NFL allowing draft-eligible underclassmen to participate in college all-star games

The NFL informed teams on Wednesday that it will be allowing college underclassmen who are draft eligible to participate in postseason all-star games, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. The change will take effect immediately for the 2024 NFL Draft class.

The change means that East-West Shrine Bowl, HBCU Legacy Bowl and Reese’s Senior Bowl may bring in underclassmen granted special eligibility to play. The change only applies to these three all-star games.

“Upon the NFL publicly announcing that a player has been granted special eligibility, the East-West Shrine Bowl, HBCU Legacy Bowl, and Senior Bowl may invite such players to participate in their respective game activities. Only these three games are permitted to invite underclassmen to participate,” the memo to teams said, in part, according to Pelissero.

Under previous rules, players like USC quarterback Caleb Williams or Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. — both third-year college players widely expected to be top picks in the 2024 NFL Draft — wouldn’t be allowed to play in these games.

They’ll now likely be open to receive invites to go compete against seniors in front of plenty of scouts and decision makers at games that have become staples of the NFL draft process.

The top prospects in the 2024 draft class

ESPN’s Matt Miller has been watching these games and getting into the tape and recently has updated his top 25 prospect rankings. There should be no shock as to who occupies the No. 1 spot but the rest of the top 10 does have some interesting names.

This is a little different than a mock draft, with Miller just ranking players. He is not predicting as to where they get drafted, just showing how talented they are compared to other players available this upcoming April.

1. USC QB Caleb Williams
2. Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
3. Georgia TE Brock Bowers
4. Penn State OT Olumuyiwa Fashanu
5. Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders
6. North Carolina QB Drake Maye
7. Alabama EDGE Dallas Turner
8. Florida State WR Keon Coleman
9. Notre Dame OT Joe Alt
10. Illinois DT Jer’Zhan Newton
11. Florida State EDGE Jared Verse
12. LSU WR Malik Nabers
13. Washington WR Rome Odunze
14. Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy
15. Oklahoma OT Tyler Guyton
16. Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry
17. Penn State CB Kalen King
18. Georgia OT Amarius Mims
19. Alabama OT JC Latham
20. UCLA EDGE Laiatu Latu
21. Iowa CB Cooper DeJean
22. BYU OT Kingsley Suamataia
23. USC S Calen Bullock
24. Houston OT Patrick Paul
25. Ohio State WR Emeka Egbuka