Jump to content

Championship on the Line

#1 Baylor and #3 Tennesseee face off this Saturday for the National Championship Game

We're Talkin' Playoffs?

The Titans and the Browns face each other in the Wildcard Round this week

Join Here

Need a team?

Firstly... welcome to the SimFBA! If you are new to the site, and need a team, make sure you head over to the new users section and view the available teams list. You will also be able to fill out your job application there! See you on the field, Coach!

Read more

Basketball Season is Upon Us

Sign up by September 2nd for our 4th Season of College Basketball and NBA!

Join Here

2022 Freshman Watch


Recommended Posts

Welcome to the first edition of freshman watch! Thanks to my subterfuge and espionage skills, I have acquired a list of statistics for this years freshman and am going to share the best at each position and overall candidates for FOTY (Freshman of the Year)

Let's start with the most important position: the quarterback.

There are only 2 freshman quarterbacks in the country who won the starting job for this season.

Brandon Savage- Pocket - 5 Star, Tennessee - Elite 11 MVP

Tavarres Washington - Balanced - 5 Star, North Carolina - #3 Elite 11 Rankings

Stat lines for the two below:

 

NameCompletionsAttemptsYardsTDINTRating
Brandon Savage1612451885132146
Tavarres Washington137254150949101

 

Brandon Savage immediately walked into Knoxville to replace the departing Cedric Marsh and has been an upper tier QB in the SEC as a true freshman. As of this writing, Tennessee was 7-1 and #4 in the country while UNC is 2-6. The rest of the freshman crop is busy waiting their turn next year, but for now, these 2 are the only ones in the limelight.

 

 

Running Backs:

There are quite a few backs across the country, but only 3 (2 RB, 1 FBs) have had significant playing time (more than 15 carries). There were no 5-star RBs last season so maybe it isn't much of a surprise none of these guys have been lighting it up.

These players are:

 

Marquese Ash - Receiving RB - 4 star - B overall, Air Force

Joakim Stamets - Balanced FB - 3 star - C overall, South Florida

Joe Williams - Receiving RB - 4 star - B overall, Tennessee

 

Stat-wise none of these guys have great lines:

NameAttemptsYardsTotal TDsFumblesTargetsCatchesYards
Marquese Ash95310303729186
Joakim Stamets68214019332
Joe Williams44109207785

 

Clearly Marquese has the "best" stats but uh, none of these players are particularly impressive. Must be a tough adjustment, but this experience should push them to grow and be more valuable pieces in the upcoming years.

 

Wide Receivers:

at the WR position there is a trio of 5 stars getting significant playing time, and a 4 star as well. Nobody else has over 100 receiving yards so far.

 

Harlan Smith - Route Runner - 5 Star - Air Force

Patrick Hernandez - Possession - 5 Star - Nebraska

Ro'Derrick Billings - Route Runner - 5 Star - Nebraska

Nick Norwell - Speed - 4 Star - Oklahoma State

 

Obviously Nebraska hit the jackpot in crooting last season, but nobody has really emerged as a star so far:

NameTargetsCatchesYardsTDs
Harlan Smith45262312
Patrick Hernandez19161671
Ro'Derrick Billings34161491
Nick Norwell2491381

 

As you can see, Harlan is playing the biggest role, but Patrick has probably had the "best" performance so far.

 

Tight Ends:

Nobody of note. Only 3 players have caught a pass with Blake Su'a-Filo from Utah State and Steel Blue from Kansas having the most snaps played.

 

 

Offensive Line:

Not a lot going on here either. A total of 3 players have seen snaps: all OGs

 

Bam Lamp - 4 star Pass Blocking - Bowling Green

A.J. Kaaya - 4 star Pass Blocking - Southern Mississippi

Robert Tartt -4 star Run Blocking - Washington State

 

Defensive Line:

Only 2 starters on Defensive line as well:

 

Bennie Kiekhefer - DT - Nose Tackle - 4 star - UConn - 26 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 1 FF

Jarvis Mauro - DE - Speed Rusher - 5 star - UCLA - 23 tackles, 7 TFL, 4 Sacks

 

 

Linebackers:

Finally we get to the positions with more freshman impact, albeit most of it is as special teamers.

