#devon johnson

There is an air of grim inevitability around this season. The Heisman winner and national champions seem to be a foregone conclusion. The off the map stars keep disappointing me. A few of the biggest names are injured and on their way to the NFL. Ed Oliver is injured, on his way to the NFL, and playing for Mark D’Onofrio. Let’s see what fun there is to be had and hope it mostly involves bad things for Notre Dame.

1. QUINNEN WILLIAMS, DL, Alabama

All praise the new #1! He’ll have to live with being a top 5 draft pick instead of winning a stupid trophy that everybody should hate as long as it’s directly competing with us. Williams is the standout on a suddenly great defense and he’s got slightly better size than Ed Oliver, even if he’s still not ideal for an interior defensive lineman. Absolutely destroyed LSU and here we are.

2. TUA TAGOVAILOA, QB, Alabama

It’s hard to dislike Tua for anything other than humiliating your favorite team or being Jalen Hurts. Tua finally turned the ball over against LSU but he also showed off his gun and didn’t seem phased by his mistakes. We all new letting Alabama have a good QB was a mistake but this has just been disheartening. 

3. TREVOR LAWRENCE, QB, Clemson

Remember when Kelly Bryant quit the team and then Trevor Lawrence got hurt in the first half of the next game? Since Lawrence has been back and healthy Clemson has looked like the only team capable of keeping up with Bama. Lawrence is the kind of quarterback teams are going to tank for. He makes an obvious difference for his teammates, makes proper reads and makes insane throws with velocity and placement. If things keep going the way they’re going and Clemson-Bama IV happens in the national title game, the hype for Tua v. Trevor is going to be hilariously over the top.

4. GARDNER MINSHEW II, QB, Washington State

Wazzu keeps winning and Minshew is starting to get a Derek Jeter buzz around him. I saw about 40 different people describe him as “nails!” on twitter last week. It wasn’t enough to make me disown him yet but it could get there. 

5. GREG DORTCH, WR, Wake Forest

This is kind of bullshit because I wouldn’t have included him here if I hadn’t watched Wake Forest last night. Dortch is pretty great, though, even if his team is not. He reminds me a little of Anthony Miller (from Memphis last year, not the Chargers great.)

6. RONDALE MOORE, WR, Purdue

Rondale Moore reminds me of Raghib Ismail. That’s a hot take. Moore isn’t that kind of over the top athlete (there aren’t many) but he’s that kind of gadget guy who will probably be used as purely a WR in the NFL. That’s a long way off from today but most of the hype that remains for Purdue’s coach can be credited to the play of his freshman star.

7. DARRELL HENDERSON, RB, Memphis

Other than UCF the AAC has been a huge disappointment to me this year. Henderson has been great but now that his numbers don’t look like receiving stats a lot of the excitement has dissipated for me. Memphis losing as much as they have is also not endearing him to me as the season wears on. Not sure how much you can blame him for any of it but we’re all still going to.

8. DEANDRE BAKER, CB, Georgia

Best Georgia defensive back since Champ Bailey in my honest estimation. Baker is a special talent who manages to take away half the field even in the spread era. He doesn’t get much in the way of stats because nobody throws near him but when they do he pretty much shuts the play down.

9. ED OLIVER, DL, Houston

He keeps sliding because he hasn’t played the last two weeks. Which sucks because the two weeks before that he racked up a season’s worth of splash plays. There is no real incentive for him to push it if his knee is still bothering him but I want to see him on the field, dammit.

10. BRYCE HALL, DB, Virginia

Of course I finally put him on here following a loss. Stupid. DeAndre Baker (and the two LSU CBs) is only marginally better than Hall as a college player and I won’t be even a little surprised if Hall ends up the first or second defensive back drafted in 2019. His size, his tackling and his ball skills are in the Jamal Adams mold and if he tests athletically in the same range teams are going to start fighting for him.

R.I.P., Rockhead.