We were fortunate to see some prime-time matchups this weekend featuring some of the best college players in the country. Games scattered across the schedule including a Friday night battle. Some players took over the stage and shined, showing scouts that the best is yet to come and they are worth investing a draft pick in. But for others, they disappeared under the bright lights and now have seen their draft stock take a hit. Here are this week’s risers and fallers from Week 4 of the college football season.

Risers:

Derek Carr Quarterback, Fresno State

We all love to watch quarterbacks and every NFL team wants to have a great one. While Teddy Bridgewater, Brett Hundley and Marcus Mariota get all of the attention, new names are beginning to emerge. Carr is one of those names and this season he continues to prove himself every week and turning more skeptics into believers.

This week he faced another tough battle against Boise State and it turned into a shootout. He led the Bulldogs to a 41-40 victory that was sealed by a game-winning drive captivated by a touchdown run from a yard out. Carr is the focus of Fresno State’s offense and he threw it often, completing 39 of 60 pass attempts for 460 yards and four touchdowns. For the second week in a row he didn’t throw an interception per completion. It has been a great season for Carr with 1,121 passing yards and 12 touchdowns to only one interception in only three games. In 164 pass attempts he has thrown just one interception and that came in the second quarter of the opener against Rutgers. The biggest problem scouts have had with Carr this season is how limited he is with the Bulldogs’ offense, always making short, quick throws and never really having a chance to air the ball out. While this offense may not be a fit for Carr’s skill-set he has made it work and shown the ability to work in bad situations. Carr is pushing his way up the draft board and a lucky NFL team could get their starting quarterback in the second round.

David Yankey Offensive Guard, Stanford Cardinals

This past weekend was the prospect match-up to watch as Stanford and Arizona State went at it. While Stanford was the favorite to win, every scout and draft writer was focused on Stanford’s offensive line vs. Arizona State’s defensive line. But the two players who were the focus was Yankey vs. Sutton.

Everyone hoped it would be like Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James a battle of some of the best players at their position where they would go back and forth all game long. Instead it turned into a total domination where the victor was clearly Yankey. Coming into the game Yankey had the size advantage and he showed it all night long, knocking Sutton over at one point and just shoving him back on almost every play. Stanford has a great tradition of building strong, tough offensive linemen and that’s exactly what we saw on Saturday. Yankey took advantage of Sutton’s short arms and small body and just dominated him physically early and really wore him down at the end of the game. This was an excellent showcase for Yankey to prove himself against another future NFL player and a chance to push his draft stock up. That’s exactly what Yankey did and he did it in a big way.

Vic Beasley Defensive End, Clemson Tigers

When you talk about the Clemson Tigers and players on their roster who are highly-coveted NFL Draft prospects you will hear a lot about wide receiver Sammy Watkins and quarterback Tajh Boyd. But it’s a player on the defensive side of the ball who has really made headlines this season.

Beasley has simply been sensational this season and a nightmare to stop for opposing teams. He may be one of the smaller defensive ends amongst the bigger programs but he is one of the most feared pass rushers in the game. Just ask Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray who was sacked twice by Beasley in the opener and probably still has nightmares about him. Then just two weeks later against North Carolina State, he terrorized the Wolfpack offensive line and sacked quarterback Pete Thomas three times. While the Tigers offense struggled, Beasley uplifted the Tigers to the victory and showed everyone just how dominating of a football player he is. Beasley needs to add more weight and he struggles against the run, but there are few better at creating pressure than Beasley. His draft stock has absolutely skyrocketed this year and he should soon become one of the most talked about defensive prospects in the country.

Fallers:

Will Sutton Defensive Tackle, Arizona State Sun Devils

When the Cardinals and Sun Devils went to battle, everyone was keeping an eye on the trenches. Sutton would face a tough challenge against Yankey in a battle to determine who is the better prospect and which player would see their stock rise and the other fall.

While Yankey saw his stock go on the rise with an excellent performance, Sutton slipped and fell down the board. The big questions that faced him this season about his size, strength and arm length. This was going to be his chance against one of the best guards in the country to show he can overcome his size and arms but instead he just proved the critics right. Sutton was pushed around for much of the game by Yankey. Yankey had no problem pushing Sutton around in whichever direction he wanted and even flattened him out during the game. Sutton wasn’t having a great season to begin with a year after dominating as a junior when he had the chance to enter the NFL Draft. Sutton’s name is now slipping down prospect rankings and questions about his size and strength have just been verified even more now. He had the chance to be a first-round pick but right now is looking like he will go in the middle of the second round.

Dominique Easley Defensive Tackle, Florida Gators

This was a late add to the fallers list and one that is a sad piece to write. Easley was vaulting up draft boards this season, dominating each and every week including against top opponents. Many saw him as a first-round selection before the season, but leading into this week he was pushing himself up into the top-15 range and drawing a lot of hype. But now his season may be over after he reportedly tore his ACL in practice this week.

There is a bit of a controversy involving the knee. Reports first came out this morning that Easley would miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL in a non-contact injury. But Gators coach Will Muschamp said after practice that the knee injury was only a “tweak”. Then Easley posted on Twitter “Gator Nation thank you for all of four years of sticking with me, but god has something else planned for and I have no worries #blessed”. While Muschamp claims it is just a tweak, anytime you have a non-contact knee injury it is a major concern. If the injury is not as serious, then Easley should come back this season. But if he is indeed out for the season it would be a major blow to the Gators season and Easley’s draft stock.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins Tight End, Washington Huskies

Coming into the 2013 season, Seferian-Jenkins was the best tight-end prospect in the country. He would draw comparisons to Rob Gronkowski and was going to be a first-round pick. But then he was charged with driving under the influence and suspended for the first game of the season. Things didn’t get any easier when he broke his pinkie while working out with the team, but all of this could be put in the rearview mirror with a strong season.

So far we haven’t seen the big-time production everyone was hoping for from the star tight end. Despite the Huskies starting 3-0, Seferian-Jenkins has started out slow through his first two games of action. He has caught eight passes for 70 yards and a touchdown but hasn’t looked in-shape so far this year. He is still recovering from the surgery, but now we will soon be four games into the season. Meanwhile his slow start has allowed tight ends like Eric Ebron, Colt Lyerla and Jace Amaro to make up ground and Lyerla has even surpassed him. Seferian-Jenkins needs to get back into game shape and start making more big plays. Otherwise he will fall further down draft boards behind players without legal issues.