Developing Assets: Week Three
Editor’s Note: This is a free Dynasty Scouts exclusive article. Remember, our Dynasty Scouts section focuses on the stars of tomorrow, with a laser focus on High School recruits and College players who look to have the talent to be future assets in dynasty leagues and have value today in devy leagues. Dynasty Scouts articles are found in our Premium Content.
It’s another week lacking marquee matchups as a few teams are still facing the pre-conference cream puffs, but we’re back with Developing Assets and focusing on the top pre-NFL players you should be watching and scouting. Hopefully, you already have some of these players on your roster, and if not, you’ll get some ideas for next off-season’s devy and rookie drafts.
[inlinead]
Wake Up and Watch: Bowling Green at Wisconsin (ESPN2, 12:00)
This may look like one of those creampuff games I mentioned earlier, but Bowling Green already beat one Bit Ten team, although it was Indiana. Quarterback James Knapke is breaking school records and has the team playing great since their opening loss to Western Kentucky.
We know though that this game will be mostly about the Badgers’ running game as they try to slow down the up tempo Bowling Green offense. Junior Melvin Gordon, who spurned the NFL following last season in hopes of winning a Heisman Trophy, headlines the rushing attack. While his 178 yards through two games might look impressive, 144 of that came in the team’s opening week loss to LSU and 63 of those came on one run. It’s easy to play this game, but remove that single explosive run and Gordon has 115 yards on 32 carries this season. That’s far below his yards per carry rate entering the season.
Gordon has been in the shadow of Georgia’s all-everything back Todd Gurley this season, but like Gurley, has a chance to break the recent trend of running backs falling to day two of the NFL Draft.
Don’t forget sophomore running back Corey Clement, who gets his share of carries as well, and is an excellent NFL prospect in the deep group of true sophomore backs.
Other teams in action at the noon hour, along with some players to focus on include:
• Eastern Michigan at Michigan State (Connor Cook, Jeremy Langford)
• Try at Georgia (Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Keith Marshall)
• Georgia Tech (DeAndre Smelter) at Virginia Tech (Shai McKenzie)
• Iowa at Pittsburgh (Tyler Boyd, James Conner)
• Maryland (Stefon Diggs) at Syracuse
Midday Marquee: Florida at Alabama (CBS, 3:30)
In most years, this SEC battle between the Crimson Tide and the Gators would be one of the highlights of the season, but this year it’s receiving much less fanfare. This doesn’t mean there aren’t future NFL stars to keep your eye on.
Everyone knows of the Alabama trio of Amari Cooper, Derrick Henry and TJ Yeldon, who have been playing at their usual high level in the early going this season. Cooper are Yeldon are potential high first round rookie picks next year, while Henry will be headlining the 2016 draft. They’re not alone though among Alabama prospects. Tight end OJ Howard hasn’t even caught a pass on the season, but might be considered the top tight end prospect in college football. I’d love to see him more involved in this big game.
Florida has their share of prospects as well, but their skill position players aren’t as highly ranked as some of their defenders. The running back duo of Matt Jones and Kelvin Taylor are both likely to be drafted and could be contributors in a committee attack. Wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, just a sophomore, is looking like the real deal after a huge game against Kentucky last week, including the game winning catch in triple overtime.
Other teams in mid-day action, along with some players to focus on include:
• Texas A&M (Kenny Hill, Trey Williams, Brandon Williams) at SMU
• North Carolina (Quinshad Davis, Elijah Hood) at East Carolina
• Louisville (James Quick) at Florida International
• Rutgers (Paul James, Leonte Carroo) at Navy
• Utah at Michigan (Devin Funchess, Derrick Green)
• Indiana (Tevin Coleman) at Missouri
• UMass at Penn State (Jesse James, Christian Hackenberg)
Primetime Play: Clemson at Florida State (ABC, 8:00)
This big ACC battle lost a bit of its luster when Florida State announced that star quarterback Jameis Winston would be suspended for the first half of action. We’ll still have plenty of devy stars to watch as the Seminoles are stacked. The running game is led by Karlos Williams, who has been a bit of a disappointment early on this year, after receiving loads of hype in devy leagues this past off-season. He’s backed up by former five star recruits Mario Pender and Dalvin Cook.
The Noles top receiver is Rashad Greene, one of the most fundamentally sound receivers in the college ranks. He’ll be drafted in the drafts middle round in the spring of 2015, as will his teammate, tight end Nick O’Leary. Highly recruited freshman receiver Ermon Lane has been pretty quiet early on, but should earn more playing time as the season continues.
Clemson just keeps churning out wide receivers. After losing Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant to the NFL this year, they are restocked and the youth are leading the way. Freshman Artavis Scott leads the team in receiving and last year’s breakout freshman, Mike Williams is back and looks great too. Backup quarterback, freshman Deshaun Watson is one of the most electric playmakers around and has a cannon for an arm. He’ll get limited snaps, so watch closely.
Other teams with evening games, along with some players to focus on include:
• Mississippi State (De’Runnya Wilson) at LSU (Leonard Fournette, Malachi Dupre, Trey Quinn)
• Northern Illinois at Arkansas (Hunter Henry, Alex Collins, Korliss Williams)
• Miami (OH) at Cincinnati (Gunner Kiel, Mekale McKay)
• Oklahoma (Keith Ford) at West Virginia (Rushel Shell, Clint Trickett, Kevin White)
• South Carolina (Mike Davis, Shaq Roland) at Vanderbilt
• Miami (FL) (Duke Johnson, Joseph Yearby, Clive Walford) at Nebraska (Ameer Abdullah)
• California at Arizona (Trey Griffey, Austin Hill)
• Oregon (Marcus Mariota, Royce Freeman, Byron Marshall, Thomas Tyner) at Washington State
Follow @RyanMc23 on Twitter
- Weekly Matchups: Four Upside Stacks For Week Five - October 2, 2024
- Dynasty Blueprint: 5 Takeaways From Week Four - October 1, 2024
- Weekly Matchups: Three Surprise Week Four Starters - September 25, 2024
