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. Zach Charbonnet
Just thirteen short months after setting a Michigan freshman rushing touchdown record, Charbonnet found himself in the transfer portal. Charbonnet was ranked as the fourth back in the class 2019 recruiting class. Charb finished his true freshman season with 11 rushing TDs giving himself a 17.8% dominator rating and accounted for 14.5% of all offensive yards for the Wolverines. While his breakout as a tFR was nice. On film, Charbonnet struggled to create for himself. And was seldom used in the passing game. Catching only eight balls in 13 games.
His sophomore campaign was off to a hot start, ripping off a 70-yard TD on his first attempt of the season. But anything after that went downhill for him and the Wolverines. On his next 18 carries in 2020, Charb only managed to gain 54 yards and no TDs. UM only got five games completed before COVID derailed their season. Shortly after the season, Charbonnet found himself in the portal, looking to get closer to home. With the departure of Demetric Felton to the pros, the UCLA Bruins’ backfield is wide open. Charbonnet should be competing for the lead role in that backfield. I’m not sure how well Charbonnet fits in the Chip Kelly offense. He’s nowhere near the receiver that Felton was during his time. I don’t think he can create for himself on the level of Felton either.
Charbonnet still has a bright future. He has three years of eligibility remaining and will have his chance to impact the Bruins backfield this fall. This Devy stock is about low as it possibly can be right now, if you can move Charb, do it.
2. K.D. Nixon
The Trojans have swooped in and grabbed two instant impact transfers in Keaontay Ingram and now K.D. Nixon. Nixon was a 3-star recruit that spent the last four seasons at Colorado. During his time in Colorado, he’s totaled 104-1250-7. He peaked in 2018 with 52-636-4. Nixon was limited to just four games in 2020 and finished third on the team in receiving. USC is losing nearly 50% of its receiving yards from 2020 and almost 60% of their receiving TDs. Despite his 5’8” frame, Nixon has spent the majority of his career lined up out wide for the Buffs. Giving him the perfect opportunity to slide in Amon-Ra St. Brown’s vacated role.
Nixon is listed at just under 200lbs, but he’s rocked at his height. Nixon is quick and shifty. Clocking a 4.57 40-yard dash during his high school days (nearly five years ago now), Nixon looks to be a hair faster than that now. Over 2018 and 2019, Nixon accumulated nearly 600 yards after the catch. I expect Nixon’s one and only season as Trojan to be a big one. He’s experienced and talented enough to make an immediate impact for USC. With USC’s pass tendencies, Nixon has the potential to make an impact as a college fantasy producer. Nixon should be a cheap addition in C2C leagues, a pretty good chance he’s even sitting on your waivers right now.
3. Xavier Watts
Watts is a former 4-star recruit who played sparingly as a true freshman in 2020. Watts only saw 16 snaps over two games for the Fightin’ Irish. Watts is a younger player that I expect to have a great chance at breaking out in 2021. Notre Dame is losing a big chunk of wide receiver production from 2020. They are losing 71-1156-8 from the wideout spot. While that might not seem like a big production loss those numbers account for 62%, 69%, and 67% of numbers from receivers in 2020 (only from the WR spot this doesn’t include TE or RB production). The Irish leading returning wide receiver is Avery Davis with 24-322-2. Davis is an alright college receiver, at best he’ll be the fourth or fifth receiving option in 2021. So that leaves plenty of room for a young receiver to breakout. Former 5-star recruit, Jordan Johnson gets all the pub, but I personally like Xavier Watts more.
Watts capped his high school career with great back-to-back seasons. He tallied 126-2165-28 (17.2 YPR) over his final two years of ball. He finished as the 46th rated receiver by 247Sports but was ranked much lower by their Composite ranks. As a true freshman, he was listed by Notre Dame at 5’11” and 199lbs. Watts is a fluid athlete with good movement skills. He’s a rangy athlete evident from his high school film of playing safety. Despite being sub six-foot, Watts is considered to be an outside receiver. All his high school film is from the outside and he’s considered an outside receiver by the Irish depth chart. I’m expecting Watts to be able to slide into one of the vacated roles of Javon McKinley or Ben Skowronek. Watts is a totally different wideout than the aforementioned receivers. He’ll bring a big play ability that just wasn’t there for the Irish in 2020. Somebody has to step up in the passing game not named Michael Mayer or Kyren Williams. I think Watts is as good a bet as anybody currently on the roster.
4. Top Receiving Back in 2020
Looking back at 2020, who were the top receiving backs in the nation? Looking at Yards Per Team Passing Attempt here are the top 20 backs.
Impressively we got a tFR at the top of the list and another in Jahymr Gibbs finished inside the top 10.
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. This week’s spot goes to Alabama running back signee, Camar Wheaton.
Wheaton signs as part of the highest-ranked recruiting class of all-time. He ranks as the 247Sports 4th overall running back. While he has a lofty ranking, I don’t believe his film tells the same story. I can see why he’s ranked so high, but his film leaves me wanting more especially from such a highly-ranked player. Wheaton’s limited senior film does look much better than his junior year. Wheaton is considered a blazer (10.6 100-meter time under his belt) but only managed to average 6.0 yards per carry as a junior. This is a really bad number for a high 4-star recruit. On a number of carries from his junior film, you’d expect Wheaton to take a play to the house and he isn’t able to get past his defender. His YPC jumped up to 8.5 this past season in 2020. Another area that’s lacking for Wheaton is his pass-catching. As a full-time back in 2018 and 2019, he only combined for 20 receptions over that two-year span. Is that due to the offensive scheme or lack of ability? It’s hard to figure out from high school highlights. Over three years of highlights, I can’t recall seeing Wheaton break a single tackle. Sure, he’ll juke a defender in the hole and make him miss or break a glancing hand tackle attempt but there’s no evidence that he’s able to power through and break a legit tackle attempt. More times than not, he does anything in his power to avoid having any contact with a defender. He bounces almost all his runs outside and doesn’t want anything to do with running between the tackles.
I’ve listed plenty of negatives about Wheaton, but he’s got plenty of positives as well. Wheaton’s speed looked much more consistent in 2020. His senior film was very limited (only 71 carries for the year), but he didn’t have any plays where he should have scored but ended up getting caught by a defender. His quickness and short-area ability looked much improved from earlier in his high school career. He was extremely difficult to get a hand on in close quarters. If schemed into space, Wheaton can excel at a high level. I believe he would have fit better in OUs offense than how he does Alabama. The Crimson Tide has a loaded running back room and I highly doubt Wheaton has a role in 2021. With the talent ahead of him I’d set his carries in 2021 at over/under 30.
Clearly, 247 and other recruiting sites are much higher on Wheaton than me. And Alabama’s coaching staff knows way more than me about scouting, but Wheaton just leaves me wanting more whenever I watch him. I can see the talent but it’s not all but together at this point.
