Lou Pickney's Latest Insight
August 22, 2025
If you have any questions/comments, feel free to contact Lou Pickney by email: lou@loupickney.com
Here's a six-minute compilation from this week's Tides Tuesday show of me talking about Clippy, and why it's an improbably perfect symbol for pushback against what feels like an ever-growing dystopian AI onslaught.
The 2025 NCAA football season begins tomorrow, starting with #22 Iowa State vs. #17 Kansas State in Dublin, Ireland.
It's rather strange that the first game of the season is a Big 12 conference game. But many of the old rules of college sports, written or otherwise, have changed in recent years.
Kansas State gave up a conference home game for this. For both teams, it's a great opportunity for the players to travel abroad and experience something unique. Dublin is a wonderful city.
Here's a valuable link to bookmark: the lsufootball.net college football TV schedule. Helpful for quickly figuring out what is airing where.
Heading into the start of the season, there is no clear favorite among the top draft-eligible quarterbacks for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Arch Manning is not expected to leave Texas after the Longhorns' run in 2025 concludes. Some mocks include him and some don't. I pulled Manning from my mock earlier this month, the first time in 23 years of doing this that I pulled a draft-eligible player. But this is a 1-of-1 case.
There's been hype for players like Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt and Oklahoma QB John Mateer as of late. Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza will be interesting to see play in a new system after showing tremendous accuracy while at Cal.
Other top prospects include Clemson QB Cade Klubnik, LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, Penn State QB Drew Allar, and South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers.
There is new management at the Senior Bowl, and this year they released a preseason Top 300 list, a significant paring-down from the massive lists of names from years past.
While I don't have profiles made yet for all of the players on the 2025 list, I have hundreds of player profiles available here for your perusal.
Good luck tonight to former LSU and Tennessee Titans QB Zach Mettenberger, who makes his debut as head football coach at Father Ryan High School in Nashville as the Irish take on John Overton High School.
2027 NFL Draft Prospects
AFC East: Buffalo Bills | New England Patriots |
New York Jets | Miami Dolphins
AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens | Cincinnati Bengals | Cleveland Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South:
Houston Texans | Indianapolis Colts |
Jacksonville Jaguars |
Tennessee Titans
AFC West:
Denver Broncos |
Kansas City Chiefs | Las Vegas Raiders | Los Angeles Chargers
NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys |
New York Giants |
Philadelphia Eagles |
Washington Commanders
NFC North:
Chicago Bears |
Detroit Lions |
Green Bay Packers |
Minnesota Vikings
NFC South:
Atlanta Falcons |
Carolina Panthers |
New Orleans Saints |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West:
Arizona Cardinals |
Los Angeles Rams |
San Francisco 49ers |
Seattle Seahawks
Fantasy Football - ADP: Average Draft Position - Solid Locks and Sleepers
