FORMER PLAYERS
P George Caratan (UConn): Caratan punted 5 times for 201 yards in a 28-14 loss to Marshall in the bowl game. Caratan finished the season with 67 attempts for 2,704 yards (40.36 yards per attempt). He also kicked off 1 time for 65 yards. UConn went 6-7.
C Zach Carpenter (Indiana): Carpenter started eight games, mostly at left guard due to a hand injury that prevented him from playing center. Indiana went 4-8.
RB Zach Charbonnet (UCLA): Charbonnet ran 195 times for 1,359 yards (6.97 yards/carry) and 14 touchdowns, and also caught 37 passes for 321 yards.
S Sammy Faustin (UMass): Faustin made 3 tackles while playing in eleven games this season. UMass went 1-11.
OG Chuck Filiaga (Minnesota): Filiaga is leaving Minnesota after being a 3rd Team All-Big Ten offensive guard in 2022.
CB Darion Green-Warren (Nevada): Green-Warren made 5 tackles and 1 pass breakup this season. Nevada went 2-10.
Hit the jump for more.
QB Ren Hefley (Northwest Mississippi Community College): Hefley led his team to a 10-1 record as the starting quarterback. He finished the season with 189/308 passes completed, 2,240 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions; and 34 carries for 86 yards and 5 touchdowns.
K Cole Hussung (Louisville): Hussung did not play in any games this season. Louisville went 8-5.
WR Giles Jackson (Washington): Jackson had 1 kickoff return for 12 yards in a 27-20 win over Washington in the Alamo Bowl. Overall, Jackson had 15 kickoff returns for 312 yards (20.8 yards/return), 5 punt returns for 45 yards (9.0 yards/return), 28 catches for 328 yards (11.7 yards/catch) and 1 touchdown, and 9 rushes for 48 yards (5.3 yards/carry). Washington went 11-2.
CB George Johnson III (UMass): Johnson led UMass in receptions (28) and yards (402) while making 1 touchdown catch. Amazingly, UMass only scored 4 touchdowns through the air for the entire season.
S Jaylen Kelly-Powell (Akron): Kelly-Powell made 18 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, and 1 quarterback hurry during Akron's 2-10 season.
DE Aaron Lewis (Rutgers): Lewis made 54 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 10 quarterback hurries, and 1 forced fumble.
WR Oliver Martin (Nebraska): Martin made 11 catches for 195 yards and 1 touchdown this season. Nebraska went 4-8.
QB Dylan McCaffrey (Northern Colorado): Northern Colorado went 3-8 this season, after which head coach Ed McCaffrey was fired. Dylan McCaffrey ran 66 times for 120 yards. He completed 189/317 passes (59.2%) for 1,905 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.
QB Joe Milton (Tennessee): Milton completed 53/82 passes (64.6%) for 971 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. He took over the starting job late in the season after starting quarterback Hendon Hooker tore his ACL. Milton also ran 18 times for 77 yards.
LB William Mohan (Tennessee): Mohan was dismissed from Tennessee's program for an off-the-field incident.
S Jordan Morant (Mississippi State): Morant made 11 tackles in thirteen games this season.
DT Phillip Paea (Utah State): Paea made 2 tackles, 1 pass breakup, and 1 interception that he returned 16 yards. However, due to injury, he only played in three games this season due to injury.
S Hunter Reynolds (Utah State): Reynolds made 93 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 3 interceptions, 7 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery he returned 55 yards for a touchdown.
C/OG Nolan Rumler (Kent State): Rumler played in six games as a backup lineman in 2022.
RB O'Maury Samuels (New Mexico State): Samuels had 9 carries for 69 yards this season.
CB Andre Seldon (New Mexico State): Seldon made 44 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 4 pass breakups, and 1 interception he returned 19 yards for a touchdown.
CB Myles Sims (Georgia Tech): Sims made 43 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 interception, and 3 pass breakups for the Yellowjackets, who went 5-7 and did not qualify for a bowl game.
LB Anthony Solomon (Arizona): Solomon made 1 tackle while playing in six games this season. Arizona (5-7) is not bowl eligible.
OT Jack Stewart (UConn): Stewart played in eight games as a backup lineman for UConn this season.
RB Christian Turner (Wake Forest): Turner had 128 carries for 516 yards and 7 touchdowns, while also catching 5 passes for 39 yards and 1 score. After the season he entered the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining.
LB Ben VanSumeren (Michigan State): VanSumeren made 81 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 pass breakups, and 3 quarterback hurries for the 5-7 Spartans.
QB Dan Villari (Syracuse): Villari had 1 catch for 22 yards while playing in seven games in 2022.
LB Cornell Wheeler (Kansas): Wheeler did not play at all for Kansas in 2022.
this list will be much bigger in coming years ... do you plan on revising the format?
ReplyDeleteNot really, no. But yes, I do expect that it will get much bigger. I will probably not include on a weekly basis the guys who play offensive line or who aren't playing, just to save space and time.
