Stock Up:
Krys Barnes / LB / UCLA – Gets better everytime I see him. Doesn’t miss tackles. Broke up quick slants in coverage matched up against Cincy WR’s. Forced incompletions by Ridder when he tried to extend plays outside the pocket by rallying to the flat and swarming with dynamic speed. Also had a big fumble return for a TD but officials ruled the RB was down. Best player on the field in Nippert Stadium last night. Underrated.
Dayan Ghonwoloku / CB / BYU – Has flipped back and forth from CB to safety and back to CB this year. To me he looks best at CB, but is such a good one-on-one tackler coaches could use him as safety last year. Played a heck of a game last night. Demonstrated those one-on-one tackling skills against one of the best Senior RB’s in the country Zack Moss. Was also a beast on special teams. His story is incredible – coming over from war torn Liberia as a 5 year old refugee with literally nothing but the clothes on his back. Coaches will love him and NFL locker rooms will be lucky to add a kid like this to their team.
Mike Elko / DC / Texas A&M – Texas A&M couldn’t even spell defense under Kevin Sumlin. Was a little better under John Chavis, but hiring Mike Elko from Notre Dame is going to pay off for the Aggies. It was only Texas St. – but only giving up 8 yards rushing is good no matter who it’s against. This was the least amount of rushing yards aTm has given up since 2004. Also had 4 interceptions last night – the most in a game for aTm since 2006. They’re tackling better, covering better, deconstructing blocks better, and players are where they’re supposed to be. I might put Clemson on upset alert next week – but at least the game is at Clemson.
Aaron Brewer / OT / Texas St. – One of the most versatile offensive lineman in the country. Has played Center, Left Tackle, Right Guard, and Right Tackle – yet still graded out as the best run blocker in the Sun Belt last year, and 2nd best pass blocker. Incredible track and field athlete that played a good game last night making his first start at RT for the Bobcats against Texas A&M.
Stock Down:
Chip Kelly / HC / UCLA – The Bruins still look awful in Kelly’s 2nd season. They look the same as they did before he got there. Maybe even a little worse. He still hasn’t taught the young quarterback how to hang on to the football and stop giving it to the other team. They continue to beat themselves. I said it at the time, but Florida dodged a bullet when they chose Mullen over this guy.
Trevor Lawrence / QB / Clemson – It’s only fair. Where’s the overreaction? Where are all the critics who trash quarterbacks like Tua for having 2 INT games against the likes of Clemson and Georgia? That was lowly Georgia Tech with a new head coach and a completely new system he kept throwing the ball to last night. Missing throws all over the place.
Alabama and Clemson appear to be on a collision course for part 5, and Clemson may win again. But I can promise everyone this – Sunshine won’t just stand there under no pressure with DB’s falling on the ground like he did in the championship game. Clemson may beat Alabama again, but they’re going to pressure Trevor Lawrence. Hit him. He’ll have so many 5-stars swarming his a$$ he’ll swear Bama is sending guys off the sidelines after him. We're going to try to find out how good he really is. If he's able to withstand what's coming, he'll have earned it this time.
We're off to a scintillating start. Great opening weekend of college football still ahead.