At the halfway point in the season, who have the 25 best college football players been so far?
Midseason: 25 Best College Football Players …
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It’s not about who the best pro prospects are or who the most talented players might be. Who have been the best, most important, and signature players at the midway points of the 2019 college football season?
25. QB Charlie Brewer, Baylor
Through five games he was perfect with 11 touchdown passes and no picks, and then he threw three interceptions in the overtime win over Texas Tech. However, he ran for three scores … and he kept Baylor undefeated.
24. LB Curtis Weaver, Boise State
QB Hank Bachmeier has turned into the national star for the unbeaten Broncos, but it’s Weaver in his hybrid role who’s been the team’s main man. He only has 26 stops for far, but he’s living in the backfield with a nation-leading nine sacks and 12 tackles for loss. His production is coming in waves, but teams are changing up their blocking schemes to hold him in check.
23. LB Isaiah Simmons, Clemson
No, the Clemson offensive superstars haven’t quite made the massive splash expected, but on the other side, Simmons has been sensational as the star of a reloaded defense. The gamechanger against North Carolina leads the team with 51 stops, four sacks, and eight tackles for loss.
22. LB David Woodyard, Utah State
QB Jordan Love might be getting all the … love, but it’s the main man on the other side who’s putting together one of the nation’s most dominating seasons so far. The veteran linebacker has amassed 71 tackles with four forced fumbles and two sacks for the Aggies. How do you make a splash to start the season? Come up with 24 tackles like he did against Wake Forest.
21. DT Derrick Brown, Auburn
While he’s not a one-man wrecking crew for a great Auburn defensive front, he’s the leader that everything works around. He’s living and playing up to his All-America billing, generating constant pressure and pushing his way behind the line on a consistent basis.
20. S Douglas Coleman, Texas Tech
The senior was good last season, but now the veteran has taken his game to a whole other level under the new coaching staff. A good hitter, he’s second on the team in tackles, but he’s here as a killer when the ball is in the air, coming up with six picks in the last four games including two against both Oklahoma State and Arizona.
19. S Grant Delpit, LSU
The stats aren’t eye-popping, and the LSU secondary certainly hasn’t been playing up to its talent and potential, but the best safety in college football is doing his part in the big games. He was all over the field in the win over Florida – coming up with eight stops with two broken up passes. The coaches can’t stop raving about him.
18. QB Anthony Gordon, Washington State
Only three players have thrown for more than 2,000 yards – Tua, Burrow, and Gordon, and Gordon has thrown for almost 500 more yards than Joe Burrow. Interceptions were an issue over the two-game stretch against UCLA and Utah, but he’s hit the 420-yard mark in five of his six games with 25 touchdown throws.
17. QB Malcolm Perry, Navy
What’s been the biggest spark in Navy’s resurgent season? The 5-9, 190-pound running back is sticking at quarterback instead of being moved around.
While he’s doing his job as a runner with 604 yards and 12 scores, he’s doing what he has to do as a passer. No one’s asking him to be Tua, but he’s connecting 65% of his throws with three touchdowns and no picks.
16. QB Brock Purdy, Iowa State
The guy is doing everything for an Iowa State team that’s a sneaky-interesting factor in the Big 12 chase. He has thrown for over 220 yards in every game, is hitting 70% of his throws with 11 touchdowns and just three picks, and he has six rushing scores with 102 yards in the win over TCU.
NEXT: Top 15 Players of the 2019 Midseason
15. LB Zack Baun, Wisconsin
Several Badger defenders could make the list, but Baun has been the most disruptive of the bunch. The senior pass rusher has become a game-wrecker, coming up with six sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss on a D that wasn’t big on rushing the passer last year. Consistent, he’s destroying teams on third downs, and he even sealed the win over Michigan State with a pick six.
14. DE DeAngelo Malone, WKU
The best player on the best defense you probably haven’t been paying attention to, the 6-4, 230-pound killer followed up his six-sack sophomore season with seven sacks and 14 tackles for loss in his first six games for the resurgent Hilltoppers. Not just a pass rusher, he’s getting in on the run with 53 tackles, too.
13. RB AJ Dillon, Boston College
The Eagles have fallen off the map in a disappointing year, but Dillon has done everything he can to carry the load. The veteran has 745 rushing yards and six touchdowns in his six games, with four straight 100-yard days as he tries to take the team on his back. It’s not working – he’s not playing on D – but he’s nation’s second-leading rusher in attempts averaging 24 per game.
12. QB Justin Herbert, Oregon
The loss to Auburn took of the spotlight, and he’s not bombing away deep like the other star quarterbacks, but he’s been in total command of a surging team that’s knee-deep in the College Football Playoff hunt – really. He’s hitting 69% of his passes for over 1,600 yards and 17 touchdowns with just one pick. There are no mistakes.
