2022 Freshman Watch

[tsweezy]

Welcome to the first edition of freshman watch! Thanks to my subterfuge and espionage skills, I have acquired a list of statistics for this years freshman and am going to share the best at each position and overall candidates for FOTY (Freshman of the Year)

Let's start with the most important position: the quarterback.

There are only 2 freshman quarterbacks in the country who won the starting job for this season.

Brandon Savage- Pocket - 5 Star, Tennessee - Elite 11 MVP

Tavarres Washington - Balanced - 5 Star, North Carolina - #3 Elite 11 Rankings

Stat lines for the two below:

 

Name	Completions	Attempts	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
Brandon Savage	161	245	1885	13	2	146
Tavarres Washington	137	254	1509	4	9	101

 

Brandon Savage immediately walked into Knoxville to replace the departing Cedric Marsh and has been an upper tier QB in the SEC as a true freshman. As of this writing, Tennessee was 7-1 and #4 in the country while UNC is 2-6. The rest of the freshman crop is busy waiting their turn next year, but for now, these 2 are the only ones in the limelight.

 

 

Running Backs:

There are quite a few backs across the country, but only 3 (2 RB, 1 FBs) have had significant playing time (more than 15 carries). There were no 5-star RBs last season so maybe it isn't much of a surprise none of these guys have been lighting it up.

These players are:

 

Marquese Ash - Receiving RB - 4 star - B overall, Air Force

Joakim Stamets - Balanced FB - 3 star - C overall, South Florida

Joe Williams - Receiving RB - 4 star - B overall, Tennessee

 

Stat-wise none of these guys have great lines:

Name	Attempts	Yards	Total TDs	Fumbles	Targets	Catches	Yards
Marquese Ash	95	310	3	0	37	29	186
Joakim Stamets	68	214	0	1	9	3	32
Joe Williams	44	109	2	0	7	7	85

 

Clearly Marquese has the "best" stats but uh, none of these players are particularly impressive. Must be a tough adjustment, but this experience should push them to grow and be more valuable pieces in the upcoming years.

 

Wide Receivers:

at the WR position there is a trio of 5 stars getting significant playing time, and a 4 star as well. Nobody else has over 100 receiving yards so far.

 

Harlan Smith - Route Runner - 5 Star - Air Force

Patrick Hernandez - Possession - 5 Star - Nebraska

Ro'Derrick Billings - Route Runner - 5 Star - Nebraska

Nick Norwell - Speed - 4 Star - Oklahoma State

 

Obviously Nebraska hit the jackpot in crooting last season, but nobody has really emerged as a star so far:

Name	Targets	Catches	Yards	TDs
Harlan Smith	45	26	231	2
Patrick Hernandez	19	16	167	1
Ro'Derrick Billings	34	16	149	1
Nick Norwell	24	9	138	1

 

As you can see, Harlan is playing the biggest role, but Patrick has probably had the "best" performance so far.

 

Tight Ends:

Nobody of note. Only 3 players have caught a pass with Blake Su'a-Filo from Utah State and Steel Blue from Kansas having the most snaps played.

 

 

Offensive Line:

Not a lot going on here either. A total of 3 players have seen snaps: all OGs

 

Bam Lamp - 4 star Pass Blocking - Bowling Green

A.J. Kaaya - 4 star Pass Blocking - Southern Mississippi

Robert Tartt -4 star Run Blocking - Washington State

 

Defensive Line:

Only 2 starters on Defensive line as well:

 

Bennie Kiekhefer - DT - Nose Tackle - 4 star - UConn - 26 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 1 FF

Jarvis Mauro - DE - Speed Rusher - 5 star - UCLA - 23 tackles, 7 TFL, 4 Sacks

 

 

Linebackers:

Finally we get to the positions with more freshman impact, albeit most of it is as special teamers.

 

ILBs:

Only 1 guy is a true starter, Kaleb Cavanaugh, 5 star ILB Run Stopper for undefeated Texas State. The man has 31 tackles, 4 TFL, and 1 sack

The only other real contributor is fellow 5 star Kevin Cole, coverage guy for Baylor who has 14 tackles, 1 TFL, and 1 sack.

There are 4 other players who look to be special teams players. Special shout-out to Mat Constanza for making it as a special teams starter at Indiana despite his 1 star ranking and D overall rating.

