“Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.”
– Genghis Khan
If you could pick one Bama defender in Saban era to build defense around who would it be and why Rolando McClain? Rolo is my answer but would love your take on this. @abeFTW
What a pregunta! First, please allow me to just list some of my favorite defensive players by year:
2007: Prince “Boss Hog” Hall, Simeon Castille
2008: The whole secondary: Kareem Jackson, Javy Arenas, Rashad Johnson
2009: Best defense of all time? Rolo McClain, Dont’a Hightower, Mt. Cody, Mark Barron
2010: Marcell Dareus, Dre Kirkpatrick
2011: Courtney Upshaw
2012: (This was a HULKING OL) C.J. Mosley, Dee Milliner, Lennay Kekua
2013: All the LBs – Ragland, Mosley, Foster, Vinnie Sunseri, Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, Ed “Hand Gun” Stinson
2014: Landon Collins, Cornbread Robinson, Jonathan Allen
2015: Can’t forgive this team for giving up 40 to Clemson – SHAMEFUL
2016: Eddie Jackson, Marlon Humphrey, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dalvin Tomlinson
2017: Ronnie “Shiv Boot” Harrison, Rashaan Evans
2018: Quinnen Williams, Mack Wilson, Dylan Moses
2019: Raekwon Davis, Terrell Lewis, Patrick Surtain
Back to your question, Rolo is one of my all-time-favorites. For this question, you have to blot out what happened with him since he entered the NFL. Few players possessed his gravitas while he roamed the savannas. While thinking about this question, I’m considering the current landscape of college football where everybody is spread out, and they are passing to run, unlike when Rolo and that ’09 team were allowing an astounding 11.7 points-per-game. Looking at the most valuable positions in football, I could go with a coverage backer or a secondary player. There are so many options to choose from that have come through Bama in the last baker’s dozen years. I’m gonna have a tough time not looking at players like Eddie Jackson, Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Marlon Humphrey. I’m a sucker for versatility and the multitude of ways that players at their positions can impact the game. Perhaps it’s recency bias as all three guys have developed into some of the best players in the NFL. I have a lotta love in my heart for the head hunters at LB over the years, but the strategist in me has to side with a chess-piece-defender. If forced to crown someone, I’ll go with Eddie Jackson.
What’s the ceiling for Etienne as an NFL prospect? @TheSFGiantsGuy
Allow me some latitude to talk about my historical analysis progression with ETN. There are several things that I highly value in a running back prospect. Two of them are their size and their receiving ability. Let’s rewind to last spring. The reports vary, but his weight was listed right around 200 pounds. While that isn’t a death sentence for a sophomore’s ability to get requisite draft capital, you are skating on thin ice. For example, I surveyed the top 27 scoring running backs in the NFL last season. I looked at their weights at the NFL Combine or at their Pro Day if they didn’t attend that event. Three players weighed 201 pounds or less. None of them were drafted by the NFL. If a player weighs less than 200 pounds and they have been in a collegiate system for a couple of years or more, proceed with extreme caution, especially if they are going to cost you a premium pick in Devy Drafts as ETN has for many years. Fast forward to Memorial Day 2019; an article comes out where ETN says he played last season at 210, not 200. From Larry Brown Sports, “Etienne estimated that he gained eight pounds in eight days by eating at Popeyes and other unhealthy establishments. He also recalled one of his high school teachers making him a batch of Oreo balls, in addition to feasting on home-cooked classics from his mother and grandmother that probably would not have been approved by Clemson’s nutritional staff. This year, however, things are different.” He ballooned up to 218 and cut his weight back down to 210, where he allegedly hopes to play at in 2020. If he maintains that weight at the Combine, that puts him squarely in contention for a top-three-round-pick.
The second area that I value is receiving production. Through two seasons, ETN caught 5 and 12 balls. So, back to last spring, we have a 200-pound-back that has averaged less than one-catch-per-game in two collegiate seasons. I could acknowledge that ETN was an elite runner, but there were some data-driven-concerns about his profile considering his premium price tag. Looking back at the sample of the top 27 scorers in the NFL last year, only one of them had less than 12 catches in their most fruitful college season. King Henry. I became even more concerned about ETN when I read an article in July 2019 from Sportsnaut. “During the 2018 campaign, Etienne dropped four of his 17 targets in the passing game, and Clemson essentially stopped even trying to get him involved in that aspect of the offense. In two full seasons at Clemson, he has caught a grand total of 17 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns. That’s hardly elite production. Now we know why. Greg Brandt of Devy Watch asked him if it all boils down to concentration. Etienne responded by saying, “I don’t know, I feel nervous, I guess. Cause the ball is coming, and I always feel like the defender is right there, so I run before I catch the ball and get spooked by my surroundings.” That’s a troubling admission.” At this point, I can’t even enjoy my hot dog on July 4th, because I’m feeling very concerned about his Devy price tag. All that worrying was for naught after ETN racked up 37 catches in 2019. That is on par with Joe Mixon’s numbers at Oklahoma, who I consider an elite receiving back. While I’ll never consider ETN in that same category, he assuaged my primary concerns in 2019, and now I can go back to enjoying him as one of the best runners we’ve seen in college this millennia.
