Mel Kiper's first-round prediction for Penn State OL Olaivavega Ioane

NFL dreams will be realized this week with the three-day 2026 NFL Draft ready to play out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starting on Thursday night. Penn State will once again be ready to send some of its top players off to the next level and hope to have at least one player hear his name called by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Thursday night during the first round of the draft. If things go the way ESPN NFL draft guru Mel Kiper believes, that will happen for one star Nittany Lion.

Kiper has updated his mock draft once more after this weekend's big NFL news, with the New York Giants sending Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals, but that move did not appear to have any impact on a projection for Penn State offensive lineman Olaivavega Ioane. Kiper currently has Ioane going to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 21st overall pick in the first round.

Of course, Kiper notes this projection is impacted heavily by the belief that the Steelers will have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback for one more season. In the event Rodgers isn't a Steeler next season, for whatever reason, that could drastically impact what the Steelers do with their pick, and an offensive guard may fall donw the pecking order on the list of needs.

Kiper's latest two-round mock draft has just Ioane being drafted out of Penn State. But Ioane does appear to be a common first-round mock draft pick according to a number of mock drafts from other outlets in the days leading up to the draft. It is widely expected Ioane will be the only first-round pick out of Penn State in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Kevin McGuire is the lead writer for Nittany Lions Wire, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on BlueSky,