Potential Surprise All-Americans

[smallcollegefbfan]

We have seen the All-America Teams from Lindy's, The Sporting News, Phil Steele, TSN, etc. so I thought it would be good to start talking about potential All-Americans flying under the radar. Who on your team do you expect to be a postseason All-American who has not been named to a preseason team thus far?

[bjtheflamesfan]

I know I keep mentioning his name but Mike Brown has a chance to really open some eyes this year. he has the potential to be an AE-type gamebreaker from the QB position

[DFW HOYA]

Nick Parrish, LB, Georgetown.

[TexasTerror]

We have seen the All-America Teams from Lindy's, The Sporting News, Phil Steele, TSN, etc. so I thought it would be good to start talking about potential All-Americans flying under the radar. Who on your team do you expect to be a postseason All-American who has not been named to a preseason team thus far?

Karrington Bush, Texas State-San Marcos...

If he's healthy and getting his share of carries, he will be there. If not, the snubs by some of these pundits were justifiable.

[SU DOG]

John Michael Clay - Samford
Defensive End
6-5 270lbs
Senior

[SideLine Shooter]

Coco Hillary will be there.xthumbsupxxnodx

[smallcollegefbfan]

I know I keep mentioning his name but Mike Brown has a chance to really open some eyes this year. he has the potential to be an AE-type gamebreaker from the QB position

I agree. Brown is a very good player. He is small but fast and versatile. He makes plays... period! With him playing QB this year I think he is going to have much better numbers.

[Green26]

Jimmy Wilson, 5'11", 189 cornerback, Montana. Saw him at 7 on 7 recently, and he looked terrific and fit. He's the best corner I've ever seen play for Montana. Quick, fast, good in pass coverage, focused, very good tackler, hard hitter, playmaker, can play either corner, hard worker. He will have no problem shaking off the rust.

[Redwyn]

Arin West (DB)

[slostang]

Cal Poly's 6'3" 240 Jr DE Gavin Cooper. Cooper played as a true freshman in 2007 and sophomore year in 2008 then sat out 2009 recovering from shoulder surgery. He had a great spring. I remember talking to Rich Ellerson about Gavin when he was a freshman and he said that he came to Cal Poly ahead of where Chris Gocong was and he expected great things from Gavin. Gocong went on to win the Buchanan award recording 41 sacks his last 2 years at Cal Poly and became a third round pick of the Eagles. Walsh said this spring that he expected Gavin to have a huge Jr year in 2010.

[NorCalJack]

I think Jake Steffen will have a huge year. I feel he was on track last year and then was injured most of the year. SDSU will have a good defense and that should allow Jake to roam around and be disruptive.

[cmaxwellgsu]

Zeke Rozier. He's got the knee at 100%, and he is in an offense that really will suit him. He's also in the spot that gets monster numbers in our system.

[Panthers_Blue]

CJ James
CB
Eastern Illinois

2009- 5 INT's (4 returned for TD), 152 total yards on INT returns, 44 tkls (26 solo), also a big flyer on Special Teams

[JohnStOnge]

Karrington Bush, Texas State-San Marcos...

If he's healthy and getting his share of carries, he will be there. If not, the snubs by some of these pundits were justifiable.

I know there's potential for homerism here but I don't think Bush is as good a running back as Champlain Babin of McNeese State. I'm not saying Babin will make All American as a redshirt sophmore but I think he's more likely to be of actual All American caliber than Bush is.

[Tribe4SF]

W&M has three defensive linemen who possess the talent to put in All-American years.

DT Mike Stover
DE Ravi Pradhanang
DE/DT Bryan Jean-Pierre

[DJOM]

Jon Olofsson
ILB Princeton

If he and Steve Cody have a good season, Princeton should have a great defensive season.

For: If you score, you may win; if they never score, you will never lose.

[lionsrking2]

I know there's potential for homerism here but I don't think Bush is as good a running back as Champlain Babin of McNeese State. I'm not saying Babin will make All American as a redshirt sophmore but I think he's more likely to be of actual All American caliber than Bush is.

I like Babin, but if Bush is healthy, I would take him...he's faster and has better vision...plus Champ runs upright too much and is fumble prone...he'll get better though.

[JohnStOnge]

I like Babin, but if Bush is healthy, I would take him...he's faster and has better vision...plus Champ runs upright too much and is fumble prone...he'll get better though.

I think Babin is faster. Babin was a state champion in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles and also ran on state champion 4 x 400 and 4 x 200 relay teams. He was in AA but, still, the guy can motor. I just looked up Bush and see that he did run on a Texas 2A state champion mile relay team but I never saw him as particularly fast in terms of sprinting. He has had very impressive ypc averages each year though.

Basically I think Babin is both faster and more physical. I also think he's more likely to make OMGosh type moves where it looks like there is no way he should make yardage but somehow wriggles and pops out. However, if somebody is going on the basis of the game he had against Southeastern Louisiana last year I can understand not being impressed as he did not put the ball on the ground some in that one.

[FormerPokeCenter]

Champ had some runs in the Tulane game where he had some moves and speed that were OMG caliber. One of the KO returns comes to mind, and his peformance against SFA was pretty good, too.

