The college football season involves so many impossible pick-and-choose topics. One of them is a list of the most irreplaceable players. The list is so long that it could easily and justifiably include 15 players, but this is a five-player list. As a result, Jake Browning of Washington, Trace McSorley of Penn State, Justin Herbert of Oregon, Luke Falk of Washington State, Ed Oliver of Houston, Derrius Guice of LSU, Jarrett Stidham of Auburn, and Derwin James of Florida State didn’t make the final cut, even though all of them are incredibly important to their teams’ fortunes this year. Here are the five who stood above and beyond the others:
Sam Darnold
USC Trojans
There is no player who made more of a difference to his team last season than Darnold. That sounds like hyperbole, but Lamar Jackson of Louisville lost four games. Darnold lost only one, and that one loss was a game in which he played well on the road, only for his defense to lose focus in the fourth quarter and blow a lead at Utah. USC started 1-3, but Darnold then won nine straight games – eight in the regular season and then once more in the Rose Bowl against Penn State. Darnold was able to win a 52-49 shootout against a fully loaded Penn State offense, showing how fully he had mastered the USC offense while standing up to immense scoreboard pressure. Darnold is the Heisman Trophy favorite and the foremost reason USC has a chance to break a nine-year Pac-12 championship drought. All eyes are on him. He has to stay healthy for the Trojans to achieve all they want.
Lamar Jackson
Louisville Cardinals
The solo-flyer brilliance of Jackson was impossible to ignore. Running and passing, scrambling and on planned runs, Jackson took the Cardinals on his back and won the 2016 Heisman Trophy. Jackson led clutch fourth-quarter drives. He authored huge blowouts of weak opponents. He destroyed Florida State. He was like a video game at times, and that dazzling athleticism makes him a game-changer. Louisville will crumble if he gets hurt and (or) can’t be effective. Assuming he stays healthy, he’s going to have the type of numbers that put him in position to be a Heisman Trophy winner for a second straight season. He’s simply that talented and that good.
Baker Mayfield
Oklahoma Sooners
The man who led Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff in 2015 and then guided OU in 2016 to the first 9-0 record in a Big 12 Conference regular season (no one had done it previously) is evidently a special player. Mayfield’s presence will actually become more important this year, not less, because the Sooners have said goodbye to Samaje Perine, Joe Mixon, Dede Westbrook, and other skill players who made his life easier. This year, Oklahoma still has skill-position talent, but it is not as polished or refined as it was in previous years. Mayfield, in his final collegiate season, will need to bring his group along. As long as he can do so, Oklahoma can still field a lethal offense in the Big 12. If Mayfield gets hurt, though, the rest of the team might not be able to hold up.
Quinton Flowers
South Florida Bulls
This is a situation very similar to Mayfield’s at Oklahoma. Flowers is the proven veteran quarterback on a team with talent, but he loses his best running back (Marlon Mack) and best receiver (Rodney Adams). If he plays the full season, he can bring along everyone else on the South Florida offense. If he gets knocked out, the whole operation will suffer.
Mason Rudolph
Oklahoma State Cowboys
This is the trigger man for an offense with the best group of receivers in college football. James Washington, Jalen McCleskey, and Marcell Ateman form the best trio of receivers on one team in the sport this year. Rudolph has the established rapport with all three. If he is taken out of the mix, OSU would be crippled to a considerable extent. The Cowboys need Rudolph to be durable this fall.
Click here to bet on the college football futures for the 2017 college football season right now. DSI will have all of the latest lines, spreads and props for this year’s action!
