Five Impact Freshmen for 2016
QB Jacob Eason, Georgia
Life’s not easy when you’re 18 and have the entire Georgia fanbase imagining you as the next Aaron Murray. Jacob Eason, who’s been enrolled at Georgia since winter and already has fans clamoring for him to start, seemingly has handled that pressure well. He went into the spring game and had the best statistical performance of all three quarterbacks who played during Georgia’s spring game.
All of this hype is backed up by Kirby Smart’s non-committal, “we’ll see how things shake out” attitude towards who might start for the Bulldogs. It’s hard to project the depth chart before fall practice, and there’s no barometer yet as to where Eason might fall in the pecking order. At this point, Eason could as easily start at quarterback in the season opener against North Carolina as he could riding the bench behind Grayson Lambert and Brice Ramsey.
What will ultimately happen? Well, I think Georgia will finish the first third of the season hovering around .500 with Grayson Lambert under center and there will be rumblings about moving on. This is the same situation Missouri faced last year. Quarterback of the future arrives on campus and fans, already uneasy with the returning starter, catch wind of him tearing up practice against the second team. They start to wonder if the true freshman can really do it, can he unseat the uninspiring incumbent? Then, once the season rolls around and there’s a rough patch to start, fans and media alike call for the backup to start. Faced with the pressure, the head coach really has no choice and hands over the reins. And just like that, Jacob Eason will be the Drew Lock of 2016.
Let me present you with a scenario, following a rough loss to Tennessee at home, Georgia’s record sits at 2–3. It’s announced the following Tuesday that Smart has moved Eason up to the first team in practice and will start Eason against a rebuilding South Carolina team. Wait a minute, where have I heard this before? Oh, that’s right. Last season, when Mizzou did the exact same thing. The end result of that exercise wasn’t pretty for the Tigers. Lock went 2–6 as the starter, looking very much like a kid who had graduated high school only four months prior. There are some caveats to this, as Missouri’s offensive line had some serious issues and there was the whole Mizzou Hunger Strike fiasco. The proof is in the pudding though, and the youth movement did not go over well in Columbia.
While parallels exists in timing and situation, there’s reason to believe that Eason will be better prepared than Lock. Eason already has more experience than Lock did when he took over. Murmurs of Lock’s ability in practice didn’t start until August, only a few weeks before his debut against Southeastern Missouri State. Eason have had eight months of practice to learn the playbook and rhythm of the offense. That extra time can make all the difference when comparing the two young signal callers. Eason will also have the luxury of being able to rely on all-world running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel to take the load off his shoulders a bit.
Eason’s mere December commitment had fans ready to crown him the savior. Once he stepped on campus in February, the hype train went full speed ahead, casting Lambert aside like an old rag. Here’s the thing though, Eason is still a true freshman playing in the toughest conference in the country and Smart has a known quantity in Lambert. He proved to be adequate in 2015, so there’s no reason for Smart to upend things in Athens for an unproven 18-year-old. If there’s one thing Smart learned the school of Nick Saban, it’s trust your veteran quarterback. The last time Saban handed over the offense to someone other than an upperclassman was to A.J. McCarron in 2011, who was a sophomore and would go on to be the winningest quarterback in Alabama history. Smart will take that lesson with him and play the safe route before he decides to launch himself headfirst into the future of Georgia football.
OT Jonah Williams, Alabama
Alabama caught a break this week when it was reported that left tackle Cam Robinson and cornerback Hootie Jones won’t face weapon and drug charges stemming from their May arrest in Louisiana. Having Robinson in the clear for the summer and beyond will have a ripple effect stabilizing the offensive line. Perhaps nobody will benefit from this more than Jonah Williams, who is currently slated to take over at right tackle.
By not having to force Williams into the left tackle spot and face premier pass rushers week in and week out, it allows him time to improve his game as Robinson’s heir apparent.. Williams, a four-star recruit and USA TODAY All-American, enrolled at Alabama this winter to get a head start on his strength and conditioning. Williams has the prototypical height of a tackle at 6' 5", but needs to add more weight if he’s going to hold his own against SEC caliber defensive lineman. On his official page at rolltide.com, Williams is listed only as 288 pounds, slim for an offensive lineman. If he can get up closer to the 295–300 pound range without losing too much explosiveness, that’ll help him immensely early in his carer.
Williams performance this spring has drawn good reviews from coaches, and will likely be the man at right tackle for the Crimson Tide this fall. He started over senior Korren Kirven on A-Day, who figures to slide into the sixth man position if he can’t beat out Williams in August. Nick Saban seemingly has his tackle of future in Williams to pair nicely with his quarterback of the future Blake Barnett. Offensive line isn’t a position that typically attracts a lot of attention from fans, Alabama fans will want to keep an eye on Williams considering he could be protecting Barnett’s blindside come Fall 2017.
