Coming up with a list of the best players in the Pac Ten conference is no easy task. It would be very easy just to go down the roster of the University of Southern California and pick at random and you'd probably come up with five players that are arguably among the best at their position. We tried to resist the urge...but came up short. Enjoy the list.
If the Heisman Trophy is going to return to the West Coast this year, it will be going to Trojan quarterback John David Booty. In his first year as a starter for the Men of Troy, Booty only led his team to a Pac Ten title and a win in the Rose Bowl. Not shabby, but not quite what Trojan fans have come to expect. If Booty hopes to finish his career with as few losses as his predecessor, he'll have to run the table and he just may.
Booty is not without his shortcomings, however. His mechanics mean that the Trojan signal caller has a low trajectory when he releases the ball--which can lead to some inopportune tipped balls in key situations, especially with a short field. What's more, Booty lost his two favorite targets--receivers Dwayne Jarrett and State Smith--to the NFL, meaning he'll have to earn every plaudit laid upon him in the 2007 season.
Expectations are high for the University of California's DeSean Jackson. Rivals.com and The Sporting News have him ranked as the nation's leading receiver and Rivals says he is the best special teams player in all the land. Jackson is on several watch lists for post-season honors, including the Belitnikoff and Randy Moss Awards--and something in the air in Berkeley has his name being touted as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.
Last year, Jackson averaged 18 yards a catch on 59 receptions and was the lone bright spot in the Bears' loss to Arizona, with a career-long 62-yard touchdown catch and a 95-yard punt return en route to 285 all-purpose yards. Nearly one out of ever five times the ball is punted to Jackson, he returns it for a touchdown--making him a dual threat for the Golden Bears.
An analysis of the NFL performance of three particular groups of college players suggests these groups are vastly overrated in the NFL draft and unlikely to succeed in the NFL. Those groups are Michigan skill position players, Virginia Tech defenders and Jeff Tedford coached quarterbacks.
The draft is light in such players this year, but just the same the evidence bodes poorly for guys like Michigan receiver Steve Breaston, Virginia Tech safety Aaron Rouse and combustible Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob.
Why is this so?
Call it the scheme/system factor. Sometimes there's a tradeoff for college success as a player who otherwise dominates on the college level in a particular system may not develop certain skills necessary for the NFL. This most affects the Virginia Tech defenders.
Beamer's secret isn't getting top talent and building the defense around the talent, Beamer and his coordinator have a scheme and go after the talent to fit that scheme. What is interesting is the constant of what kinds of players Beamer gets, and its usually undersized or oversized players for the NFL eyes, undersized DLmen (Engleberger and Adibi seems to be the only one close to the standard NFL size for a DE, but guys like Chamblee, Tapp and Jonathan Lewis seem to be the norm), over-sized Safeties (Rouse, Jimmy Williams and Willie Pile, but the CBs tend to be normal sized-but slow) and undersized Lbs (Moore, C. brown, Ken Brown).
As for the Michigan guys, their solid offensive line play over the years has apparently cursed everyone else involved in the Wolverine offense.
if a QB knows that he has that extra couple seconds to make his progressions, he gets used to it and when he hits the NFL, the speed of the pass rush caused him the most problems. The same problem in the passing game also applies to the WRs and TEs. If a receiver (either TE or WR) doesn't have to improvise as much (for example: knows that he can run his assigned route most of the time) and doesn't have to run hot routes as much, then the receiver doesn't develop the skills that they need in the NFL.
The Michigan line has also been the (NFL) bane of many a memorable Wolverine tailback.
with such a dependable Oline, the RBs did not develop needed skill sets because they had a great oline in front of them year after year. It might be as subtle as not having to learn to wait for the blocks to develop, or learning how to make use of the crease that is there
I wonder if Mike Hart can break the trend next year?
Few things awe people more than the act of speed. I sit here writing this while the Daytona 500 plays out on my television screen, cars ripping across asphalt at nearly 200 miles an hour. The main event at the Olympic games is the 100 meter dash. In college football, our fastest players have quite often been amongst the most celebrated.
Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson came along and spent three seasons simply running right by defenders. They gave way to Ted Ginn who capped his career with a kick return touchdown that was Ohio State's lone highlight in January's BCS Championship Game.
But now that those guys are gone, who is left to fill the void as captivating speedster?
For players already on college rosters, Clemson has two of the zoom zoomiest around in receiver/returner Jacoby Ford and tailback CJ Spiller, both sophomores. There are other players out there yet to make their mark and we'll be on the lookout for them. One such burner is Jamere Holland, a redshirt freshman receiver at USC who clocked somewhere in the 10.3 range in the 100 meters in high school.
Florida sophomore receiver Percy Harvin is also a superb choice, weaving expertly through defenses any time he so much as has a step on a defender. West Virginia junior tailback Steve Slaton has excellent speed and is a worthy candidate. Junior Arkansas tailback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden is an obvious selection here. Finally, there is junior Texas tailback Jamaal Charles who ran somewhere in the 10.2 range in high school and owns several long touchdown runs to his name.
Among incoming recruits, many people have made comparisons between Louisiana's Joe McKnight (a USC signee) and Reggie Bush, but McKnight is probably a step slower with a personal best of 10.71. There are some reports of him having clocked a 10.4, but I have yet to find anything legitimate and official backing that up. He's definitely a playmaker but I'm not sure he's quite in that class of guy who simply runs right by college defenders as Peterson and Bush and Ginn were able to do.
My nominee among this year's incoming freshmen to fill the speed vacuum would be tailback Jahvid Best, a 10.41 runner who has signed with California.
