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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- Arkansas State – Cameron Echols-Luper, WR, Junior
A transfer from TCU, Echols-Luper should give Arkansas State a major upgrade in a key component of the game: speed. In his two years at TCU he was an outstanding return man, but actually did most of his damage on the track as opposed to the football field. In 2014, he was the second fastest 200-meter runner on the Horned Frogs track team, and was also a member of their 4×100 meter team that finished 11th in the nation and second in the Big 12. He was also named a second team All-American in the 4×100. In football Echols-Luper received another second team All-American award, as Phil Steele named him to the team as a returner. As for how he will be used at Arkansas State, a local newspaper had this to say:
“At his new home, there will be virtually no limits to how he’ll be used, Coach Blake Anderson said. He’ll catch passes, throw passes, take handoffs, line up behind the center, return punts and kicks and he may even end up being ASU’s primary punter.”
Talk about lining up all over the field. He will certainly be one of the more entertaining players to watch this year if he does in fact fulfill all these roles for the Red Wolves.
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/aug/07/echols-luper-s-time-now-for-red-wolves-/
- Illinois – Ke’Shawn Vaughn, RB, Sophomore
While Josh Ferguson has been hype up as one of the most fantasy relevant undrafted free agents to come out of this year’s class, he wasn’t even the top rusher on his own team last season. That honor belonged to Vaughn, who led the team in carries, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. Vaughn did all of this as a true freshman, and it is extremely impressive that he beat out a more experienced senior who will likely make an NFL roster. At 5-foot-10, he has about average size for the position. With the loss of Ferguson and Geronimo Allison, the Fighting Illini lost nearly a third of their receiving yards and touchdowns. Vaughn should be able to build off his 16 catch freshman season because of this increased opportunity. I’ll be interested to see how Vaughn can perform for Lovie Smith, but right now Illinois is arguably one of the worst run athletic departments in the nation, so I would avoid all players besides Vaughn from here.
- Marshall – Deontay McManus, WR, Junior
A junior with little production so far, McManus is worth watching based purely on his size and athletic ability. At 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, he has a thick build which will allow him to play both inside and outside in the NFL. Last May, he benched 225 pounds (the standard NFL combine weight) 24 times, squatted 505 pounds, and had a one rep max of 385 pounds on the bench press. This kid is very strong. Even though he only had one touchdown last season, he did score six as a true freshman, including the game winner in the Conference USA Championship. If he puts it all together this year, McManus should be a force and wreak havoc on most of Marshall’s opponents.
- Southern Miss – Isaiah Jones, WR, Junior
Jones was originally a four star recruit who spent a year at Florida State before transferring to a community college. This offseason Jones decided to commit to Southern Mississippi. At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, he has the size to be the Golden Eagles number one receiver. That worked out pretty well for Michael Thomas, who was the team’s leading receiver last season. A favorite of draft twitter, Thomas was drafted in the sixth round by the Rams. He had just under 1,400 yards receiving and 14 touchdowns last season, and with star quarterback Nick Mullens back I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jones have a similar season. I think there’s a decent chance that Jones becomes a star receiver for the Golden Eagles like Thomas did and ends up getting drafted late. Running back Ito Smith is another name to remember for this team.
- Mississippi State – Jesse Jackson, WR, Sophomore
Mississippi State lost their best player in school history in quarterback Dak Prescott, along with his top receiver in De’Runnya Wilson. While the team looks to be rebuilding this year, they still will have a shot to compete in the SEC West. Jackson could be a key to the team maintaining relevancy in arguably the toughest division in football, as the team needs a playmaker to step up and fill the void left by Prescott and Wilson. At 6-foot-2, 211 pounds, the redshirt sophomore fits the bill as a solid X receiver. A four-star recruit and the No. 8 prospect in all of Mississippi, he redshirted his freshman season after tearing his ACL in high school, and then failed to register a catch last season. He has reportedly split time between the first and second team offense this year, but I would expect him to start by seasons end and be the team’s top receiver heading into next year.
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