Interesting Opposing Players

[Husker in WI]

Did this last year, and it's interesting to me at least. I'm a fan of college football as a whole, so there are players on other teams I'm excited to see - although I obviously hope they don't perform well. But seeing relatively unknown guys like Daunte Culpepper have a bit of a coming out party, or freaks like Chase Young show their athleticism adds something to watching for me. So I'm curious about which players other fans find interesting! This can also be sort of a primer if you don't follow other teams at all, although with the B1G only schedule there aren't many under the radar of most fans.

 

Some observations:

 

The West does not have a lot of skill position talent. Most teams have a guy or 2 (Bateman, Smith-Marsette, David Bell), but OSU/PSU have more interesting skill players than the West combined if either Rondale or Bateman stay opted out.

 

QB is weird this year. Outside of Fields, none of them on our schedule are the least bit interesting to me. Some are good (Morgan, Coan, Ramsey, Clifford), some are new and therefore a little intriguing (Petras or whoever at Iowa), but even the good ones just don't move the needle for me. Ramsey maybe a tiny bit, but they're all as boring as decent to good QBs can be. 

 

QBs

• Fields - I don't need to say anything here.
• Ramsey - ridiculously efficient at Indiana, my interest comes from whether he can keep that up with zero skill talent around him.
• Morgan - Had a phenomenal year last year, he just doesn't do anything interesting. Hands it off, hits schemed open receivers, and does it well.
• Clifford - I don't know how I avoid ever seeing PSU, but the glimpses I've seen just don't do it for me. Kind of Morgan-esque in that the numbers are good, but I still don't really care.
• Petras - Just interesting because he's new. Seems like your regular Iowa QB, but until we see him there's the slightest chance he's not!

Offense

• I can't even list all of OSU's talent. They already had good nacks and receivers (Teague, Olave, Garret Wilson), and then they added Trey Sermon from Oklahoma and 4 of the top 16 receivers in the 2020 recruiting class - including 3 of the top 10. Obviously have to prove it on the field, but insane talent level.
• Jalen Berger - the next great Wisky RB from Jersey? Probably not Jonathan Taylor, but probably going to be better than people think. Jonathan Taylor wasn't Janothan Taylor until he went for 2k as a freshman - not predicting that for Berger, but he'll be good.
• Brown/Freiermuth - Brown is a home run hitter, and Freiermuth will probably painfully remind us that matching up with elite TEs is very tough.
• Ford - hasn't done anything yet, but he's a 5 star TE who transferred from Georgia. As talented as anyone they have.
• Goodson/Smith-Marsette - Goodson was a steal for them out of Georgia, kind of what we're hoping Thompkins is for us. Without those 2 we beat them handily last year, but they still have them. Still think Smith-Marsette is a meh receiver, but he is a great athlete which they don't usually have.
• Moore/Bell - much more interesting if Rondale opts back in. They have a couple other interesting young receivers too, but without Moore and their TE who got drafted I am not very scared. Bell is good, but he's one guy.
• Bateman - Again, if he plays he'll be entertaining to watch. I thought about Ibrahim as well, but to me he's also pretty boring despite being good. Not super flashy, just gets it done. The right side of their o line is also interesting, because watch all the football you want and you won't see a bigger T/G combo. Dunlap (G) is listed at 6'5, 345 (I think he's heavier), and Faalele is listed 6'9, 400. And I don't think they stretched that much if at all.

Defense

• Wade - their next first round CB. I'm sure they'll also have a DL turn into an early first rounder (Zach Harrison? JJB?), but I don't know who that is yet. and their LBs improved drastically last year, but they're still not the strength of that defense
• Bryson Williams/Sanborn/Chenal - Williams is an easy one, he's had some tough injury luck but I hope he can get back on track. I'm not going to cheer against a Nebraska kid going to Wisky - Iowa maybe, but no ill will here. Sanborn is on a bunch of lists and is solid, and they are really really excited about Chenal. He may not start, but he's a big dude and he'll put some hits on people.
• Fisher/Gallagher/Bergin - I'm not sure Fisher has really improved since his freshman year, but it's not like he really needed to. Bergin and Gallagher shut down a lot of our offense last year. Not flashy (and maybe flies in the face of my "Morgan is boring" logic), but they just do everything exactly right. And for LBs, that's fun for me to watch.
• Parsons/Oweh/Toney - We'll see if Parsons plays - if he does, he's the best defender we'll see. Oweh is making all the offseason 'freaks' lists, he's a 250-260 lb DE who reportedly runs a 4.33 40. Toney is probably another guy who all of a sudden has his name called in the first round of the draft.
• Karlaftis (Lorenzo Neal) - Karlaftis was a huge steal for them, he's a 5 star from their backyard. He had a really good freshman year. What's interesting to me is he's still listed as a DE with their move to a (Diaco-run - lol) 3-4 - he's athletic enough to be an edge guy, curious where exactly he plays. Neal is my honorable mention for them, he's been a stud and is coming back for an extra year after an injury. He's the only guy I see on their roster who can be a legit NT, so they better hope he's back to full strength. We all saw what a passive 3-4 without a credible monster in the middle looks like. To be fair, we were missing more than a NT.

 

This is probably way longer than necessary, but there is finally football to look forward to and I can't help it. Let me know if I missed anyone you find interesting or you have thoughts on any of them. 

[Hilltop]

I hope the whole list is quarantined when we play each team.  That said, I don't mind watching the Ohio State guys beat up on the likes of Michigan and Penn State.  

[Undone]

Fun thread. I went with Tanner Morgan at QB because I do think he's a pretty underrated guy that puts the ball on a dime.

[Husker in WI]

Moore and Bateman are officially back in, Parsons is out. Definitely makes Purdue and Minnesota more interesting, and helps our admittedly small chance against Penn State.