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 mixed in now and then.
1. Keaontay Ingram
Ingram signed with the Longhorns back in the 2018 recruiting class as one of my personal favorite recruits in his class. He entered UT as the 7th best back in his class coming off back-to-back 2,200 rushing seasons. Adding a total of 75 TDs over that two year period. Ingram appeared in 13 games in 2018 tallying 142-708-3 on the ground and added another 27-170-2 as a pass-catcher. Ingram was expected to take on a much bigger role in 2019 but his numbers stayed pretty much the same (144-853-6 and 29-242-3). In 2020, Ingram appeared in six games totaling 53-250-1 and 11-103-1, before he sat out the latter part of the season. The combination of nagging injuries and freshman phenom Bijan Robinson doomed his time in Austin.
Ingram hit the transfer portal, as many others have done. Ingram found a landing spot in sunny LA for the USC Trojans. The Trojans are expected to bring back veteran backs Stephen Carr and Vavae Malepeai for 2021. Neither back has more talent than Ingram, but they will surely eat into his workload. In six games in 2020, the two veteran Trojans accounted for a combined 26 pass receptions. That’s an area that Ingram should be able to excel at in a Trojans uniform. He’s hauled in 67 passes through his 32 game career. With a full-time role in USCs Air Raid offense, one would expect Ingram to haul in 40 passes or more in 2021. If he can fend off the other two Trojans back and carve out his own role and stay clear of the little nagging injuries, Ingram could be on his way to a big 2021. I’m still holding out hopes for the gifted back.
2. Deuce Vaughn
Vaughn signed with the Wildcats in last year’s recruiting cycle as a 3-star and the 17th rated All-Purpose Back in his class. Over his high school career, Vaughn rushed for over 4,400 yards and 50 TDs to go along with 900 yards and 11 TDs as a pass-catcher. The Wildcats listed Vaughn at 5’5” and 168lbs as a true freshman. Vaughn started his K-State career on a tear before the entire team went on an offensive slide midseason. Vaughn tallied just over 1,000 scrimmage yards and 9 TDs in ten games in 2020. He accounted for 31.9% of K-State’s total offensive yards and finished his true freshman season with a 29.6% Dominator Rating. Vaughn was an elite pass-catcher in 2020 for a running back. His 434 receiving yards led the Wildcats team for the 2020 season. He led the nation for backs in Yards Per Team Passing Attempt (1.76), this was a near top 100 number for all offensive players. He even beat out much-hyped fellow tFR receivers in Marvin Mims and Jordan Addison.
Vaughn was able to constantly create big plays. He finished top 15 in the country with 15 runs of 15 yards or more. According to PFF, he also forced 24 missed tackles on the season (just as a runner), and he forced another 9 missed tackles on 25 receptions. Vaughn had nearly 15 Yards of YAC Per Reception in 2020.
Vaughn is clearly going to be limited due to his size at the next level. The most concerning part is he’s more than likely smaller right now than his listed height and weight. Vaughn possesses enough skill as a pass-catcher to find a role in the NFL. How much of a role will be really tough to determine. At his current measurables, Vaughn is sitting at a solid 28.0 BMI. If he can bulk up to around 180lbs and not lose his speed and quickness, I can envision a committee role for Vaughn as a pro with top-tier running back pass-catching potential.
3. Blake Corum
A freshman on the opposite end of the Deuce Vaughn spectrum is fellow tFR, Blake Corum. Corum struggled mightily in 2020 in his limited role. Corum averaged just 3.0 YPC on 26 attempts. His 49 yards after contact ranked 332 out of 333 backs with at least 25 rushing attempts in 2020. Corum missed just one missed tackle on his 26 attempts ranking him dead last out of backs with at least 25 attempts. Despite his poor showing in 2002, I really like Corum’s upside.
While Corum struggled mightily on paper, he’s still very traitsy. Corum is short but is pretty rocked up at 200lbs. The first thing you notice with Corum is his speed. He has borderline elite speed and quickness. On UM’s first play of the season, they hit Corum on a swing pass that he nearly took to the house. Despite his speed and quickness, Corum is not a very good running back right now. He needs to work on his vision and his power. Corum’s 1.88 yards after contact per attempt was among the worst in the nation in 2020.