I don’t have a great comp for ETN. His acceleration and burst remind me of Tevin Coleman. His contact balance reminds me of Alvin Kamara. His receiving aptitude reminds me of Derrick Henry. What I do feel confident about is the forthcoming heavy investment from an NFL franchise. Ideally, in fantasy, we want backs that are drafted in the first round. We’ll gladly take any that are drafted in rounds two or three. There is pretty much no chance that he wouldn’t be selected in that range. While I don’t like him as much as CEH, Swift, or JT from the last class, he’s got a bright future ahead of him, and he appears to be destined for a feature back role at the next level.
What would have to happen for Clemson to not win the national championship by 3 TDs over any other team? @dandersena
Not much! It’s challenging to do many prognostications about the CFB season right now, especially with every team’s schedule being in flux. They released the modified ACC schedule yesterday, but we can only see a piece of the pie. Considering that their schedule will consist of all ACC foes, they have as good or better a chance to run the table as any team in the country. If we have a CFP, I don’t think they will be head and shoulders better than Ohio State. They were extremely lucky to beat them last season, and I would be more inclined to say tOSU gets their revenge on them, similar to the back and forth battles we saw between Alabama and Clemson. I don’t wanna go too far down the rabbit hole on this question, but Trevor Lawrence is a strong candidate for an opt-out if the Rona gets worse, in which case they would call on the absurdly talented DJ Uiagalelei. Unfortunately, he’s only a freshman, so it would probably mean a loss for the Tigers in the playoff.
Got OBJ & Landry on the same team in a 1/2 PPR SF 12 man league after the startup. Both feel too far to pass up but I don’t think I should keep both. I’m having a hard time moving either at fair value. Suggestions? @ern19677
One of the best life lessons I’ve learned is this: outsource when it makes sense. Be content to stay in your lane and be willing to listen and learn in areas where you aren’t as strong, but lean on others’ expertise. That’s what I do with strategy questions in NFL dynasty leagues. I was fortunate to be a part of the Dynasty Command Center community, where there was both a great group of subs and brilliant analysts. One of the guys that I got to know through my time there was Scott Connor. Often times, when I have an upcoming dynasty draft or if I’m posed a trade, I check in with Scott and pick his brain. He’s a high volume dynasty player, to the point where you wouldn’t believe how many teams he manages, and he’s successful doing so! As such, I will practice what I preach and allow Scott to answer your question. Many thanks to the gracious and wise @CharlesChill of @dynastyand. Take it away, sir!
“Unfortunately, this isn’t the time to be trying to move either Browns wideouts. With saturation at the WR position in dynasty, it’s challenging to get “market” value on most receivers, and with this Beckham coming off a disappointing 2019 and Landry having off-season hip surgery, neither are someone others are breaking the door down to acquire. Depending on how many WR’s you can start in your lineup, I’m not too worried about having multiple players on the same team. The shallower the lineups, I’d consider swapping them out if you can get another comparable receiver (or upgrade to someone more consistent), but in a start 3 WR league with at least 1 flex, I’m not worrying about it.”
How many wins does Jeremy Pruitt need to be considered better than Dan Mullen? @atldan
A Gnat flew over the meadow with much buzzing for so small a creature and settled on the tip of one of the horns of a Bull. After he had rested a short time, he made ready to fly away. But before he left, he begged the Bull’s pardon for having used his horn for a resting place. “You must be very glad to have me go now,” he said. “It’s all the same to me,” replied the Bull. “I did not even know you were there.” – The Gnat & the Bull
As an avid CFF player, TE is by far the hardest position to forecast year to year. What handful of players do you believe will have the most consistent impact on their teams? Pitts? Kolar? Or would a flyer on a player like Cupp (A&M) or Galloway (Clem) take a huge jump this yr? @rahuggins3
The way that I’ve approached TE this year has been a rigid, tier-based attack. Based on ADP, here are the tier one TEs this year:
Kylen Granson, SMU
Brant Kuithe, Utah
Kyle Pitts, Florida
Charlie Kolar, Iowa State
Brevin Jordan, Miami
Those are the five guys that have gone in the top five in most drafts that I’ve participated in. I would love to grab one of them, but if I am waiting until later, there are plenty of good options this year.