11. QB Sam Ehlinger, Texas
There hasn’t been much more he could possibly do in the big game losses to LSU and Oklahoma. On the year he’s hitting 69% of his throws with 17 scores and just two interceptions, throwing for over 200 yards in every game with two touchdowns or more against everyone but OU. He nailed LSU for 401 yards and three scores, and ran for two touchdowns against the Sooners.
10. RB JK Dobbins, Ohio State
Overshadowed a bit by the other Buckeye stars, Dobbins has emerges as a Heisman-worthy force with 826 yards and six touchdowns – one receiving – in his six games, tearing off 140 yards or more in four of the last five. He ripped up Michigan State for 172 yards, destroyed Nebraska for 177, and ruined Indiana with 193. Most of all, he’s taking all the pressure off of Justin Fields.
9. DE Chase Young, Ohio State
Ask NFL scouts who their No. 1 player on the board is for 2020 if it isn’t Tua, and it’s the franchise pass rusher who’s built to dominate at the next level. The 6-5, 265-pounder has upped his game, gotten a whole lot faster, and he’s destroying everyone with 8.5 sacks, 21 tackles, and three forced fumbles. He’s what unblockable looks like.
8. LB Evan Weaver, Cal
The best linebacker in America on one of the best defenses in college football, he hits everything, all of the time. The nation’s leading tackler has 84 stops, 5.5 tackles for loss, and he’s getting the job done in pass coverage, too. However, the tackling machine is best against the run, saving the day against Ole Miss with 22 stops, and getting in on 18 in the upset over Washington.
7. WR CeeDee Lamb, Oklahoma
Of course Jalen Hurts has been brilliant, but he’s also getting a whole lot of help from a devastating receiving corps. Charleston Rambo has been amazing, freshman Jadon Haselwood has been special, and Lamb has played out of his mind, catching 28 passes and averaging 22 yards per play. Three of his ten touchdowns came in the win over Texas.
6. RB Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State
The only thing missing is a bit more hype. College football’s leading rusher and most dangerous home run-hitter has turned into a workhorse for the Cowboys, handling the rock 162 times in his six games for 1,094 yards and 13 scores. He’s on pace to obliterate the 2,000-yard mark.
NEXT: Top 5 Players of the 2019 Midseason
5. QB Justin Fields, Ohio State
It seems so obvious now, but remember, it wasn’t a sure thing that he was going to be a steady playmaker after playing a sidekick role to Jake Fromm at Georgia. Instead, he’s been everything the Buckeyes could’ve dreamed of, connecting on 70% of his throws for close to 1,300 yards with 18 touchdowns and just one pick.
Unlike Dwayne Haskins last year, Fields is able to tear off the big runs, adding 283 yards, eight touchdowns, and an unbeaten record so far.
4. RB Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin
The heart-and-soul of the unbeaten Badgers leads the nation in touchdowns by a mile, rushing for 14 and adding a receiving element to his game with four scoring plays as a target.
Not being overworked in blowouts, he still has 825 rushing yards, highlighted by his historic 203-yard day against Michigan, The fumbling problems of the first two years are gone, and even when he’s bottled up – like he was against Michigan State – he’s still producing with two touchdowns.
3. QB Joe Burrow, LSU
When it comes to who the top guy is, there’s no wrong answer for any of the stars in the top three. Burrow has taken the season by storm, throwing for a whopping 25 touchdown passes – MASSIVE for an LSU quarterback – while hitting 80% of his throws for well over 2,000-yards.
He completed 88% of his passes against Florida’s great secondary, he crushed Texas for 471 yards and four scores, and he’s only thrown three picks so far. Not just a dinker-and-dunker, he’s pushing the ball down the field and letting his receivers make big plays.
2. QB Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
No, there are no Alabama receivers on this list, but all of them could be on it. They’re all producing at the highest level, and they’re all getting a turn.
And it’s Tagovailoa who’s the conductor of it all.
He threw an interception against Texas A&M – that’s his only blemish on the season. Completing 74% of his throws for 2,011 yards and 27 touchdowns, he’s just toying with secondaries. The South Carolina secondary that gave Georgia’s Jake Fromm problems was nailed for 444 yards and five touchdowns, and Texas A&M was hit for four scores in the easy win. The machine isn’t slowing down.
1. QB Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma
There’s no argument against Burrow or Tagovailoa in the top spot, but so far, Hurts has been the signature player of the 2019 college football season.
He has done more than become the next Lincoln Riley quarterback up – he has taken it to another level by connecting 72% of his throws for 1,758 yards and 17 touchdowns with three picks, while adding his own flash and panache with 630 yards and eight rushing scores. He also added something else that Kyler Murray didn’t last year …
Hurts beat Texas in the Red River Showdown.
