Breakout Stars of College Football After Week 8
The face of college football is ever-changing.
While stalwart staples such as Alabama's Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr., Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker, Illinois' Chase Brown and USC's Caleb Williams continue to produce, they have been joined this year by a new crop of breakout stars.
In some cases, these guys parlayed a change of scenery into some big-time production. In others, a switch of coaching staffs injected new life into their games. Others are youngsters getting their shots at stardom, and some upperclassmen are thriving too.
Then there are players who've been good for a long time but have surged into the spotlight in 2022.
Let's take a look at the biggest breakout stars in the sport just past the halfway point of the season.
Jayden Daniels, LSU Quarterback
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The light has come on for Jayden Daniels.
Now, it's burning brighter than those of the vast majority of quarterbacks.
After Daniels transferred from Arizona State to LSU in the offseason, he began to realize his massive potential under Brian Kelly. Thanks to the COVID year, he could even stay and develop for a fifth season.
He may not need to.
To say Daniels is new to the national radar would be a stretch. He was highly regarded as a recruit and an underclassman for the Sun Devils in 2019, starting immediately. But his growth stalled, and he bolted the Herm Edwards mess after a 2021 season in which he threw 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
This year, he's been spectacular for the 6-2 Tigers, especially recently. He torched Florida and Ole Miss during the past two games for 11 total touchdowns and no turnovers.
For the season, he's completing nearly 70 percent of his passes for 12 touchdowns and one interception. He's also rushed for 524 yards and nine touchdowns, and he's learning to better integrate his receivers.
Daniels is finally playing like the star he was always projected to be.
Max Duggan, TCU Quarterback
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Max Duggan crawled from the scrap heap and turned into a priceless weapon for one of college football's biggest surprises.
The senior signal-caller has started for essentially four seasons for the TCU Horned Frogs, when he hasn't been injured. But a career that was left for dead when the program announced it was hiring head coach Sonny Dykes, who subsequently named Chandler Morris the starter to begin the season, has instead been turbo-charged.
Duggan isn't the brand of fling-it-around quarterback Dykes normally deploys. He's been a run-first athlete who's tended to take to his wheels early in his progressions. But after Duggan took over for an injured Morris in the team's first game, he's been brilliant.
He's completed 68.9 percent of his passes for 1,871 yards, 19 touchdowns and just one interception, and he's run for 274 yards and four scores.
Dykes told the FS1 crew for last week's game against Kansas State that Duggan was playing at as high of a level as any quarterback he's ever coached. Those are big words considering Dykes' coaching pedigree, having guided signal-callers such as Jared Goff and Nick Foles.
Duggan is authoring one of the most memorable seasons in school history. If the undefeated Horned Frogs can keep marching toward the Big 12 title, Duggan will keep padding his legacy.
Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State Wide Receivers
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The name is familiar, the game is familiar and Marvin Harrison Jr. is proving the apple didn't fall far from the tree. As a matter of fact, he's carving his name in it.
The Ohio State sophomore is, of course, the son of the NFL Hall of Famer by the same name, and he was a high-profile recruit who burst onto the scene in last year's Rose Bowl while Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson were preparing for the NFL draft.
His teammate, Emeka Egbuka, has joined the party, too, and the duo has formed the FBS' most exciting one-two punch.
With Jaxon Smith-Njigba missing the majority of the season with a hamstring injury, quarterback C.J. Stroud hasn't missed a beat with the underclassman tandem. Harrison has 38 catches for 598 yards and 10 touchdowns and seems to be the one getting most of the buzz for awards.
Egbuka, meanwhile, has been strong too. The Washington native has more catches (41) and yards (735) than Harrison, and while he has three fewer touchdowns, his seven is still good for a tie for 10th nationally.
Smith-Njigba's absence has created opportunity, and Harrison and Smith have seized it.
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Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee Wide Receiver
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As exceptional as Harrison and Egbuka have been, they may be trailing Jalin Hyatt in the race to win the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver.
The junior Tennessee Volunteer is putting up the best receiving numbers for in college football, is a member of one of the top teams and has been a huge part of some major wins.
As is the case in Columbus, Tennessee dealt with its leading receiver (Cedric Tillman) being lost to injury and missing a large swath of the season. The offense hasn't suffered a bit in the interim as the Vols have beaten Florida, LSU and Alabama without him.
That's chiefly because quarterback Hendon Hooker has found another reliable target in Hyatt, who torched Alabama with a historic five-touchdown performance and posted 207 receiving yards in UT's 52-49 win.
