Three College Football Players To Watch
John Ross. (USA TODAY Sports)
The amount of good quality games this weekend aren’t a ton, but we still get some good quality matchups. This week, there’s four games with top-25 teams facing each other, including a top-ten matchup in the SEC.
Here are some potential Eagles draft picks to watch later today.
1. John Ross, WR, Washington
This week’s opponent: @ Oregon — 7:30 p.m. (FOX)
Ross has been one of the best comeback stories so far this season. The redshirt-junior has had major injuries to both of his knees, tearing his meniscus in both knees and his ACL in his left knee. It’s certainly a cause for concern for scouts in the NFL, but what he’s done since then has been incredible. Ross has caught a team-high six touchdowns on 277 yards receiving, along with a rushing touchdown. Last week against Stanford, he decimated the Cardinal secondary to help the Huskies prevail with a 44-6 win. The Huskies haven’t defeated the Ducks since 2003.
2. Jourdan Lewis, CB, Michigan
This week’s opponent: @ Rutgers — 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Lewis missed the first three games of the season with back and leg injuries before making his season debut two weeks ago against Penn State. The All-American is Michigan’s number one corner, and should have an easier load against Rutgers in New Jersey. If you’ve heard of this guy before outside of the All-American accolades, he made a sweet interception last weekend against Wisconsin, which turned out to save the game for the Wolverines.
3. Elijah Hood, RB, North Carolina
This week’s opponent: vs. No. 25 Virginia Tech — 3:30 p.m.
The Tar Heel back has been stopped the past two weeks against Pitt and Florida State. Luckily, UNC was able to earn wins over those two teams. Outside of a 100-yard performance against James Madison, Hood hasn’t been able to be up-to-par with his 2015 self, which he ran for 1,463 yards and 17 touchdowns. Teammate T.J. Logan has been putting up decent numbers to complement Hood, but the junior will need to bounce back in a big way this weekend at home against the Hokies.
Game Of The Week: No. 9 Tennessee @ No. 8 Texas A&M — 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
Tennessee should not be undefeated. They almost lost to Appalachian State the first day of the season, and almost lost to Georgia last week in probably the craziest 19 seconds so far in the college football season. It’s been a roller coaster for the Vols to begin 2016, but have a very difficult two game stretch starting this afternoon with A&M before hosting Alabama next week. For the Aggies, they’ve breezed by their schedule after a season opening victory over UCLA in overtime. Trevor Knight has returned to the form he had back at Oklahoma, while the Aggie defense led by Myles Garrett should have a fun time with Tennessee running back and leading rusher Jalen Hurd out.
Honorable Mentions: Texas vs. No. 20 Oklahoma (Noon, FS1); No. 25 Virginia Tech @ No. 17 North Carolina (3:30 p.m.); No. 1 Alabama @ No. 16 Arkansas (7 p.m., ESPN); No. 23 Florida State @ No. 10 Miami (FL) (8 p.m., ABC)
Here are the players we’ve previously highlighted:
Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State
Mike Williams, WR, Clemson
Tre’Davious White, CB, LSU
Teez Tabor, CB, Florida
Josh Reynolds, WR, Texas A&M
Nick Chubb, RB, Georgia
Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma
Travis Rudolph, WR, Florida State
Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama
Isaiah Ford, WR, Virginia Tech
Desmond King, CB, Iowa
Jalen Hurd, RB, Tennessee