Now into Week 5 of the college football season, we're starting to see some quarterbacks emerge and others stagnate to a degree.
Those on the upswing are Baylor's Robert Griffin and Arizona State's Brock Osweiler. After playing subpar opponents like Stephen F. Autsin and Rice, Griffin and Baylor get a moderately difficult road test against Kansas State. Osweiler has played more difficult competition, and looked spectacular against Southern California last week. He completed 78 percent of his passes against the Trojans, so imagine what he'll do against lowly Oregon State. Osweiler has a big-time arm and it could be on display again today.
The quarterbacks who are doing decent but not especially impressing are USC's Matt Barkley and Oklahoma's Landry Jones. Barkley struggled placing the ball last week, which makes you question his pure arm strength some. Jones has had struggles in his last two games, despite throwing for 448 yards against Missouri last week. It will be interesting to monitor these four quarterbacks the rest of the season and who ends up more highly ranked by the end of the year.
Saturday NFL Draft watch notes
A top one-on-one matchup today comes in the Michigan State/Ohio State game. Faltering Michigan State defensive tackle
could do himself a lot of help when he goes against Ohio State center
. Worthy has been largely ineffective this season, but needs only a string of good games to repair his stock. Brewster could show today why he’s so highly regarded. Worthy isn’t a power tackle, which meshes with Brewster’s strengths nicely.
One of the best weak-side linebackers in the 2012 class is Texas’ Keenan Robinson. What he lacks in strength he more than makes up for in athleticism and the ability to get to the ball. He’s only a junior, though, and maybe should return for his senior season. He needs to add power to his game to get off blockers better.
Nevada’s
might be a better fit at the next level at the weak side. He plays the middle for the Wolf Pack, but struggles to disengage once blockers get into his frame. He gets the task of helping slow down the Boise State offense today. Nevada will likely lose, but watch out for Johnson. He’s a player who will benefit greatly from offseason workouts.
Junior defensive tackle
gets little publicity playing for Purdue. After tonight’s game against Notre Dame, he should be a known commodity nationally. In an average defensive tackle class, Short could be the beneficiary. Short is a power tackle who is hard to move off the blocks because he gets good leverage.
We’ll have individual notes on the following games shortly:
- Texas A&M/Arkansas - noon
- Clemson/Virginia Tech - 6 p.m.
- Alabama/Florida - 8 p.m.
- Nebraska Wisconsin - 8 p.m.