WR Tyrie Cleveland, Florida
Tyrie Cleveland didn’t receive the same kind of hype as the Eason, but similarly comes into a situation where he can impact the game right away. Florida has a lot of question marks in their receiving corp. The Gators lost Demarcus Robinson to the NFL Draft, where he was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round. Piling on top of this is the fact that when receiver Antonio Callaway has been suspended since February along with Treon Harris, who transitioned to receiver this spring, for unknown reasons.
The loss of Robinson means that the only returning player taller than Cleveland is 6' 4" Ahmad Fulwood, who had six catches for 61 yards in five games for the Gators. At this point, the Gators are looking at having 5' 9" dynamo Brandon Powell as their go-to receiver. Powell had 29 receptions for 390 yards and three touchdowns in 2015, but his size limits him to slot duty.
Enter Cleveland, who gives the Gators a the downfield threat to compliment their litany of shifty, underneath guys. At 6' 2.5", Cleveland has the height to be an outside threat. Cleveland’s biggest strength is his speed, which immediately sticks out when you watch his tape. Last summer at The Opening, Cleveland tied for the second-fastest 40-yard dash time with a 4.32. Cleveland’s has the kind of speed to outpace defensive backs down the sideline for those pretty over the shoulder catches.
Cleveland’s initial impact may not seen next to his name in the box score, but rather that of Powell or the other jitterbugs that Florida deploys. Opposing secondaries won’t have any tape to go off while scouting Cleveland, but they’ll be well aware of his speed. Whenever he’s on the field, he forces a defensive coordinator to commit a safety to playing over the top. This should open things up in the intermediate area of the field, allowing more room for his vertically challenged teammates to operate.
MLB Devin White, LSU
If you’re looking for the next Myles Jack, you might not have to look any further than Baton Rouge, where Devin White has “entrenched” himself at linebacker. The former high school running back who scored 31 touchdowns as a senior took one look at the depth chart and realized defense would be the fastest route to seeing the field. White enrolled at LSU in January and by April was already practicing as the top linebacker in scrimmages.
This offseason, LSU hired Dave Aranda away from Wisconsin to be their defensive coordinator. Aranda has the Tigers transitioning to a 3–4 base defense, meaning more opportunities for White. We’re still a ways out from the regular season, so Aranda might decide to initially start someone with more experience, but even if White falls down to the second unit he’ll still get valuable in-game reps.
Aranda has a proven track record of developing linebackers. During his time at Wisconsin, Aranda coached Chris Borland and Joe Schoebert, who were the 2013 and 2015 Big Ten Linebacker of the Year, respectively. Borland was also voted the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year. With Aranda’s track record, White will be a guy to watch to see what kind of playmaker he can develop into.
OT Greg Litte, Ole Miss
The 2019 NFL Draft could feature two names from this list called in the first round, Jonah Williams and Greg Little. Both play a premier position against the best competition in the country, and while neither has stepped foot on the field, both have the pedigree scouts look for.
Little comes to Ole Miss with significantly more fanfare than Williams did at Alabama. Little will replace Laremy Tunsil at left tackle, a three-year starter and a first round draft pick this May. Little has the same type of prototypical size that Tunsil did coming in as a freshman. Tunsil had half an inch on Little, while Little has nine pounds on Tunsil. If you had to find a clone for Tunsil, there might not be a better choice than Little.
Little will play a key role in Ole Miss’ continued success. Star quarterback Chad Kelly returns for his second year as a starter, and it’ll be under his leadership that the Rebels attempt to win nine or more games for the third year in a row. Little has the second most important role on the team, keeping Kelly upright and the pocket clean. Kelly can do some things with his feet, by his value as a passer far surpasses his value as a runner. Kelly spending the majority of the game scrambling away from pass rushers is not part of Ole Miss’ formula for success.
Little will have four big tests in 2016, Week 3 against Alabama, Week 8 at LSU, Week 9 against Auburn, and Week 11 at Texas A&M. All four teams feature NFL-caliber pass rushers and will provide a gauge to measure Little’s growth as the season goes on. Alabama would be a brutal game for any offensive lineman, much less one playing in his third ever college game. However, it’ll be the stretch from Week 8 through 11 that will be a true test for the freshman. In order, he’ll face Lewis Neal (7.0 sacks in 2015), Carl Lawson (a potential first-round pick in 2017), and Myles Garrett (22.5 sacks in two years). That’s a murderer’s row of defensive lineman, capped off by the baddest man of the bunch. Ole Miss relies heavily on their passing game, and if Little isn’t ready to keep his quarterback upright, they could very well lose two of those three games because of him.
