Welcome to “I Got 5 On It”, each week I’ll be picking five news-worthy subjects based around college football to cover. Ranging from views on Devy prospects, general college football talk, interesting stats, and a little bit of hip-hop music (mostly 90s rap).
1. Top QB Performers
@FBGChase has done a lot of great work on twitter with ANY/A with NFL passers. That gave me the idea of using this stat to gage college passers each week. If you are unaware of this stat, let Pro-Football-Reference.Com explain. ANY/A – adjusted net yards per passing attempt: (pass yards + 20*(pass TD) – 45*(interceptions thrown) – sack yards)/(passing attempts + sacks). See AY/A.. This stat doesn’t take into account any rushing plays, just purely dropbacks.
Here are the top 10 performers from week 4 of the CFB season.
*Note – The total on the bottom is the tally of all QBs that attempted at least 10 passes this past weekend.
I’m throwing up in my mouth as I type this. Kyle Trask was the most valuable passer in Week 4. His 6 TD performance against Ole Miss was a chart-topper by a good margin. It’s the second-best game to date only behind Sam Ehlinger against UTEP. I’m a known Trask hater, he did look better than he looked at any point last year, but I’m still not on the bandwagon. The Rebels’ defense looked horrible, and Kyle Pitts bailed him out on a few TD throws. KJ Costello had a historic day with passing yards. His 2 INTs and 5 sacks for a loss of 38 yards dinged him in this metric, dropping him to 5th on the day. UCF has only played two games to this point, but Dillon Gabriel has performed like a top 4 QB each week. SEC QBs had 4 out of the top 10 QB games on the day. While ACC QBs had a really rough day. They accounted for the 4 worst performances on the day and 5 out 6 of the worst days this last weekend. Chase Brice has had a horrible two-week span. Over 4 weeks, we’ve seen 151 performances with at least 10 passing attempts by a QB. Brice, over the last two weeks, has had the 148th and 149th worst showings. Only Tommy DeVito in week 3 and Malik Cunningham in week 4 have had worse days than Brice’s last two games. Tommy DeVito hasn’t fared much better coming in 147th and 150th from week 2 and week 3 games. Not that DeVito should have been on your Devy radar before this. Georgia Tech tFR QB, Jeff Sims, has had back-to-back weeks with a bottom 10 performances. Even his showing against Florida State in the upset victory didn’t grade out very well. Despite the poor numbers, I like what I’ve seen from the young QB. But Sims still has a lot of developing ahead of him.
2. Impressive True Freshman
Deuce Vaughn, RB, Kansas State:
Vaughn is undersized at 5’5” and 168lbs. Despite his size, he was a key factor in the upset over Oklahoma last Saturday. Through two games, he’s tallied 245 yards and 2 TDs. Even with his size, I can see a role in the NFL for Vaughn. If he can bulk up his body, keep his explosiveness and quickness. Vaughn can grab a niche role with his pass-catching abilities.
Seth McGowan, RB, Oklahoma:
McGowan is the leading rusher for Oklahoma after two games. He’s shown suddenness and some power. McGowan has even had a big play in the passing game. The Sooners’ running game hasn’t quite gotten on par with what we are used to in the early part of the season.
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Georgia Tech:
Gibbs might be the most impressive looking true freshman to this point. He’s made a major impact in his two games. He missed the Yellow Jackets opener due to injury but has shown why he was so highly thought of in the past two games. Gibbs’ numbers look like this through two games: 33-171-1 on the ground and 6-86-2 in the receiving game. I knew Gibbs was a good runner, but his level of receiving ability is above what I expected. He’s looked damn near elite in his receiving traits.
Marvin Mims, WR, Oklahoma:
Mims set state and national records during his standout senior season. He currently leads the Sooners in receiving yards and TDs. Like Vaughn, Mims is a bit undersized, but his ability to create separation will catch the eyes of NFL evaluators. His playmaking ability will eventually show up on punt returns as well.
Arik Gilbert, TE, LSU:
Look every bit of what we expected against Mississippi State. Elite size with great movement ability for said size. Gilbert hauled in 4 balls for 37 yards and an impressive TD snag. Really hard to not see him being a first round pick as long as he continues to develop.
Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame:
The Irish haven’t done much through the air after two games. But in a limited role, Mayer has looked physically impressive. He’s big, can move, and runs with great power. His numbers most likely won’t be as impressive as Gilbert’s at the end of the year, but Mayer is the TE3 for Notre Dame and is still seeing plenty of snaps. He’s more than likely Notre Dame’s TE1 in 2021 if Tommy Tremble goes pro.
Other Notable Freshman:
Chris Tyree has looked good as Notre Dame’s RB2, but I haven’t seen that blazing speed that was expected. Quentin Johnson looked good in his TCU debut, bringing in 2-50-1. Kyren Lacy at Louisiana, after three games, is second on the team in receiving with 6-118-1. Lacy is one of the highest-ranked recruits to sign with ULL in their history. Both of the Hurricanes’ freshman RBs have looked solid in limited roles. Don Chaney Jr. and Jaylan Knighton have had their moments in the ‘Canes three games.
