AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Longhorns had four players selected in the first round of a 2027 NFL mock draft published Monday by CBS Sports draft analyst Josh Edwards. Texas and Notre Dame tied for the most first-round picks of any school.
Quarterback Arch Manning went first overall to the Miami Dolphins. Edge rusher Colin Simmons went sixth to the Tennessee Titans. Wide receiver Cam Coleman went 12th to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Offensive tackle Trevor Goosby went 17th to the Chicago Bears.
Edwards used FanDuel Sportsbook’s Super Bowl odds from Friday afternoon to set the order, flipping them so the longest shot picks first. Washington, D.C., hosts the draft on the National Mall starting April 29.
Texas (2-0) was down 23-3 to Ohio State in the fourth quarter on Sept. 12 and won 24-23. The next day, the Longhorns replaced the Buckeyes at the top of the AP Top 25.
Duncanville’s Colin Simmons and Melissa’s Trevor Goosby
Tennessee already has Keldric Faulk, a 2026 first-round pick, and Jermaine Johnson, who arrived in a trade. Edwards does not see either one piling up sacks. In his write-up, Simmons is the edge rusher who can do that for Titans coach Robert Saleh, which would move Faulk and Johnson into supporting roles. CBS Sports has Simmons sixth on its overall board and second at his position.
Simmons played at Duncanville High School. As a junior, he had 22.5 sacks for a 15-0 team that won the Class 6A Division I state title. He led the SEC with 12 sacks last season and came into this one with 21 for his career.
His sack against Ohio State went for an 8-yard loss with the Buckeyes in the red zone. Simmons finished the night with 2 tackles for loss. The school counted the sack as his 9.5th in 10 career games against AP Top 10 opponents.
At SEC Media Days in Tampa, Simmons put Texas State and Ohio State, the two teams Texas opened against, on the same footing.
“Every game is a must-win,” Simmons said. “It ain’t no game that we looking down on. It don’t matter if you’re Ohio State or Texas State. We’re taking every game with the right preparation.”
Former Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons has mentored Simmons since the two met while Simmons was in high school, according to his Texas roster biography.
Goosby ranks first among offensive tackles on the CBS Sports board. Edwards wrote that Chicago cycled through three players at left tackle last season and still has no answer at the position.
Out of Melissa High School, Goosby first committed to TCU before flipping to Texas. After a redshirt year in 2023, he made his first career start at left tackle against Georgia in the 2024 SEC Championship Game. Last season, he earned first-team All-SEC honors.
Against Ohio State, Goosby allowed no sacks and 1 pressure on 46 pass blocks. The Football Writers Association of America named him its Outland Trophy National Player of the Week on Sept. 15. He also picked up SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week for the second time.
Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian said at his Sept. 14 news conference that the plan going in was to rotate two linemen at one spot, and the first half changed his mind.
“Through it all, I thought we played really good at the line of scrimmage,” Sarkisian said. “I thought our offensive line had a very good football game. I thought Dylan Sikorski, the plan initially was to rotate he and Laurence [Seymore]. The way the first half went, I just wasn’t comfortable, ready to switch them out, and then Dylan was playing so good. We just kind of let it go. Melvin [Siani] had a good game. Trevor [Goosby] had a good game. The tight end, Spencer Shannon, all those guys.”
“So all in all, I just think it came back to just executing,” Sarkisian continued. “We still weren’t perfect. We dropped some balls that I know we’re more than capable of making some plays on.”
Cam Coleman and Arch Manning
Coleman is second among wide receivers on the CBS Sports board. Edwards wrote that Pittsburgh’s interest in a receiver this year was well documented, and he had the Steelers landing one in the 2027 first round.
Coleman is from Phenix City, Alabama, and committed to Texas in January out of the transfer portal. On3 ranked him as the top wide receiver available. At Auburn, he caught 93 passes for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns across two seasons, including 56 catches for 708 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2025. He caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Manning on Texas’ opening drive against Texas State on Sept. 5.
Against Ohio State, a deep ball for Coleman came out as he dove for it and landed with Buckeyes safety Jaylen McClain for an interception. Texas turned it over twice that night. Two days later, Sarkisian opened his list of fixes with ball security.
“Our ball security is awful right now, if you want to know the truth,” Sarkisian said. “That’s not something that we take pride in at all.”
Edwards has Manning as his top prospect at any position. Manning’s two-game line is 500 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He went 8-of-11 for 83 yards and a touchdown during the 21-0 fourth quarter against Ohio State, which Sarkisian traced back to his quarterback after the game.
“Part of the driving force was kind of his grit,” Sarkisian said. “I felt like his grit started it, and then the running backs’ grit, and then the receivers’ grit, it all started to kind of work together.”
“But I just thought it was with him kind of saying, ‘Screw it, let’s just go back to letting it rip, and I’m going to trust these guys to go make plays,’” Sarkisian continued.
Texas hosts UTSA on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