 

OLB:

Two players here locking down starting positions from the jump, with possibly a third being a mid-season switch (or maybe he just doesn't play special teams), and then another handful of special teamers.

 

Starters:

Laurent Scruggs - 5 star Pass Rusher - SMU - 19 Tackles, 2 TFL, 1 FF

Seantrel Garate - 5 star Pass Rusher - WMU - 24 tackles, 5 TFL, 4 sacks

Mike Saric - 4 star Run Stopper - Utah - 17 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 INT

 

Cornerbacks:

Conventional wisdom states that true freshman are not going to thrive when placed in a position under so much pressure where they could be picked on, but in this sim it's the position with the most starters with ~6 starters, and then another dozen or so contributing as backups or coming in for nickel/dime packages

 

Starters:

Donald Dingus - 5 star Ball Hawk - Bowling Green - 33 tackles, 3 INTs

Francisco Massington - 4 star Man Coverage - San Diego State - 6 tackles

Malcolm Williams - 5 star Man Coverage - Texas State - 16 tackles

Reese Colon - 5 star Zone Coverage - Air Force - 23 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 FF, 1 INT

Justin Hernandez - 4 star Man Coverage - Kent State - 30 tackles, 1 TFL

Jermey Cabral - 5 star Ball Hawk - Colorado - 20 tackles, 6 punt returns for 86 yards

 

Safeties:

6 starters here as well, 3 FS, 3 SS, but many fewer backups getting playing time

 

Starters:

Name	Type	School	Tackles	TFL	INTs
Austin Pena	4 star Man SS	Bowling Green	27	0	1
Brad Crow	5 star Ball Hawk FS	UCLA	40	1	1
Roko Souza	5 star Zone SS	Navy	21	0	0
Stephen Leonard	4 star Man FS	Houston	27	0	1
Nicolas Holland	4 star Run Stopper FS	Arkansas	10	0	0
Ronny Searcy	3 star Zone SS	Arkansas	19	1	0

 

And lastly we get to the special teamers:

at kicker we have 2 kickoff specialists, and 4 starting kickers.

 

Starters:

 

Name	Type	School	FG status	XPs
Tim Bernier	Power 4 star	TCU	9 / 12, long of 44	31/34
Juan Bembry	Power 4 star	Duke	17/19, long of 46	18/23
Jake Ramirez	Balanced 4 star	Kansas	9/12, long of 51	13/13
Geneo Jenkins	Balanced 3 star	Baylor	7/12, long of 44	15/15

 

and lastly we have the punters. 15 of them have more than 30 punts!! below are the best of the bunch. And yes, David Ross is by far the best

 

Name	Type	School	Punts	Inside 20
Jeremy Ramirez	Accuracy	Oklahoma State	62	38
David Ross	Power	Washington State	52	38
Marcus Jackson	Accuracy	Tennessee	55	34
Chandon Danish	Balanced	Colorado State	62	33
Ryan Gott	Balanced	Texas A&M	69	32

 

 

And that's a wrap! looking at it per school,

Baylor: 3

UCLA: 3

Bowling Green: 3

Air Force: 3

Kansas: 2

Arkansas: 2

Texas State: 2

Washington State: 2

Tennessee: 2

 

Freshman of the Year Candidates

 

Offense:

Brandon Savage - QB - Tennessee

 

Defense:

Jarvis Mauro - DE - UCLA

Seantrel Garate - OLB - WMU

Reese Colon - CB - Air Force

Brad Crow - FS - UCLA

[TuscanSota]

Special Teams Freshman of the year candidates: David Ross

[tsweezy]

So obvious it wasn’t worth saying

[PoopyRhinoPickle]

worth noting that dingus is up to 4 picks!

[Bundy]

Looking back, Jake Ramirez was easily and most surprisingly my best croot last year, where I thought it would be Steel Blue having the instant impact. Now Blue is likely headed for a redshirt year, while Ramirez is kicking like the deepest FGs in the country.

[cultur3]

Dingus will be my 1st round pick

[kgreene829]

So much better than the next guy same amount of punts inside the 20 in 10 less attempts

[kgreene829]

great name and the best part is we can us double D as a shorthand

[SageBow]

Mike Saric is that dude! He's started every game but the season opener!