DeleteIt might streamline your work if the list is order by position groups. It makes sense to update some of them less frequently when there aren't readily available stats.
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ReplyDeleteSounds like Don Brown needs a better OC! No way would I have guessed Johnson was their leading WR with those numbers.
Giles Jackson is kind of like Henning - not really a WR or RB but a true hybrid. That can work but you better be pretty dynamic to force coaches to scheme for you. Solid players but neither is Desmond Howard.
Did Milton get more accurate or just smarter about where he threw it?
Had not registered that Reynolds was so productive at Utah State. Good for him.
Focusing on players who played for Michigan (rather than one time recruits) makes a ton of sense.
Tennessee has a lot of wide open receivers. If you watch their games, you see guys running in green grass non-stop. It's way more "speed in space" than anything we ever saw from Josh Gattis.
DeleteYeah it's one the 5 best offenses in CFB, but Milton was notorious for missing wide open guys in the past.
DeleteIn the same offense last year he completed 52% of his passes for 6 YPA and a passer ratting of 113. Relatively poor numbers compared to this years eye-popping 65%, 12 YPA, passer rating of 200.
In contrast, the primary starter (Hendon Hooker) did not see much change in his numbers. (70 and 68%, 9.8 and 9.5 YPA, PER of 182 and 176). If anything Hooker's numbers dipped a bit in 2022.
Both the 2021 and 2022 offenses for Tennessee were top 10, so I don't think we can just wave off the differences in Milton's performance by changes in team context.
Hooker was considered a Heisman candidate and is considered an NFL draft pick, despite his injury. Milton's numbers are comparable, though TBF he did get at least half his pass attempts in pretty low leverage situations. Regardless - the improvement is performance is substantial.
I would submit that Joe Milton has gotten better, substantially so, since last year let alone his time at Michigan. I think that's hard to dispute.
I would also submit that Joe Milton has gotten more accurate - but there are other potential explanations for such a big increase in completion percentage, INT %, PER, etc.
I think Milton has improved. That's usually going to be the case as a player gets older and more experienced, as well as learning the system. I also think Tennessee improved since last year.
DeleteMilton's footwork is still terrible.
Footwork issue is not something I know anything about so that's interesting, but I do have to say it's not always looked natural or in rhythm when I've watched him at Michigan and Tennessee.
DeleteIt was mentioned in the Athletic profile article on milton last week.
https://theathletic.com/4041294/2022/12/29/tennessee-volunteers-joe-milton/
"Improved footwork, improved mechanics and improved processing all accompanied Milton’s eight appearances this season, helping him rank 14th nationally with six completions of 50 yards or more even though he threw just 54 passes."
In my mind Milton is still the guy with a world of promise and can be a high NFL pick if he keeps developing. He was always going to take time because he did not benefit from the kind of QB camps in high school like McNamara and McCaffrey.
Covid maybe doing him a big favor giving him that extra year of time to prove it at the college level. Despite his success this year it does not seem like he is ready for the NFL right now.
The thing I'm most curious about in light of the debates in this space is if his accuracy is something that is improving or it's processing (aka reading and decision-making) that's driving the improvement.
Milton can now hit the wide open Receiver, so long as he has a cozy pocket. That is a huge improvement, and Lank may be right that a GM will try to turn that arm cannon into a viable QB
Delete"Milton can now hit the wide open Receiver, so long as he has a cozy pocket. That is a huge improvement"
DeleteSo what changed? Did he get more accurate or smarter or both?
I'm not sure, because we have garbage time, Vanderbilt, and a Bowl Game to go off of. I think a full year of SEC football will be more revealing
DeleteHe'll have to win and keep the job. I would guess he gets it out of camp but one L and fans will be screaming for the 5-star to take his spot.
DeleteQuinn Ewers. JJ McCarthy. Caleb Williams. Recent history suggests that a HC will keep the guy he knows, while the 5star develops. I don't expect to see much of the new kid, but I do think Tenn will run more
DeleteWhy do you think milton will run more than hooker did?
DeleteMilton is about 27 pounds heavier than Hooker. I think he's built to take the pounding a little bit more. I wouldn't be surprised to see Milton run more than Hooker.
Delete@Anon 2:16, Milton may run more than Hooker as Thunder suggests, but I was talking about the RBs
DeleteI watch a bunch of CFB, and Tennessee is one team I had hopes for this year. Tennessee was a pass heavy offense, running only enough to keep defenses honest (and then more during garbage time). That changed when Milton took over, and Tennessee flipped to run heavy. Backup QB caveats apply, but it was a noticeable change. He still needs ideal scenarios to excel (a safe pocket, time & wide open receivers), so games were called to help out the backup. That's still a significant improvement from where he was, but I could see a more balanced approach from Huepel
Anon above was me. That makes sense JE. I agree fwiw. I think hooker is a better runner than Milton so I think that factors in also. Not that Milton is bad but that's just a bigger part of hookers game. Milton is big enough to stand in the pocket and face heat. How effective he is doing that is something we'll wait and see. He's making some Heisman lists. Strong run game from backs would help him.
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