The 2023 edition of our annual Devy Watch guide was released yesterday. If you are a yearly subscriber, you can download your copy here. If you are not, the draft guide is available for purchase here.
I thought it might be fun to take a look at the guide by-the-numbers to see how players were distributed across teams and conferences.
TOP 25
The top 25 is made up of 11 RBs, 8 WRs, 5 QBs, and Brock Bowers. Ohio State, Clemson, and Penn State each have 3 players in the top 25.
OVERALL
183 – The smallest number we’ve ever included. Part of that is because we’ve gotten stricter with our grading, and part of that is the annual struggle to include fourth-year or fifth-year seniors who haven’t done anything yet. How many consecutive years can you recommend drafting some of these guys?
QB
We found 30 QBs that we thought were relevant. Seven of them are from the ACC, another seven are from the PAC12, including QB1 Caleb Williams. Only six QBs from the SEC made the guide…and we know this is going to be a down year for QB in that conference. In fact, it seems like QB play might be down across the country this season, and we have a lot of QB youth ranked pretty highly as a result.
RB
The 55 RBs were pretty evenly spread out. Eleven from each of the SEC, BIG 10, and Big 12. Eight from the ACC and PAC12. The rest are from G5 and independent schools. Five of the top ten RBs are from BIG 10 schools.
WR
We have 82 WRs in the guide. Marvin Harrison is not only the only WR in Tier 1, he’s the top-ranked player overall. His teammate, Emeka Egbuka, is WR2, at the top of Tier 2. The SEC bounced back here with 21 WRs prospects. The Big 12 (15), PAC12 (14), BIG 10 (12), and ACC (12) are all bunched up behind the SEC.
TE
Brock Bowers is probably the only TE that matters, and he’s a top five player overall. That’s high praise for a TE, even in TE Premium rankings. Outside of Bowers, 15 other TEs made the cut. The SEC had 5 five, and the PAC12 had five.
Transfer Portal
At the time of publish, six players were still in the Transfer Portal. They are:
Gary Bryant, Jr
Zakhari Franklin
Keon Coleman
Jordan Hudson
Alton McCaskill
Chris Marshall (after being dismissed from Ole Miss over the weekend)
Conference Breakdown
SEC – 43
PAC12 – 33
Big 12 – 31
ACC – 30
BIG 10 – 29
IND – 5
AAC – 5
Sun Belt – 1
