One of the most intriguing aspects of every college football season is the young stars that emerge and play an integral role in their team’s success. While we are only two weeks in to the 2015 season, we have already seen enough to identify a handful of rising stars that have really set the tone early on. Rest assured that they’ve attracted the attention of some NFL scouts too. Here is a look at the four young, emerging starts this college football season.
Josh Rosen, UCLA Bruins
Quarterback
UCLA gambled on that its five-star recruit and freshman quarterback Rosen would be a star from the outset and the early returns have been more than impressive. The Manhattan Beach, California-native has looked dominant in back-to-back wins. Rosen has thrown for 574 yards and four touchdowns in consecutive wins over Virginia and UNLV.
He did take a bit of a step back in Week 2 against UNLV, completing 22-of-42 with one touchdown and one interceptions, but it was his first career road start. There is no denying the amount of time it usually takes quarterbacks to develop at every level and the fact that Rosen has been so good as a freshman is extremely impressive. All eyes will be on UCLA’s young star as the schedule gets tougher. Many people say he’s already among the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12 and we’ll find out with four very challenging games coming up (vs No. 19 BYU, at No. 20 Arizona, vs Arizona State, at Stanford).
Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma Sooners
Quarterback
The Sooners are the No. 16 team in the country following consecutive wins to open the year. They certainly have the potential to climb a lot higher on that list thanks in big part to their staring quarterback Mayfield. It’s funny that at halftime last week (at Tennessee), many tweeters were suggesting that the Sooners bench Mayfield given his struggles. However, he caught fire in the fourth quarter and overtime, leading the Sooners to an improbable comeback win at Rocky Top.
The junior passer has thrown for 575 yards and six touchdowns while rushing for an additional 54 yards and two scores through two games. He’s the biggest reason why the Oklahoma offense has averaged 36.0 points per game. The Sooners have a favorable schedule in the Big 12 this season and if Mayfield can continue to progress then Oklahoma could reemerge as a dark horse contender in the Big 12.
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Leonard Fournette, LSU Tigers
Running Back
LSU has only played one full game but the biggest reason they emerged with a win over Mississippi State in Week 2 is because their sophomore running back Fournette ran for 159 yards and three touchdowns. He had to shoulder the load on offense as quarterback Brandon Harris was just 9-of-14 for 71 passing yards. Clearly, the coaching staff didn’t trust him enough and put the game on Fournette.
The New Orleans, Louisiana-native is coming off a year in which he ran 1,034 yards and 10 scores but he looked even faster and stronger than he did last season in the win over the Bulldogs. All eyes will be on Fournette when LSU hosts Auburn in another SEC showdown this weekend.
Dalvin Cook, Florida State Seminoles
Running Back
The second sophomore running back on this list has emerged as a potential dark horse candidate to challenge for a Heisman trophy at Florida State this season as Cook has looked dominant early on. Cook opened the year by averaging 8.2 yards per carry on 19 rushes for 156 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Texas State and as if that wasn’t impressive enough, he topped that performance by averaging 8.9 yards per carry on 30 attempts for 266 yards with three touchdowns against South Florida. Cook has all of the tools to be the feature workhorse back for the Seminoles and following a dominant start, it is clear he is an emerging star to keep an eye on this season.
