Arguing …something all friends do.
You remember having millions of debates about sports with your friends. From best football player, to who should win the Heisman Trophy, and to what conference has the best team. Today we’re going to play a game of would you rather. I’m going to give you two choices for each position recently on offense and were going to see which one you think is better. We’re going to go through quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. These positional groups are based on depth a school had in one year at a specific position. Hey, you might even learn something you didn’t even know.
Quarterbacks – Ohio State 2014 Vs Texas Tech 2013
Ohio State had Braxton Miller(Sr), J.T Barrett(rsFr) and Cardale Jones(rsSo). This trio ended up winning the national title with their third string quarterback. Barrett would lead the team the rest of the season until getting hurt against Michigan. This propelled Jones into leading the Buckeyes to the national title. Braxton Miller would end up having to move to wide receiver, but before his injury he was one of the most talented players in recent memory. Jones and Barrett would compete for the quarterback job the next year. It’s not everyday though you see a team use three quarterbacks and still win the national title.
The case for Texas Tech is a little different. They may have not won their conference or a big bowl game, but they also had three starting caliber quarterbacks. Davis Webb(Fr), Michael Brewer(So) and…Baker Mayfield(Fr), what a talented group. The interesting thing about this group is they would all end up transferring, which I used Mayfield as an example for. This group had two future pro quarterbacks, Mayfield being the first overall pick in this year’s draft. Mayfield would transfer to Oklahoma, Webb would leave for Cal and Brewer would go to Virginia Tech. If you’re wondering why, its because in 2014 they got another first round quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, but he can’t count in this debate.
Running Backs – Georgia 2014 Vs Alabama 2013
Georgia had Todd Gurley(Jr), Keith Marshall(Jr), Nick Chubb(Fr) and Sony Michel(Fr). A loaded unit who all went to the NFL, Chubb and Michel in their career combined for 9,364 yards from scrimmage. Gurley would enter the draft after the 2014 season and totaled 3,900 yards from scrimmage. Marshall would stay till 2015 and had only 1,604. These four in total had 14,868 yards yet were all on the same team in one year, pretty freaking cool.
Alabama in 2013 had T.J Yeldon(Jr), Kenyan Drake(Jr), Derrick Henry(Fr) and Alvin Kamara(Fr). This was a loaded roster after losing Eddie Lacy the prior year and winning the national title. Some may argue Kamara shouldn’t be put on this list because he never played a down, but he was a part of the team this year coming in the same recruiting class as Derrick Henry. He ended up going JuCo and playing two years at Tennessee, but what if he didn’t leave. Henry had 3,876 yards from scrimmage in his three years. Yeldon would have a modest 3,816 from scrimmage and Kenyan Drake with 2,065 from scrimmage. So which group you going with?
Wide Receivers – Clemson 2012 Vs Nobody
Clemson 2012 had 6 future pros: DeAndre Hopkins(Jr), Sammy Watkins(So), Martavis Bryant(So), Jaron Brown(Sr), Adam Humphries(So) and Charone Peake(So). It was hard to find a group in recent memory that had the talent or potential of this group. 2013 LSU had Odell Beckham Jr(Jr) and Jarvis Landry(Jr), who are both NFL superstars. Oklahoma State in 2009 had Dez Bryant(Jr) and Justin Blackmon(Fr) who both dominated in college football. An interesting one some may argue on potential would have been 2010 Baylor, who had Josh Gordon(So), Kendall Wright(Jr) and Terrance Williams(So).
If you think i’ve missed an obvious one, tweet at me @BS_Fur , or tweet at Student U and discuss or even propose other groups that you think I should’ve included. Next series will be Tight Ends, Offensive Line and Defensive Line, so stay tuned for more.