For the season, Hyatt has 40 catches for 769 yards and leads the nation with 12 touchdowns. He's a field-stretching deep threat who has added weight since last year and isn't scared to go across the middle.
He already has one fewer catch and eight more touchdowns than the past two years combined.
Charlie Jones, Purdue Wide Receiver
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All Charlie Jones needed was another change of scenery.
He didn't have to go too far. The former Iowa Hawkeye transferred within the Big Ten West to the Purdue Boilermakers to join childhood friend and quarterback Aidan O'Connell.
The results have been tremendous.
Of course, going from one of the most stagnant offenses in the nation to playing for Jeff Brohm will do that. But Jones has been a revelation.
It's been a long, winding collegiate road for the senior from Illinois. As a freshman at Buffalo in 2018, he had 18 catches for 395 yards and three touchdowns before heading to Iowa City.
Last year was his first real action with the Hawks, and he had 21 catches for 323 yards and three more scores. Sensing bigger and better things, Jones packed up and left again, and he's found a pot of gold at the end of the black-and-gold rainbow.
This season, Jones is one of college football's biggest weapons, catching an eye-popping 72 passes for 840 yards and scoring nine touchdowns. He's stepped into the cleats left behind by David Bell and Rondale Moore before him.
Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss Running Back
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The biggest playmaker in Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin's offense isn't a quarterback, and it's not a wide receiver either.
Improbably, it's true freshman running back Quinshon Judkins, who was not a highly rated prospect coming out of Pike Road High School in Alabama. He was a 3-star recruit, but he's playing like a 5-star in his first season in Oxford.
Even with elite transfer Zach Evans around, Judkins is the "one" in the one-two punch for the 7-1 Rebels and the offense's centerpiece.
He may be the most valuable freshman in the nation.
Judkins has 831 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns and is averaging 5.7 yards per carry. At 5'11", 210 pounds, he's a YAC machine who rarely goes down the first time somebody hits him.
In seven of the eight games this year, he's had at least 87 rushing yards, and in five of those, he eclipsed the century mark. Judkins will a have long career at Ole Miss if he sticks around, and he may be the second coming of program legend Deuce McAllister.
Drake Maye, North Carolina Quarterback
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It's difficult to believe North Carolina ever had a preseason quarterback battle now that we've seen Drake Maye in action.
While the defense has tons of issues, the redshirt freshman from Huntersville, North Carolina, is the primary reason the Tar Heels carry a 6-1 record into this weekend's showdown with Pittsburgh.
The 6'4", 220-pound signal-caller has been sterling in his first career action. As good as QB Sam Howell was in helping coach Mack Brown reestablish his program in Chapel Hill, Maye has been arguably better. He's got several years to improve too.
This season, with the offense needing to shoulder most of the load, Maye has orchestrated a scintillating passing attack, completing 70.1 percent of his attempts for 2,283 yards, 24 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
He's made his share of "wow" plays throughout the season.
“He continues to impress us with everything he does,” Brown said recently, according to Chapelboro.com's Michael Koh. “And he can still get better.”
Maye is the primary reason 6-1 UNC should win the ACC Coastal.
Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona Wide Receiver
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At 6'5", 205 pounds, Tetairoa McMillan is a force to be reckoned with every time he sets those long strides downfield or goes across the middle.
There's a reason the premier athlete could have played any number of positions coming out of high school in Anaheim, California. The former Oregon commit wound up signing with Jedd Fisch's Arizona Wildcats, and he's been a revelation as a true freshman.
Even though the Cats are just 3-4, they already have two more victories than they had a season ago, and they are ultra-competitive thanks to an exciting offense.
Receiver Jacob Cowing may be Batman, but the true freshman McMillan plays his Robin to perfection.
McMillan has 28 catches for 470 yards and six touchdowns. He's so big and physical, Fisch knows he needs to get him the ball, and the more comfortable he gets, the more he dominates.
He's scored in each of the past four games, including a seven-catch, 132-yard, two-touchdown performance in a loss to Washington two weeks ago.
"I think he's just getting started," Fisch told AZ Desert Swarm's Brian J. Pedersen.
Ivan Pace Jr., Cincinnati Linebacker
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The biggest star on this list so far is a guy you probably hadn't heard of until this season.
But this isn't his first rodeo.
Ivan Pace Jr. is a name everybody knows around the MAC, where he was flying all over the field for Miami (Ohio) the past few years, making plays and surging his way to all-conference honors.
He transferred to Cincinnati, and, suddenly, he's the best defensive player in the country. He could play for any team in any league.