 

ILBs:

Only 1 guy is a true starter, Kaleb Cavanaugh, 5 star ILB Run Stopper for undefeated Texas State. The man has 31 tackles, 4 TFL, and 1 sack

The only other real contributor is fellow 5 star Kevin Cole, coverage guy for Baylor who has 14 tackles, 1 TFL, and 1 sack.

There are 4 other players who look to be special teams players. Special shout-out to Mat Constanza for making it as a special teams starter at Indiana despite his 1 star ranking and D overall rating.

 

OLB:

Two players here locking down starting positions from the jump, with possibly a third being a mid-season switch (or maybe he just doesn't play special teams), and then another handful of special teamers.

 

Starters:

Laurent Scruggs - 5 star Pass Rusher - SMU - 19 Tackles, 2 TFL, 1 FF

Seantrel Garate - 5 star Pass Rusher - WMU - 24 tackles, 5 TFL, 4 sacks

Mike Saric - 4 star Run Stopper - Utah - 17 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 INT

 

Cornerbacks:

Conventional wisdom states that true freshman are not going to thrive when placed in a position under so much pressure where they could be picked on, but in this sim it's the position with the most starters with ~6 starters, and then another dozen or so contributing as backups or coming in for nickel/dime packages

 

Starters:

Donald Dingus - 5 star Ball Hawk - Bowling Green - 33 tackles, 3 INTs

Francisco Massington - 4 star Man Coverage - San Diego State - 6 tackles

Malcolm Williams - 5 star Man Coverage - Texas State - 16 tackles

Reese Colon - 5 star Zone Coverage - Air Force - 23 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 FF, 1 INT

Justin Hernandez - 4 star Man Coverage - Kent State - 30 tackles, 1 TFL

Jermey Cabral - 5 star Ball Hawk - Colorado - 20 tackles, 6 punt returns for 86 yards

 

Safeties:

6 starters here as well, 3 FS, 3 SS, but many fewer backups getting playing time

 

Starters:

NameTypeSchoolTacklesTFLINTs
Austin Pena4 star Man SSBowling Green2701
Brad Crow5 star Ball Hawk FSUCLA4011
Roko Souza5 star Zone SSNavy2100
Stephen Leonard4 star Man FSHouston2701
Nicolas Holland4 star Run Stopper FSArkansas1000
Ronny Searcy3 star Zone SSArkansas1910

 

And lastly we get to the special teamers:

at kicker we have 2 kickoff specialists, and 4 starting kickers.

 

Starters:

 

NameTypeSchoolFG statusXPs
Tim BernierPower 4 starTCU9 / 12, long of 4431/34
Juan BembryPower 4 starDuke17/19, long of 4618/23
Jake RamirezBalanced 4 starKansas9/12, long of 5113/13
Geneo JenkinsBalanced 3 starBaylor7/12, long of 4415/15

 

and lastly we have the punters. 15 of them have more than 30 punts!! below are the best of the bunch. And yes, David Ross is by far the best

 

NameTypeSchoolPuntsInside 20
Jeremy RamirezAccuracyOklahoma State6238
David RossPowerWashington State5238
Marcus JacksonAccuracyTennessee5534
Chandon DanishBalancedColorado State6233
Ryan GottBalancedTexas A&M6932

 

 

And that's a wrap! looking at it per school,

Baylor: 3

UCLA: 3

Bowling Green: 3

Air Force: 3

Kansas: 2

Arkansas: 2

Texas State: 2

Washington State: 2

Tennessee: 2

 

Freshman of the Year Candidates

 

Offense:

Brandon Savage - QB - Tennessee

 

Defense:

Jarvis Mauro - DE - UCLA

Seantrel Garate - OLB - WMU

Reese Colon - CB - Air Force

Brad Crow - FS - UCLA

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking back, Jake Ramirez was easily and most surprisingly my best croot last year, where I thought it would be Steel Blue having the instant impact. Now Blue is likely headed for a redshirt year, while Ramirez is kicking like the deepest FGs in the country.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...