Adding Five Names to ESPN’s 100 College Football Players to Watch

Joe Schad, ESPN’s tireless college football reporter, put together a list of the 100 players to watch this fall. Despite being just a list with no commentary, it’s not terrible: the 2:1 ratio of offense to defense isn’t as bad as it could be, and there’s a reasonable ratio of BCS to non-BCS conference players. But it could be better. That’s where I come in. Here are five other players who you will know come Saturdays in autumn.

Jake Heaps, BYU quarterback. Has BYU ever had a consensus #1 quarterback before? Heaps is highly touted and he’s got the size and skills to beat out the Cougars’ returning quarterbacks, plus the hype to prompt overheated proclamations from the fonts of such things. And he might get more burn for off-field issues, too: the prospect of Heaps taking his Mormon mission after this year might set the stage for a bizarrely hyphenated career, and is the sort of thing that gets columnists’ fingers itching.

Kyle Padron, SMU quarterback. Lest we forget, June Jones’ quarterbacks usually trigger highly entertaining offenses. Padron should be no different. He threw 10 touchdowns against four interceptions in six games in 2009, and shredded Nevada for 460 yards in SMU’s bowl game. Bonus points for lineage: Padron went to Southlake Carroll High School, the Texas football factory that has produced Chase Daniel and Greg McElroy.

James Carpenter, Alabama offensive lineman. In 2009, one of the burning questions about the Crimson Tide was whether their fearsome 2008 offensive line would be followed by a bigger wave or a lackadaisical lap at the shore. Carpenter was part of the reason the latter possibility wasn’t even considered last fall. He helped open the holes for Heisman winner Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, and was named second team All-SEC for his efforts. Expect the same this fall.

Denard Robinson, Michigan slasher. Robinson’s not going to be the same player he was last year, because, if Rich Rodriguez is interested in continued employment at Michigan, Tate Forcier will take the lion’s share of the snaps at quarterback for Big Blue. But, well, did you see Robinson last fall? He’s got excellent speed and considerable agility, and Michigan needs him to be a playmaker in the open field. I doubt he disappoints, given those chances.Lache Seastrunk, Oregon running back. You may have heard of the problems Oregon is having. Fortunately, Seastrunk isn’t one of them. He’s a shifty freshman running back from Texas who would fit nicely into a LaMichael James-sized hole or work well as a complement to him. Chip Kelly hasn’t been particularly shy about playing freshmen, and Seastrunk should be no exception.

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