Developing Assets: Week 12

In this series, we take a look at future NFL players with a focus on offensive skill positions to help those of you in developmental (devy) leagues. For those in regular dynasty formats, we’ll give you some of the key players to watch as you start preparing for 2017 rookie drafts.

We have in-depth rankings for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 classes, which we update throughout the season. We also have a breakdown on what the heck a devy league is, in case it’s foreign to you.

We’ll start by looking at a top-tier SEC matchup and then check in on Notre Dame and Virginia Tech before moving out to the West Coast.

Saturday

Wake Up and Watch

Florida at No. 24 LSU (SECN, 1:00)

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This is a makeup game — not something you get to say often in football — which was originally cancelled because of Hurricane Matthew. The game is in Baton Rouge, and LSU has won three straight over the Gators, with Florida only notching one win in the last six meetings between the two cross-division rivals.

We’ve hit up LSU multiple times this season, but the Tigers are so loaded with skill-position talent, it’s worth going over them again. The Tigers’ top devy prospect is Leonard Fournette, who, as it stands now, is in the mix to be the 1.01 pick in 2017 rookie drafts. The 6-foot-1, 235-pound junior is having another big year, running for 803 yards and eight touchdowns on 117 carries — good for a career-best 6.9 yards per carry.

Fournette hasn’t been the only impressive LSU running back this year. With Fournette missing four games, sophomore back Derrius Guice has gotten extended work, and he’s put up some monster numbers. Guice has picked up 8.7 yards per carry, totaling 881 yards and nine scores. There’s a chance LSU has two of the five best running backs in college football, and it’ll be fun to see what Guice can do with a full workload in 2017. The 2016 running back class gets a lot of love, but the 2018 class, headlined by Guice, Saquon Barkley, Ronald Jones II and Damien Harris, is shaping up nicely.

On the outside, LSU has some serious talent at wideout, but you wouldn’t know it from their numbers. LSU has run it 327 times and thrown just 215 times. Travin Dural (28-280-1), Malachi Dupre (28-365-2) and D.J. Chark (19-314-3) are all 2017 draft-eligible prospects, but no LSU receiver has more than 30 grabs. That’s more of a byproduct of the Tigers’ typically poor passing game — Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham combined for just 1,286 yards as sophomores in 2012 (despite having talent like Jeremy Hill, Alfred Blue and Spencer Ware at running back) — than it is an indictment on those three wideouts.

Florida sits at 7-2, but they don’t have any marquee wins (Georgia is as close as it gets). A road win in Baton Rouge would certainly qualify. The Gators are pretty similar offensively to LSU in that they struggle to move the ball through the air.

Freshman Lamical Perine and sophomore Jordan Scarlett get most of the touches in the backfield. Scarlett has taken charge of the committee, and he has turned 118 carries into 617 yards (5.2 YPC) and six touchdowns. Perine has run it 71 times for 347 yards (4.9 YPC) and one touchdown.

Sophomore Antonio Calloway is Florida’s top receiver. The 5-11, 197-pound sophomore has hauled in 35 passes for 533 yards and two touchdowns. He put up a solid 35-678-4 line as a freshman a year ago.

Other notable teams in action around the noon hour, along with some players to focus on, include:

• Texas San Antonio at No. 8 Texas A&M (WR Josh Reynolds, WR Speedy Noil, WR Christian Kirk, RB Trayveon Williams), ESPNU, 12:00

• Kansas State at Baylor (QB Seth Russell, WR K.D. Cannon, RB Shock Linwood, RB Terence Williams, WR Ishmael Zamora), ESPN2, 12:00

• Louisiana Lafayette (RB Elijah McGuire) vs. Georgia (RB Sony Michel, RB Nick Chubb, WR Terry Godwin, TE Jeb Blazevich), CBS, 3:30

• No. 13 Oklahoma State (QB Mason Rudolph, WR James Washington) at TCU, FS1, 12:00

• No. 5 Ohio State (RB Mike Weber, RB Demario McCall, RB Curtis Samuel, WR Noah Brown) at Michigan State (WR Donnie Corley, RB LJ Scott), ESPN, 12:00