Noble reader: now that you've seen my list, I ask you now who else should be under consideration as an impact player with awe-inspiring speed? Feel free to leave a comment below.
In Part One I named five college football recruits who will make an "impact" in 2007 and beyond. What follows are the top five impact recruits.
Please keep in mind the word impact can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. My rubric is slanted towards guys who people will be talking about early in their careers and not necessarily the best players, period.
Jahvid Best, Tailback (California) - The "sleeper" out of my ten, if you want to call him that. Best is a little on the light/small side (5'-10"/183 pounds) but the man can scoot (a California high school best 10.39 in the 100-yard dash). There are only a handful of people every year who are that fast and are legitimate football players. Think Ted Ginn, Reggie Bush, those types of zoom zoomers. Best may be the next. Video here and here. Strange video here.
Joe McKnight, Athlete (USC or LSU or Ole Miss) - McKnight is considered by many to be the best recruit in this year's class. People compare him to Reggie Bush because of his versatility (15 yards/carry, 30 yards/reception) but he's a little slower (10.75 compared to 10.41 in the 100 meter dash). That said McKnight can do it and should start out as a running back. Video here, here, here.
Noel Devine, Running Back (West Virginia) - Many would consider Devine the nation's top recruit but his off-field elusiveness and questionable academics have muted expectations a tad. That said, outside of Reggie Bush there hasn't been a more breathtaking player to come out of the high school ranks. It's useless to give words to his abilities, just watch tape and see for yourself. He just committed to West Virginia and if he miraculously qualifies will be all over SportsCenter every Saturday night for the next three years. Boatloads of videos (~45) here. Noel Devine is a YouTube phenomena and has been since his sophomore year of high school.
Everson Griffen, Defensive End (USC) - If we can return from space and into the relatively elevated stratosphere for a moment, we must talk about the amazing Everson Griffen. Aside from Devine, no other player's tape stands out more this year than Griffen's. He puts on a show running through defensive lineman and past defensive backs as a ball carries and simply blows past offensive tackles and chases down running backs way downfield as a rush end. He reportedly clocked a sub 4.5 second 40-yard-dash at a camp this year at nearly 270 pounds. Griffen is a true physical freak and there's a chance to play at the Leo end spot opposite Lawrence Jackson for the Trojans this year.
Jimmy Clausen, Quarterback (Notre Dame) - And finally we arrive at the great Jimmy Clausen. Jimmy has been eyeballed since the middle school days as an elite quarterback prospect and so far has lived up to the billing. He'll go to the Mecca of college football, Notre Dame with expectations far beyond those of another ballyhooed prep slinger, Ron Powlus (ironically, his quarterback coach this year). Clausen is the most polished high school quarterback in ages and has a quirky personality and awesomely bad hairdo. Pair that with the hype and the fact that he's at Notre Dame and the guy is college football's biggest lightning rod ... perhaps ever. And that's before ever having taken a snap. People will most definitely be talking about this guy and so he headlines this list of the top 10 impact recruits of 2007. Video here. A few more videos here.
Alright, there it is, my list of the top 10 impact recruits. Who else should have been on this list? Who would you have omitted. Fire away (within reason).
Cal football's scheming and stoic emperor has played a hand, agreeing to a contract extension to be with the Bears until 2013. Nick Saban, Todd Graham and many before them have taught us how meaningless these deals are. But you know what? The ties that bind may be weak but the principle speaks volumes: Tedford's happy at Cal.
In three successive postseasons rumors of imminent departure for better jobs elsewhere have agitated against the Tedford regime like surly Pacific waves crashing against the craggy northern California shoreline. And yet he remains. After five full seasons he has rebuilt the adrift program.
The Bears have never quite met the hype given to them, but if that's all you can say about them you're missing the real story. Tedford's model is as much about scheme and X's and O's as simply fielding a competitive squad through significant turnover. The Bear roster is littered with junior college rentals and three-and-done blue chippers. That's not the easy way to put together a team. It means managing egos and ambitions and rapidly integrating guys into a complex system before they're gone. Lather, rinse, repeat.
In that time the Bears have gone from a one win team to a pair of ten win seasons in the last three years. All of this against the backdrop of playing in the tumultuous Pac-10 with monolithic USC in one of its great runs staring at you annually. All of this against the backdrop of having to recruit a great many rough academic cases into one of America's finest public institutions. All of this against the backdrop of an athletic department in desperate need of funds to renovate a stadium built on a fault line. If Tedford were to leave, Cal's athletic department would be in the most vulnerable of positions.
Pressure? He's got it.
Winning? It's what he does.
Is Cal what everyone thought they'd be? No. But so long as the winning continues they'll have a shot given the right personnel and good fortune. That's the Tedford story.
All week long, local media hyped the explosive offense of the University of California. But when it came to game-day at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, it was the USC defense which won the day.
Cal was limited to less than 100 yards rushing--as a team--and standout wide receiver Desean Jackson was held to just two receptions on the night.
After the game an incredulous Jackson taunted the Trojan defenders on the field because they double-teamed him. But by the end of the game, Jackson was such a non-factor that defensive lineman Brian Cushing was moved to cornerback to cover Jackson.
If the Heisman Trophy is going to return to the West Coast this year, it will be going to Trojan quarterback John David Booty. In his first year as a starter for the Men of Troy, Booty only led his team to a Pac Ten title and a win in the Rose Bowl. Not shabby, but not quite what Trojan fans have come to expect. If Booty hopes to finish his career with as few losses as his predecessor, he'll have to run the table and he just may.
So sayeth 
Cal football's scheming and stoic emperor has played a hand, 
All week long, local media 