Quintin Morris, Bowling Green
Peyton Hendershot, Indiana
Joshua Simon, Western Kentucky
Daniel Crawford, Northern Illinois
Daniel Bellinger, San Diego State
Christian Daniels, Tulane
In regards to Baylor Cupp, I don’t think he will be their TE1 this year. I am not one to usually fire off spicy takes for sport, but Jalen Wydermyer may be the most talented TE in college football, for my money. No disrespect to Cupp, who was a great high school player, but he’s got his work cut out for him to take targets away from Big Nasty. Due to a potential timeshare, Wydermyer may not have the production profile of several of the more ballyhooed prospects that are valued higher than him, but this dude is an absolute monster and is still one of the best-kept secrets in the game, despite a monster season as a freshman. Braden Galloway is no slouch as an athlete himself, but he’s too expensive for me to consider with his coordinator’s mixed bag of historical TE usage.
Your entire FF reputation on the line… Joseph Ngata or Frank Ladson as the best pro prospect and why? @ thehojo
This is an easy one for me for two reasons. The first is that I don’t value my FF reputation too highly! The second is that Ngata is a monster. Not only is he a monster, he currently projects as Lawrence’s WR1 in 2020. With Ross’ injury, he gets the call up to the majors earlier than expected. In 2019, he finished with 17-240-3. Ladson had 9-128-3. Neither guy’s numbers are memorable. They don’t need to be, considering they were true freshman at an elite program and playing behind two entrenched pros. The issue I have with Ladson is that he’s currently more of a one-trick-pony. He’s got jets and is a deep-threat, go-receiver. More problematic than that was his inefficiency on those routes. He was targeted thirteen times on deep routes and managed to drop four of them. For perspective, Justyn Ross was targeted 58 times on similar routes and had six drops. Those aren’t great numbers either, but much better than Franklin’s. The don, Tee Higgins, had three drops on sixty deep targets. Ladson needs to clean those numbers up if he wants to carve out a more significant role in 2021 and beyond. This question was Ngata problem for me to answer with conviction.
With all coaching positions considered, What are some of the under the radar hires that will have an immediate impact? @daillestliebler
Too bad, I’m happily married, this is the type of question that I’d like to sit down and discuss over dinner. This year is different than most in that continuity may be king. Teams that replaced one or more coordinators, especially when there are significant philosophical changes, may be in for a rocky road. The COVID-era taketh no prisoner. Here are a few of my favorite hires from this cycle:
Kendal Briles, OC, Arkansas
Larry Fedora, OC, Baylor
Mike Norvell, HC, Florida State
Todd Monken, OC, Georgia
Rhett Lashlee, OC, Miami
Mike Leach, HC, Mississippi State
Rocky Long, DC, New Mexico
I focused primarily on offense because I’ve mainly studied that side of the ball over the past few months. If I’m going a bit deeper into the weeds, I’m curious to see the impact of regime changes at New Mexico, Old Dominion, and UTSA.
KJ Jefferson or Feleipe Franks? @straitvibin
I want it to be Jefferson. I don’t think you get a transfer from a guy like Franks without all but assuring him the job is his. I think he could be fun in this offense, but I don’t think he was born to run this offense like KJJ was. I actually can’t talk about this anymore without getting emotional. Is it too much to ask for two years of Jefferson to Burks? If the Hogs want to have a legitimate shot at winning the national title this year, they’ve gotta go with KJJ’s upside. Unfortunately, I am not convinced they will.
Who is one guy at each position not being talked about much now but will be by this time next year? @ashelowe10
I don’t follow directions well.
QB: Michael Penix, Indiana — Myles Brennan, LSU
RB: DeaMonte Trayanum, Arizona State — SaRodorick Thompson, Texas Tech
WR: Treylon Burks, Arkansas — Jahan Dotson, Penn State
TE: Kylen Granson, SMU — Quintin Morris, Bowling Green
Will there be a game in August? @bennyjet34
It’s important for me to document when I’m answering this question because it changes a lot. It’s almost 5:00 on Wednesday, July 29th, 2020. I will say that games in August seem more likely than games in November. MLB is the cautionary tale for us in that regard. Once students start piling back onto campuses, then all bets are off. The bubble system seems to be the only viable strategy right now, and that’s not one that CFB can execute. I hope I’m wrong and that the tides turn, but I’m not feeling really hopeful.
Ronnie Rivers potential? @al_FF_red
He’s a fun college back. He’s probably a guy that a few masochistic dynasty analysts will be writing articles about as deep dynasty stashes a year from now. I would say he’s unlikely to be drafted. He’s got the two mortal sins on his resume:
- He plays at a G5 school. Last year, 24 of the 27 RB top scorers in the NFL played P5 ball.
- He’s petite. Listed at 5’8″ and 183 pounds, he’s not big enough to matter.
If you are less than 200 pounds and don’t play at a P5 school, you shouldn’t be drafted in most devy leagues. He’s a fine candidate to take in the late rounds of a C2C league. You can get some production from him on the college side and then pray he makes a roster someday and there are several injuries to his room. I’ve learned my lesson on guys like him; it’s best for me to not waste the articles on them being Devy sleepers. Unfortunately, they aren’t.
