100 Players to Watch For in 2016: Teams 94-90

Kyle Pollock Posted On June 11, 2016

With spring ball wrapped up and summer practices starting soon, it’s time to start looking towards the college football season. Many stars from last season such as Derrick Henry, Corey Coleman, Ezekiel Elliott, Laquon Treadwell, and Jared Goff have all graduated or left school, leading to much intrigue and excitement for this season. In this series I will go through my personal top 100 teams entering this college football season, and highlight one player to watch from each team. For some teams, they may not be the most well know players (such as Christian McCaffrey on Stanford or Leonard Fournette on LSU), but rather players who could be potential stars this year or later in their career.

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Oregon State – Jordan Villamin, WR, Junior (Redshirt)

At 6’5”, 231 pounds, and the ability to play on both the inside and the outside, Villamin is one of the more intriguing prospects in next year’s draft class. He’s a phenomenal athlete with excellent body control, and this allows him to dominate in the red zone and on jump balls. In the open field Villamin is tough to bring down, and displays good top end speed for a player of his size, as shown from this touchdown:

[youtube id=”HK8wbYmct3w” align=”center” maxwidth=”1000″]

On the surface, Villamin lacks the production that you would want an elite receiver prospect to have. But, he has actually been one of the most dominant players in the nation over the past two years. In 2015 Villamin has a .42 dominator rating (the average of % of team yards and touchdowns), and as a redshirt freshman in 2014 he posted a dominator rating of .29. Overall, his size, production, and athleticism should have you very excited about his future in the NFL.

Wake Forest – Cam Serigne, TE, Junior

Serving as Wake Forest’s only real receiving threat over the past two seasons, Serigne already has over 1,000 career receiving yards and nine touchdowns. At 6’3”, 245 pounds, Serigne is on the smaller sides for tight ends but this shouldn’t affect his pro potential too much. He torched Florida State this season with ten catches for 83 yards and a touchdown. He matches up well on linebackers and could potentially be a starter one day in the NFL. Depending how he tests, I could see Serigne being a mid to late round pick in the 2018 NFL draft.

Nevada – Hassaan Henderson, WR, Senior

At 6’5”, 229 pounds, it’s easy to see why people are intrigued with Hasaan Henderson. Henderson is a natural when it comes to jump balls, as he displays marvelous body control and leaping ability to pair with his gigantic frame. While his production hasn’t been amazing, he did post a .31 dominator rating last season, and his numbers have improved in every season. He’s also a very fluid for a player of his size, displaying quick twitch movements on his routes and in the open field. Overall, I feel that Henderson is one of the more undervalued receivers heading into next year’s draft and he’s definitely a player to keep your eye on over the course of the season. At the very least you’ll be entertained by catches like this:

Watch this dazzling one-handed TD catch by Nevada’s Hasaan Henderson. http://t.co/ZSd6BrWfI2 pic.twitter.com/CbEURIc2ti

— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) September 19, 2015

Colorado State – Rashaad Boddie, RB, Freshman

A three star running back from Washington, Rashaad Boddie is an extremely powerful runner. At six foot, 220 pounds, Boddie runs with a physical and tough style that few backs have coming out of high school. He has good speed, but runs upright which is a problem he will have to correct at Colorado State. He displays good balance, and already posses a good stiff arm that will serve him well in college. I can see Boddie starting for the Rams’ during his time on campus and being an effective goal line back for them.

New Mexico – Kentrail Moran, RB, Freshman

Kentrail Moran was New Mexico’s top recruit this year, and for good reason. He displays excellent quickness, and can change direction effortlessly. Moran lacks good top end speed, and is a very upright runner. He is also a smaller back at 5’10”, 195 pounds. I’m not sure if Moran will ever be able to perform as well as standout Jhurrell Pressley did for the Lobos, and this means he’s a longshot to make it to the NFL. Even with excellent production and athletic testing numbers, Pressley went undrafted this season. This doesn’t bode well for Moran’s NFL future, but he is the best weapon that the Lobos have on offense and could develop into a good college running back in the next few years.

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