I don't recall him running "too upright", but I didn't see the SELA game. He's 5'9" and ran a 14.5 in the high hurdles, over the 39 inchers. While the 14.5 is a "good" but not great time, the fact that he's 5'9, 190 and is able to run a 14.5 is pretty damned impressive to me. That tells me that despite his build, he's incredibly flexible. Bush ran 39 and some change in the 300 meter hurdles, which confirms that he's both fast, strong AND flexible. Bush's 400 meter credentials are nice, and indicate that he's strong and fast, but Babin's intermediate hurdles time tells me that Bush has no real advantage there. Babin's been timed in the 4.4 range in the 40 and from what I saw on his KO return against Tulane, I have no reason to think that's anything but legitimate.

What I really like about him is that as a hurdler, he's going to have some proprioceptive body control advantages that mere sprinters don't have...Even if he's not as fast on flat ground as other players (and I'm not saying that's a given) he's going to have an advantage in his ability to carry his pads because of his strength AND he's going to have some body control advantages, which - in my mind - account for his ability to make some of the moves he makes....The prototypical hurdler is long and lean, so usually, you see hurdlers in the wide out positions or in the defensive backfield, but occasionally, you see hurdlers who are shorter and more muscular and when they line up at tailback, they're generally pretty special. Charles White at USC comes to mind as a hurdler/tailback type ;)

Babin did put the ball on the ground more than I would have liked, but hopefully that's something that's improved.

[lionsrking2]

I think Babin is faster. Babin was a state champion in the 110 and 300 meter hurdles and also ran on state champion 4 x 400 and 4 x 200 relay teams. He was in AA but, still, the guy can motor. I just looked up Bush and see that he did run on a Texas 2A state champion mile relay team but I never saw him as particularly fast in terms of sprinting. He has had very impressive ypc averages each year though.

Basically I think Babin is both faster and more physical. I also think he's more likely to make OMGosh type moves where it looks like there is no way he should make yardage but somehow wriggles and pops out. However, if somebody is going on the basis of the game he had against Southeastern Louisiana last year I can understand not being impressed as he did not put the ball on the ground some in that one.

Never said I wasn't impressed with Champ...I've seen him play a bunch over the years, in high school, and against us last year...I've always liked him. But comparing the two, I'd take Bush (if healthy), for the reasons I stated. In another year or two, I may have a different opinion, but Bush has been a thorn in our side for the last three years.

[JohnStOnge]

Never said I wasn't impressed with Champ...I've seen him play a bunch over the years, in high school, and against us last year...I've always liked him. But comparing the two, I'd take Bush (if healthy), for the reasons I stated. In another year or two, I may have a different opinion, but Bush has been a thorn in our side for the last three years.

LK, on the "reasons stated" front and all other things aside, I do not think Bush is faster. I've watched him for years and do not perceive him as a "home run" threat. Babin is definitely a "home run" threat as he showed with his 76 yard TD against Sam Houston last year (longer than any run of Bush's career, BTW) and that 90 yard kickoff return vs. Tulane FPC referenced (it was called back for an illegal block away from the play but was still an incredible run). We can't know for sure unless we'd line the two up both in pads and have them race to see who is faster on the football field but I really do think it's Babin.

[lionsrking2]

LK, on the "reasons stated" front and all other things aside, I do not think Bush is faster. I've watched him for years and do not perceive him as a "home run" threat. Babin is definitely a "home run" threat as he showed with his 76 yard TD against Sam Houston last year (longer than any run of Bush's career, BTW) and that 90 yard kickoff return vs. Tulane FPC referenced (it was called back for an illegal block away from the play but was still an incredible run). We can't know for sure unless we'd line the two up both in pads and have them race to see who is faster on the football field but I really do think it's Babin.v

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one...by the way, Bush had an 80-yd TD run against us in 2007...of course if his knee doesn't respond, then all a moot point anyway.

[JohnStOnge]

Bush ran 39 and some change in the 300 meter hurdles, which confirms that he's both fast, strong AND flexible.

Just to try to get an idea I did some Google searches on Champlain Babin and 300 meter hurdles and found one report of him running a 39.12 in the 300 meter hurdles in April, 2008. The blurb is in the report at http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/preps/18103244.html?showAll=y&c=y . I'd say odds are that was not his fastest time as it's just the first 300 meter hurdles time of his I was able to find. Could be, but if I had to bet I'd bet my Google hit didn't happen to be to a reference to a meet in which he ran his fastest time.

[JohnStOnge]

Are you sure about that 80 yard TD? I'll go ahead and look it up but I'd looked at an ESPN web page on his career stats that had his longest career run at 63 yards.

Yeah, I did look it up at the Texas State site and you're right. Guess I shouldn't have trusted the ESPN site:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=190160

Looking at it more closely I see it also has him averaging 7.3 yards per reception in 2007 yet has his "long" reception at 6 yards...which is impossible.

[lionsrking2]

Are you sure about that 80 yard TD? I'll go ahead and look it up but I'd looked at an ESPN web page on his career stats that had his longest career run at 63 yards.

Yeah, I did look it up at the Texas State site and you're right. Guess I shouldn't have trusted the ESPN site:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=190160

Looking at it more closely I see it also has him averaging 7.3 yards per reception in 2007 yet has his "long" reception at 6 yards...which is impossible.

I'm 100% positive about the 80-yard run...I was there and remember it well...have video of it in fact...he can (or could) fly.

[seantaylor]

For GSU Zeke Rozier and Derek Heyden. Brent Russell winning the Buchannon won't be a surprise.