100 Players to Watch For in 2016: Teams 74-70

Kyle Pollock

With summer practices wrapped up and just under two weeks until the season starts, 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.

74. South Carolina – Bryan Edwards, WR, Freshman

Bryan Edwards is one of my favorite receivers in this year’s recruiting class. An early enrollee at South Carolina, Edwards had a huge spring game for the Gamecocks with over 100 yards and two touchdowns. At 6’2”, 209 pounds he already has a plus frame that will allow him to make an impact this year. He is also extremely young, as he won’t turn 18 until November. He is excellent with the ball in the air, and could emerge as SC’s red zone threat as soon as this year due to the loss of Jerell Adams. He’s a solid athlete, as he posted a SPARQ score of 110 at Nike’s The Opening, and ran a 4.56 forty yard dash to go along with a 39 inch vertical. Overall, Edwards is one of the top freshman receivers, and can make an immediate impact for the Gamecocks.

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73. Missouri – Damarea Crockett, RB, Freshman

If you’re looking for a freshman running back to be this year’s Myles Gaskin and come out of nowhere for a dominant season, look no further than Missouri’s Damarea Crockett. Crockett is my number two running back in the class, and he possesses all the tools to not only take over the Tigers backfield, but to be one of the top backs in the SEC. He has excellent balance, vision, elusiveness, athleticism, and plays with a physical style. He is also an above average receiver for a high school running back. While Crockett lacks top end breakaway speed and has a tendency to run high, this shouldn’t prevent him from being a star. His style of play reminds me of Le’Veon Bell, and this should have devy owners everywhere extremely excited to see him play.

72. Iowa State – Allen Lazard, WR, Junior

An elite recruit from Iowa who decided to stay in state, Allen Lazard is a huge receiver who is one of the more underrated receivers eligible for next year’s wide receiver class. At 6’4”, 223 pounds, he has prototypical size for an X receiver in the NFL. He was named the team’s most valuable player last season, and was also named to the All Big 12 second team. Although he only had 808 receiving yards last season, he had a .31 dominator rating, which is an above average number for a sophomore receiver. For such a large player, Lazard has excellent movement skills. He also plays with a “my ball mentality”, and has amazing concentration, which can be seen in this play:

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He’s currently my number seven receiver in next year’s class, and should likely be a day one or day two pick in next year’s draft.

71. Bowling Green – Ronnie Moore, WR, Bowling Green, Senior

At 5’9”, 170 pounds, Moore has a below average frame for the wide receiver position. But what he lacks for in size, he makes up for with his athleticism. Moore was recently named to NFL.com’s “CFB 24/7 16 for ’16: College Football’s Most Freakish Athletes” list, which has this to say about him:

“He’s stronger than he looks, to be sure, bench pressing 300-plus pounds with a squat max of more than 500. Bowling Green played three Power Five schools last year — Tennessee, Maryland and Purdue — and Moore showed well against them all (combined 22-248-1). He caught 72 passes for the year, and with WR Gehrig Dieter transferring to Alabama, Moore will be counted on even more this fall”

Moore should be the Eagles number one receiver this fall, and his athleticism and production give him a shot at being drafted next year.

70. Tulsa – Keevan Lucas, WR, Senior

Coming into last year Lucas, not current Carolina Panther Keyarris Garrett, was Tulsa’s number one receiver. But, after tearing his ACL four games into the season, Garrett took over as the team’s top receiver and led the nation in receiving yards. With Garrett gone, Lucas should once again be the Golden Hurricane’s number one receiving option. At 5’10”, 195 pounds, Lucas profiles as more of a slot receiver at the NFL, rather than an outside threat. Before he went down to his injury, Lucas as averaging 6.5 catches, 110.5 yards, and 1.2 touchdowns per game. Over a full season, that equates to 85 catches, 1,437 yards, and 16 touchdowns. That would’ve easily made Lucas one of the top receivers in the nation in all three categories. Lucas should once again be near the top of the national leaderboard in all of these stats, and if tests well at the combine I could see him go in the mid rounds of next year’s draft.

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