The 6'0", 235-pound senior is on NFL radars because of his astounding playmaking ability. With the Bearcats losing a ton of stars from last year's defense-fueled College Football Playoff team, they needed a spark. Enter Pace, who has been a leader.
The colorful character who paints his eye black to resemble everything from Pennywise to Batman has been the main attraction in the Queen City.
Pace is 11th nationally with 72 tackles, but it's his game-changing play ability that sets him apart. He leads the nation with eight sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss, and he's the primary disruptor on a team that looks like the Group of Five's best again.
Drew Sanders, Arkansas Linebacker
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Much like several other guys on this list, Drew Sanders just needed a fresh start.
He left the crowded Alabama Crimson Tide depth chart for SEC West rival Arkansas during the offseason. What he's found has been unabated opportunity, and Sanders is having an All-America-caliber campaign.
He's been a leader for a 4-3 Razorbacks team that hasn't played up to its standards but still has plenty for which to play after a grueling early-season schedule.
The 6'5", 233-pound Denton, Texas, native dealt with injuries a season ago and probably should have gotten more opportunity to be a bigger part of the mix. The former elite prospect still finished last year with 24 tackles, including 2.5 for loss and one sack.
The greener pasture in Fayetteville has been huge for him. Sanders has teamed with senior Bumper Pool for a formidable Hogs linebacker duo, and he's registered 63 tackles, including 7.5 for a loss and 6.5 sacks. He's also forced three fumbles and defended three passes.
With his size and athleticism, Sanders is a do-it-all linebacker with a bright college future who should thrive in the NFL.
Jer'Zhan Newton, Illinois Defensive Tackle
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A year ago, Jer'Zhan Newton began to blossom as a havoc-wreaking defender in Bret Bielema's first year as Illinois' head coach.
This season, as the Fighting Illini have gotten off to a 6-1 start and been the surprise of the Big Ten, Newton has led one of the nation's top defenses.
Everybody wants to talk about Bielema's rugged running game, and rightfully so. Chase Brown is a Heisman Trophy candidate. But the Illini play smashmouth defense too.
Of the five Illini players on various midseason All-America lists, Newton may be having the best season. "Johnny," as he's called, leads the team with 37 total tackles, which is remarkable for a defensive tackle.
The 6'2", 295-pound St. Petersburg, Florida, native also has eight tackles for loss and four sacks and anchors the fourth-rated rush defense in the nation (2.77 yards per play), despite facing teams that predominantly run the ball in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
"Since PFF began charting college football in 2014, an interior defensive lineman has never tallied the most pressures in a season," Pro Football Focus' Max Chadwick wrote. "Jer’Zhan Newton is on track to accomplish that this year with his 34 pressures thus far. He couples that with an 86.9 run-defense grade, the fifth-best figure for interior defensive linemen in the country."
Nicholas Singleton, Penn State Running Back
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As with Ohio State's Egbuka and Harrison, this could be a split slide with Penn State's running backs, but true freshman Nicholas Singleton has run away from classmate Kaytron Allen in recent weeks.
Still, if you're a Nittany Lions fan, you've got to be excited about the future.
The first-year playmakers have been brilliant, working behind an improved offensive front to turn Penn State's rushing numbers around from 117th in yards per attempt last year to 27th.
Singleton is the main reason. At 6'0", 219 pounds, he's big enough to be an every-down back, and he has game-breaking speed too. He is showing why he was a 5-star running back and one of the most coveted players at any position.
The Pennsylvania native has run the ball 82 times for 561 yards and scored seven touchdowns. He's averaging 6.8 yards per carry too.
Allen isn't a bad backup, rushing for 396 yards and four touchdowns. But this is Singleton's load to carry.
Malaki Starks, Georgia Safety
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Georgia is reloading on defense, and the Bulldogs aren't anywhere near as dominant as they were during their national championship season a year ago.
Head coach Kirby Smart's unit is still plenty good enough, though, especially considering the Bulldogs offense is much-improved this year. Several youngsters find themselves in the defensive mix and are performing well.
Perhaps no one has made a bigger impact than former 5-star athlete Malaki Starks, who has settled in at safety for UGA and has been making monstrous plays ever since an interception in the season-opener against Oregon.
He is probably the best freshman defensive player in the nation and one of college football's biggest breakout stars.
He has 25 tackles, two interceptions and four passes defended. More than that, he's a leader on the back end of the defense and is a versatile playmaker who is thriving in coverage with top-end speed and doesn't mind getting physical in the run game.
He's second on Georgia in tackles and leads the team in picks.
All stats courtesy of cfbstats and Sports Reference. Player rankings courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brad Shepard on Twitter, @Brad_Shepard.
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