• Iowa (RB Akrum Wadley) at Illinois, BTN, 12:00

• Maryland at No. 19 Nebraska (WR Alonzo Moore, WR Jordan Westerkamp), ESPNEWS, 12:00

• Miami (QB Brad Kaaya, WR Stacy Coley, RB Joseph Yearby, RB Mark Walton, WR Ahmmon Richards) at North Carolina State (RB Matthew Dayes), ACCN, 12:30

Midday Marquee

No. 14 Virginia Tech at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30)

Yes, Notre Dame is having a lousy year, but they have devy talent — and that’s all we care about.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer could be the first quarterback taken in the 2017 NFL Draft, assuming he comes out early. Kizer became the starter midseason in 2015, after Malik Zaire was injured, and he hasn’t looked back. Kizer’s numbers, though, are down across the board this year. He’s completing 60.5 percent of his throws and averaging 8.35 yards per attempts, but those numbers were at 63.0 percent and 8.61, respectively, last year.

Still, Kizer has shown enough arm strength and talent to get people excited. At 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, Kizer is surprisingly nimble, and he’s run for a total of 960 yards and 17 scores since becoming the starter, which should help his fantasy stock.

He’s not a run-first, scramble quarterback, though. Kizer can win in the pocket, and when he sets his feet, he is very accurate. The problem is, at times, his footwork gets rather sloppy. However, the positives outweigh the negatives, and he’s right up there with Deshaun Watson and Mitch Trubisky in the race to be the first signal caller taken next spring.

Will Fuller left some huge shoes to fill on the outside, but Equanimeous St. Brown is doing an admirable job as Notre Dame’s top receiver. Other than winning the name-having battle, he’s put up 45 grabs for 777 yards and eight scores. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound sophomore has thrust himself up the 2018 draft-eligible wideout rankings, and he’s a player to watch over the next year-plus.

Speaking of receivers to watch, Virginia Tech junior wideout Isaiah Ford is a good player. After going for a monster 75-1,164-11 line as a sophomore, he’s made 58 catches for 795 yards and seven touchdowns this season. The solid 2017 draft-eligible wide receiver class is pretty liquid right now, but Ford — who is 6-foot-2, 190 pounds — is likely to be one of the first 10 wideouts off the board in the NFL Draft, which will probably make him a second- or third-round rookie draft pick.

Other notable teams in midday action, along with some players to focus on, include:

• Oregon (RB Royce Freeman, RB Tony Brooks-James, WR Darren Carrington, TE John Mundt, TE Pharaoh Brown) at No. 15 Utah, N/A, 2:00

• Duke at Pittsburgh (RB James Conner), ACCN, 3:00

• No. 18 Florida State (RB Dalvin Cook, WR Travis Rudolph, WR Auden Tate, WR Jesus Wilson, RB Jacques Patrick) at Syracuse, ABC/ESPN2, 3:30

• Texas (WR John Burt, RB D’Onta Foreman, QB Shane Buechele) at Kansas, ESPN2/ABC, 3:30

• Buffalo at No. 21 Western Michigan (WR Corey Davis) ESPNU, 3:30

• No. 23 Washington State (QB David Falk, WR Gabe Marks) at Colorado, N/A, 3:30

• San Diego State (RB Donnel Pumphrey) at Wyoming, CBSSN, 3:30

• Missouri (RB Damarea Crockett) at Tennessee (RB Jalen Hurd, RB Alvin Kamara, WR Josh Malone), SECN, 12:00

• The Citadel at No. 17 North Carolina (RB Elijah Hood, QB Mitch Trubisky, WR Ryan Switzer, WR Bug Howard), ACCN, 3:30

• Texas Tech (WR Jonathan Giles) at Iowa State (WR Allen Lazard), FS1, 3:30

• Indiana at No. 3 Michigan (WR Jehu Chesson, TE Jake Butt), ESPN, 3:30

• Northwestern at Minnesota (RB Shannon Brooks, RB Rodney Smith), BTN, 3:30

• Navy at East Carolina (WR Zay Jones), ESPNEWS, 4:00

• Austin Peay at Kentucky (RB Stanley Williams, RB Benny Snell), SECN, 4:30

• Stanford (RB Christian McCaffrey, RB Bryce Love) at California, PAC12N, 5:30

Primetime Play

No. 20 USC at UCLA (ESPN, 10:30)

For those on Eastern Time, this is a late one, but it’s a contest worth checking out. We just talked about USC last week for their matchup with Washington, a game the Trojans won handily. So let’s spend most our time on UCLA.

