NCAA spotlights top FCS and HBCU draft prospects ahead of NFL Draft

Charles Demmings does not look like a long shot anymore. The Stephen F. Austin cornerback finished his college career with 35 passes defended and nine interceptions, then turned heads with the kind of testing numbers NFL teams pay attention to: a 42-inch vertical jump, a 4.41-second 40-yard dash, a 1.55-second 10-yard split and an 11-foot broad jump.

That profile is why the NCAA’s latest FCS and HBCU draft watch leans so hard on measurable traits. Demmings became the first Stephen F. Austin player ever invited to the Senior Bowl, and that detail matters as much as the stopwatch times. Small-school corners do not get many chances to separate themselves from the pack. Demmings already has.

North Dakota State’s Bryce Lance enters the draft conversation from a different angle. He put together back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons and then backed it up with a 4.34-second 40-yard dash at the combine. The rankings around him are already moving in the direction that tells you this is not just a nice FCS story: ESPN’s Matt Miller slotted him No. 85, Jordan Reid and Field Yates put him at No. 87, and Jeff Legwold had him at No. 93. If Lance becomes the top FCS player drafted, he would follow the path his brother Trey Lance took in 2021, when the name on the card came from Fargo and the league took notice.

Cole Payton gives North Dakota State another shot at keeping its draft machine humming. He sat behind Cam Miller until 2025, then broke out as a Walter Payton Award finalist, earned a Senior Bowl invitation and won Player of the Game honors there. His combine time, a 4.56-second 40-yard dash, ranked third among all quarterbacks and gives evaluators a cleaner reason to project him beyond the usual small-school quarterback questions.

The larger backdrop is just as sharp. Eight FCS players were selected in the 2025 NFL draft, led by North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel at No. 18 overall to Seattle, and one HBCU player heard his name called. North Dakota State has now had a draft pick in six of the last seven drafts, which is no accident. When the 2026 NFL draft opens April 23 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the league will again be weighing whether the next FCS breakthrough is already sitting on the board.