wave
Keionte Scott, CB/S, Miami Projected right at the top of Round 3 of the NFL Draft on two of the three boards. Athlon has him at No. 65 to Arizona; CBS at No. 66 to Buffalo. SI doesn’t explicitly list him in Day 2. Composite range: picks 65–75. The positional flex as a nickel-safety hybrid is his calling card.
Antonio Williams, WR, Clemson Meaningful spread. SI is highest at No. 53 to Pittsburgh; CBS has him at No. 72 to Cincinnati; Athlon doesn’t list him in the top 100. Composite range: picks 53–80, with the late-Round 2 / early-Round 3 window most likely. The value question is whether a team sees him as a true No. 2 or a complementary piece.
Markel Bell, OT, Miami Athlon No. 70 (Cleveland), CBS No. 78 (Indianapolis), SI doesn’t list. Composite range: picks 70–85. Late Day 2 OT depth play. If he goes Friday, Miami hits at least five Rounds 1–3 picks.
Kyle Louis, LB/S, Pittsburgh Athlon No. 74 (Cleveland), SI No. 77 (Tampa Bay), CBS No. 88 (Jacksonville). Composite range: picks 74–88. Scheme-dependent hybrid; the Steelers and Jaguars specifically have tracked him. A true big-nickel prospect.
Justin Joly, TE, NC State SI projects him at No. 86 to the L.A. Chargers. Only appears on one of the three Day 2 mocks in this range. Composite view: late Round 3 through early Day 3. Worth watching, but his floor is broader than the board consensus suggests.
Chandler Rivers, CB, Duke Athlon No. 78 (Indianapolis), SI No. 93 (L.A. Rams). CBS doesn’t list him in the top 100. Composite range: picks 78–95, late third round most likely.
Carson Beck, QB, Miami The most-watched single ACC player of Day 2 in the NFL Draft. CBS and SI both slot him at No. 65 to Arizona, opening Round 3. Athlon has him sliding all the way to No. 99 to Pittsburgh. Composite range: picks 65–99. An enormous spread and the single biggest variable in the ACC’s Day 2 story. If Beck goes early Round 3, the quarterback narrative for the conference is very different than if he falls to the back end. Watch Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and the Giants as potential homes earlier than pick 65 if QB-needy teams move on him.
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Day 3 Lean, But Worth a Watch
Adam Randall, RB, Clemson Tracked as a Round 4-5 pick on FOX’s big board, but a physical 6-3, 232-pound back who could sneak into the back end of the third round if a team prioritizes power.
Jakobe Thomas, S, Miami Round 4-5 projection on FOX. Second in the ACC with five interceptions in 2025. Almost certainly Day 3, but his ball production is the type of trait that sometimes moves a player up the NFL Draft board unexpectedly.
Conference-Wide Totals: What to Expect
If the composite projections hold, the ACC is looking at roughly 10–12 total picks through three rounds of the NFL Draft, depending on how Day 2 breaks around the borderline cases.
Best case (call it the ceiling): Parker and Terrell in Round 2, Chris Bell in Round 2, Williams late Round 2 or early Round 3, Scott, Bell (Markel), Louis, Rivers, Joly, and Beck all in Round 3. That’s 10 Day 2 selections by itself, plus the six Round 1 picks.
Floor: Parker and Chris Bell in Round 2, everyone else sprinkled through Round 3, with Beck sliding to the back end or out of Day 2 entirely.
Either way, the top-line numbers will compare very favorably to the ACC’s performance in the NFL Draft year-over-year.
Can we call this draft, as projected, Clemson’s recovery arc? There’s a potential for five plus Top 100 picks in the NFL Draft despite a 2025 regular season that was underwhelming considering the recent history of the team. It can safely be said that Dabo is still delivering the goods when it comes to developing players.
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If everything plays out (projected) for Miami then this would be a program defining year for the Canes with 5, maybe 6 picks in the Top 100 of the NFL Draft. A solid year to say the least.
Here’s where the Carson Beck variable comes into play. If Beck is selected early in Round 3 then the conference has a solid quarterback story. If he slides to the back end or out of Day 2 then the questions start to fly regarding quarterback evaluation in the ACC or more specifically, Miami.
Rounds 2 and 3 of the NFL Draft kicks off tonight (Friday, April 24) at 7:00pm ET from Pittsburgh on ESPN, ABC, and the ESPN App. After watching Round 1 there’s a sneaking suspicion that we’ll see some surprising moves early on.
Sourcing note: Composite NFL Draft projections are drawn from CBS Sports (Josh Edwards), Sports Illustrated (Daniel Flick), and Athlon Sports (Luke Easterling), all published following Round 1 on April 23-24, 2026. Day 3 leans for Randall and Thomas reference FOX Sports’ Day 2 Big Board. All projections are subject to change once actual Day 2 picks begin; the value of the composite is in identifying consensus windows and outlier opinions, not in predicting specific team-player matches.