The Bruins boast two sophomores — running back Soso Jamabo and quarterback Josh Rosen — who are intriguing weapons. Unfortunately, Rosen will not be playing in this one due to surgery on his throwing shoulder.

Rosen was a monster recruit, with Rivals ranking him as the top quarterback and second overall player in the 2015 high school class. As a true freshman, he put up pretty good numbers, tossing 23 touchdowns and 11 picks with a 60.0 percent completion percentage. This year, though, he didn’t take much of a step forward, completing 59.3 percent of his throws for 10 scores and five interceptions in six games. Surgery on the throwing shoulder of a passer is never a good thing, and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs next season.

Jamabo was another big-time get for UCLA. He was Rivals fourth-ranked back for 2015, and Jim Mora was able to pluck him from the state of Texas. In limited action last season (66 carries), Jamabo showed out, racking up 6.1 yards per run and four touchdowns. Without Rosen under center, the entire offense has predictably taken a step back, but none more so than Jamabo, whose yards-per-carry clip is down to 3.9 on 79 attempts. The size-speed combo — 6-foot-3, 216-pounds — and talent are certainly there, though, and he’s a player to monitor for the 2018 NFL Draft.

We might as well touch on the Trojans briefly.

Sophomore running back Ronald Jones II is having another huge season, gaining 772 yards and scoring eight times. He’s picking up 6.3 yards per attempt after posting a yards-per-carry mark of 6.5 as a true freshman. He’s part of the 2018 running back class I mentioned earlier, and he very well could be the best of the bunch.

Of course, there’s also junior wideout Juju Smith-Schuster. He’s hauled in 51 passes for 682 yards and eight touchdowns this year. He erupted last season with 1.454 yards and 10 scores. There is a lot of time left before 2017 rookie drafts and a lot of things can (and will) happen, but assuming he bolts for the NFL, Smith-Schuster will be in the mix to be the first receiver taken in rookie drafts.

Other notable teams in evening action, along with some players to focus on, include:

• No. 2 Clemson (WR Mike Williams, TE Jordan Leggett, QB Deshaun Watson, WR Deon Cain, WR Artavis Scott, RB Wayne Gallman) at Wake Forest, ESPN, 7:00

• No. 25 Arkansas (RB Rawleigh Williams III) at Mississippi State (WR Fred Ross), ESPNU, 7:00

• Chattanooga at No. 1 Alabama (RB Damien Harris, RB Joshua Jacobs, RB Bo Scarbrough, WR Calvin Ridley, TE O.J. Howard), ESPN2, 7:00

• South Florida at SMU (WR Courtland Sutton), CBSSN, 7:00

• Alabama A&M at No. 9 Auburn (RB Kerryon Johnson, RB Kamryn Pettway), SECN, 7:30

• Arizona State at No. 4 Washington (RB Myles Gaskin, WR John Ross, QB Jake Browning), FOX, 7:30

• Ole Miss (TE Evan Engram, QB Shea Patterson, QB Chad Kelly is out) at Vanderbilt, SECN, 8:00

• No. 10 Penn State (RB Saquon Barkley, WR DeAndre Thompkins, WR Chris Godwin) at Rutgers, BTN, 8:00

• No. 11 Oklahoma (RB Samaje Perine, RB Joe Mixon, WR Dede Westbrook, WR/TE Mark Andrews) at No. 16 West Virginia (RB Justin Crawford), BTN, 8:00

• Arizona (RB Brandon Dawkins, RB Nick Wilson) at Oregon State, N/A, 10:20

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