3. Lets Hit the Reset Button
We are a full month into the season, and some teams have played just one game while others have four under their belts. Which Devy prospects are wanting to hit the reset button on the season already?
Brock Purdy, QB, Iowa State:
Going back to his bowl performance against Notre Dame, Purdy has struggled mightily. He’s had two poor showings in 2020 and an upset loss to a Sun Belt team on his resume. Is Purdy even a Day 3 prospect at this point? He has to come back for another year to try and salvage any of his draft stock.
Tamorrion Terry, WR, Florida State:
Terry finished the game against Miami with -4 yards. Yes, negative four yards. He was visibly frustrated towards the end of the game. At one point, he was choking a Hurricane defender after yanking his helmet off. After two games, he has 52 yards on 6 catches. Yes, Terry is dealing with horrible QB play. But he’s produced each of the last two seasons with subpar QB play. To rub salt in the wound, the Florida State coaching staff slapped Terry with an OR next to his name on the depth chart this week.
Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State:
Hubbard has struggled to rush for 4 yards per carry after two games. Last season he averaged over 6.4 yards per carry. His backup, LD Brown, is tearing off 8.2 yards per rush through two games. The Cowboys’ offensive line looks to be down, but it hasn’t affected Brown too much. I’m not as concerned about Hubbard as the other two, but we have to see flashes of 2019 here soon, or it’s time to sound the alarms.
4. Trey Lance Hyperbole Is Coming
We get to see Trey Lance only one time this fall and possibly the last time ever suiting up for the Bison when North Dakota State takes on Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon. If Lance does what we expect out of him, he’ll shred this defense with his arm and legs, making it a very long day for the Central Arkansas defense. But this is what’s expected from Lance. The hot takes will fly, “He’s better than Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields combined!” “If Brett Favre and Jesus had a baby, it’d be Trey Lance.” We’ve already seen an entire season of Lance destroying FCS defenses. Doing it one more time this Saturday isn’t going to change anything. Trey Lance is good, but how good? If he declares for next April’s NFL Draft, we’ll never have seen Lance take a single snap against an FBS defense. If I’m an NFL Head Coach or General Manager, there’s no way I’m risking my job by drafting a QB in the top 10 that I’ve never seen take a single snap outside of the FCS. If he would have been able to play Oregon this fall and dominate, that’s another story, but we are still missing that key piece of the puzzle. He’s a man among boys when facing off against FCS teams, but what happens when it’s man against man when playing an FBS defense? Lance may be great in the NFL, but there’s A LOT of risk investing in him at his lofty expected price.
5. Biggie – Ready to Die
“But there may be something habitual in New York’s craned gaze backward. Note that B.I.G. opened Ready to Die by complaining about changes in the city around him over 20 years ago. Even then, the album was a reflection: an over-the-top, fisheye union address of the city’s waning crack era, and a reeling admission that something must have gone terribly wrong for it to have happened. Its intro maps B.I.G’s life against the sounds of various eras—’70s “Superfly,” ‘80s “Top Billin’,” and ‘90s Doggystyle—before the 21-year-old launches into “Things Done Changed,” an opening monologue that sets the chaotic scene. Life used to be about funny hairstyles, curbside games, and lounging at barbecues, he says, but “Turn your pagers to 1993,” and the story has taken an inexplicably dark turn. It goes unmentioned here, but hip-hop’s region of choice had changed too: New York’s first generation of rap inventors had given way to the West Coast, so it’s Dr. Dre’s voice we hear between verses, dispatching from Compton. “Things done changed on this side,” the sample declares, a savvy appropriation that characterized a rise in violence across coasts, and a shift in sound that B.I.G. hoped to correct.”
“Despite its author’s youth, *Ready To Die *shows its age with its production. The beats already paled in comparison to the high-definition score of Life After Death, B.I.G.’s follow up album, and the tinny drums and swampy samples on tracks like “Me and My ” and “Respect” probably played better on cassette than they do on Apple Music. At the time of the album’s release, more nimble producers were doing interesting work on neighboring albums—one could say Illmatic dried everyone in New York up of their best material. The major tracks on Ready to Die had to be heavy-handed, and the filler was just an excuse to hear Big keep rapping. “Big Poppa” was inseparable from Ron Isley’s “Between the Sheets” and snuck in a trendy, post-regional synth line that would perk up West Coast ears. The “One More Chance” remix became a smash crossover hit; the original included on the album is expectedly disposable. Even strong exhibitions of songwriting like “The What” or “Gimme the Loot”—one a duet with Method Man, the other with himself—are weighed down by loops from Easy Mo Bee, a dated producer who Puffy might’ve been smart to have axed shortly after.” Via Pitchfork
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