Pro Football Focus has put three SEC standouts inside the top 10 of its preseason rankings for the 2026 college football season, with Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy, Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy all earning spots near the top of the list.
The rankings, compiled by PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick, place Hardy highest among the SEC trio at No. 6 overall. He emerged last fall as one of the sport’s most productive backs, finishing second nationally and first among FBS players with 1,649 rushing yards across 13 games.
Hardy’s outlook for the start of 2026 is less certain, though. He was injured in an offseason shooting, and coach Eli Drinkwitz recently said his status for the opening of the season remains unclear. If he is healthy, Hardy is expected to be one of the leading names in the race for the Doak Walker Award.
Manning comes in at No. 9 on the PFF list and is the No. 3 quarterback overall, trailing only Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Oregon’s Dante Moore. His 2025 season started slowly, but he finished strong, piling up 1,368 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception over Texas’ final five games. The Longhorns went 4-1 in that stretch.
Lacy rounds out the SEC presence in the top 10 at No. 10.
The former Missouri back delivered a breakout year at Ole Miss in 2025, rushing for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns in 15 games. That touchdown total was six better than the next-closest power-conference running back.
SEC Media Days are set to open on July 20.
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Mizzou Just Built Serious Recruiting Momentum Across More Than Football
Missouris recruiting surge this summer has stretched well beyond the football field, giving the Tigers a little bit of everything across the athletic department. The football class has kept building with names like Jaylen Hill, Tari Miller, Kyler Kuhn, Kingston Miles and Tre Britton, while womens basketball picked up Katie Muller and the baseball program kept adding depth with a wave of new arrivals. Even track and field and cross country got in on the momentum with Jake Applegate and Ryan Schaefer joining the mix.
For a program trying to keep pace in multiple sports at once, that kind of breadth matters. The baseball group has been especially active with additions such as Jadyn Fergason, Khamaree Thomas, Adam Kilburn, Charlie Wortham and Seojun Oh, giving Missouri a broader summer haul than most schools can claim in one sport alone. The bigger question now is how much of this momentum can carry into the next stretch of recruiting, because the Tigers have clearly made themselves a destination worth watching. [Read more 🡒]