Fall camp is almost here, which means it’s time to start buying stock for the 2026 season. Plenty of players, coaches and teams won the offseason, but these are the three I’m investing in the most: one player, one coach and one team.
Player: Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor
The ceiling and floor for Mississippi State is tethered pretty tightly to its quarterback. Few quarterbacks in the league gained more continued praise this offseason than Kamario Taylor.
Taylor looked fantastic at the Manning Passing Academy. Physically, he stands out amongst even some of the best quarterbacks in the country. Jeff Lebby talked about what he thought Taylor’s ceiling could be in his first full year as a starter.
“I don’t put a ceiling on K1,” said Lebby.
That about sums it up. Anyone that watched him in his two starts a season ago against Ole Miss and Wake Forest can see the talent oozing from him. He is one of the best athletes at the position in the country, but he also has a really good WR1 in Anthony Evans.
I’ll maintain that I don’t know how many wins Taylor can take Mississippi State to this year because of the overall talent of the team in comparison to their schedule. But, Taylor is good enough to take over a game and knock off someone he shouldn’t, and he will.
Coach: Ole Miss HC Pete Golding
Everyone saw Pete Golding steal the show in Tampa at SEC Media Days. He was unbelievably likable at the podium, and was about as engaging as possible for the thirty minutes he spoke with the media.
I, like everyone, love Pete Golding and think he will have a lot of success at Ole Miss. I just don’t know if that is going to be in season one. It’s hard to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that head coaches make in season one at the helm.
Golding is built for the long haul at Ole Miss. He has a clear vision and focus for where this program is headed under him. Golding may be a better head coach than coordinator in the long run because of his ability to be a CEO. It will be a very exciting tenure in Oxford. I just don’t know if it all comes together in his first season, despite having a wealth of talent.
Team: LSU
I think I speak for everyone when I say we are tired of talking about Lane Kiffin. We’ve spent way too much of the offseason talking about the LSU coach and not the LSU team itself.
This roster is absolutely loaded. The schedule is extremely manageable with four of their toughest five games coming at home. There are concerns like the offensive line and quarterback, but if this team is even half as talented on the field as it is on paper then it’s hard to imagine them not having immense success in year one of Lane Kiffin’s tenure in Baton Rouge.
The offenses under Lane Kiffin get all the hype, but the defense that Blake Baker will field this season could be one of the very best in the entire country. What if LSU’s offense does struggle? It may not matter as much if the defense is allowing less than 20 points per game, and the back seven is as lights out as many expect it to be.
The expectations for LSU shouldn’t be a national title or bust, but they may very well find themselves playing for one this year.
