100 Players to Watch For in 2016: 69-65

Kyle Pollock Posted On August 25, 2016

With summer practices wrapped up and just over a week 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.

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Air Force – Jalen Robinette, WR, Senior

While it’s tough for many players from service academies to have NFL careers due to their service requirement, I’d still like to highlight Robinette, who is one of the nation’s best deep threats. Much like Army and Navy, Air Force runs a triple option style offense, which severely hinders passing stats. But, since the offense passes so rarely it allows for some big plays. Robinette was second in yards per reception in the nation with 24.7. He has good size at 6’4”, 215 pounds, and coupled with above average speed, he is a dangerous downfield weapon. Robinette had over 800 yards his sophomore year, but saw his yardage totals decrease to just over 600 last season. His dominator rating (average of yardage and touchdown market share) last season was .34, which is an above average number but you’d like to see a higher number for a player in a triple option offense. Robinette is a long shot to make it in the league, but he would be one of the best stories of the draft if he does.

Western Kentucky – Taywan Taylor, WR, Senior

Taywan Taylor had one of the best seasons of any receiver in the nation last year, with 86 catches for 1,467 yards and 17 touchdowns. Not only does Taylor boast outstanding production, he has excellent athleticism as well. He has a broad jump of 137 inches (12 feet, five inches), which would have been tops among all receivers at this year’s combine, and also has a 39.5 inch vertical. Couple those with 4.33 speed and you have an absolutely explosive player. And at 6’1”, 195 pounds, Taylor has size that will allow him to play both inside and outside at the next level. He is essentially everything that Corey Coleman was last season, except he’s two inches taller and ten pounds heavier. Taylor would be my number eight receiver in next year’s class, and I will be conducting his hype train over the coming season.

Utah State – Devante Mays, RB, Senior

Mays has been someone I’ve been targeting in my deep devy leagues this offseason. At 5’11”, 228 pounds he’s a bigger back who has great physicality and strength. Athletically, he looks to be one of the stronger players at his position. NFL.com had this to say about Mays:

“The Aggies’ leading rusher from last season has remarkable explosiveness, evidenced by a 41-inch vertical jump that would have ranked second among all running backs at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine. He can bench press 425 pounds and squat 515; that’s 940 pounds total, more than four times his weight. Mays piled up 966 yards last season in just 165 carries (5.9 per carry). With USU returning its center and both offensive tackles, Mays figures to crack the 1,000-yard mark this fall.”

So Mays has an outstanding athletic profile, looks to be a starting tailback for one of the top teams in the Mountain West, and has great size for his position. While it may be hard for him to be drafted because of how elite the 2017 class is shaping up to be, I can easily see him signing with a team and sticking on their roster for a few seasons.

Memphis – Riley Ferguson, QB, Junior

Ferguson was a three star prospect coming out of high school who attended Tennessee for one season before transferring to Coffeyville Community College. He was this year’s number one JUCO quarterback, and decided to enroll at Memphis, where he will attempt to replace former starter and current Broncos quarterback Paxton Lynch. At 6’3”, 190 pounds, Ferguson has decent size for the position, but could look to add weight. I think it will be hard for Ferguson, or any Memphis skill position player for that matter, to make it onto an NFL roster and generally would avoid most of these players.

Louisiana Tech – Carlos Henderson, WR, Junior

After losing Jeff Driskel, Kenneth Dixon, and Paul Turner to the NFL, the Bulldogs will have a rebuilding offense this year. I expect Henderson to be the offense’s breakout star this year, as he will be seeing a higher target volume due to Dixon and Turner’s departures. He was a good deep threat last year, averaging over 21 yards per catch to go along with five touchdowns. While Trent Taylor was the team’s leading receiver last season, at 5’8” he’s better suited in the slot. Even though Henderson is not much bigger at 5’11”, his deep threat ability should allow him to emerge as the team’s number one receiver this year. While it may seem unreasonable to think Henderson could make an NFL roster in two years, former Bulldog Paul Turner has been impressive in Eagles camp and has a very good shot to make the roster. I wouldn’t rule anything out with Henderson and would definitely monitor him this season.

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