If UM can manufacture some touches in space for Corum in 2021, lookout. He’s slippery in the open field and isn’t getting caught from behind. He displayed good hands as a freshman and should be heavily relied upon in that facet in 2021. Even though Chris Evans didn’t play a significant role in 2020, he was targeted a lot out of the backfield. His departure opens up some opportunities for Corum to get out in space as a pass-catcher.
4. Freshman Impact
It’s that time of year where every single incoming freshman is the next big thing. That sophomore that you liked last season as a freshman, he’s old news. That upperclassman who’s put in years of work in the film room, weight room, and weekly practices doesn’t stand a chance. This is the worse part of the Devy offseason is the over-inflated expected impacts of incoming freshmen. We do this every year. We can’t have realistic expectations of how much playing time to expect from freshmen. Let’s take a look at last year’s top 10 incoming freshman receivers from 247Sports and see how much impact that they made as true freshmen.
Only two of the ten made a marginal impact on their team. Due to this fact, many will be too low on the other eight prospects due to an unrealistic expectation of playing time prior to the season. They become “damaged goods.” Now it’s time to just move onto the next group of sexy freshmen that don’t have any flaws yet. It’s a never-ending cycle.
Not a receiver, but I still constantly see the take that Tyler Buchner is just going to walk into Notre Dame and take the starting job. Not so fast. The Irish didn’t bring in an experienced transfer to just sit on the bench. We can all laugh at Jack Coan’s talent (shoot, I did it myself when it was announced) but he’s won a Rose Bowl and started 18-games (that’s more CFB starts than Buchner has varsity games played in). Buchner has one year of high school playing experience, and that came against horrible competition. Buchner’s high school career went like this:
2017: JV
2018: ACL tear in 1st Qtr of 1st Game
2019: Balled the eff out to the tune of 81 total TDs.
2020: No season due to COVID.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Buchner. I’ve been tweeting about him since early in his 2019 season. But Buchner enters college much like 95% of incoming freshmen, just not ready to be a major contributor right off the bat. Sure, that particular incoming freshmen might have more talent than that particular veteran in front of him, but that vet has the experience – more time in the weight room, more time repping the offense, and learning the playbook.
Just be more realistic about how much your favorite incoming freshman will play this year. It’s more than likely a lot less than you are thinking. Because that player you expect that freshman to start over is probably somebody that you liked just as much coming out of high school two years and never got his opportunity to play until now.
5. Freshman Spotlight
Moving forward until next fall, when we have some game action again, I’ll be highlighting an incoming freshman each week in the 5 spot. Next up is USC incoming freshman QB, Jaxson Dart.
No player had a more significant rise this fall than Jaxson Dart. Before the season’s start, Dart only had offers from BYU, Louisiana, and Utah State. Dart transferred schools and led Corner Canyon High School to a 14-0 record. On the march to the state title, Dart threw for 4,691 yards and 67 TDs to 4 INTs. He added another 1,195 yards and 12 TDs on the ground. All of that earned Dart offers from Arizona State, Iowa State, TCU, UCLA, USC, and Washington State. Dart signed as one of two QBs in USC’s class.
Dart is a blast to watch. He’s fun and exciting, and as corny as it sounds, he has the “It” factor in his game. Dart has excellent arm talent; he can make just about any throw you want out of a QB. Great zip on all of his passes. Dart has some Zach Wilson vibes to his game. While Dart had some impressive rushing stats as a SR in HS, I don’t think he’s going to do much with his legs in college. He’s a guy that can move the chains when needed, but I wouldn’t expect major rushing production out of him. Dart gets a bit careless with the ball in the pocket, which will need to get shored up before he hits the college field.
Dart will be one of my top adds in C2C style leagues. He’s going to be a force in College Fantasy Football throughout his career. Any decent college QB should be able to put up numbers in USC’s Air Raid offense. Teaming his college production with his arm talent, he’ll be a great addition to any C2C team. After one more year of Kedon Slovis, he may be the starter in 2022. He’ll have to battle with classmate Miller Moss. Moss had been the higher-ranked of the two QBs until 247’s recent update to its ranks this past week. Dart is now the 7th rated Pro-Style QB in his class with Moss as the 8th.
