College Football Offenses That Will Struggle After 2015 NFL Departures

With the NFL draft quickly approaching, it's natural for most of the focus to be on how the new class of rookies can fill holes for the teams playing on Sundays.

But just as important are the holes being left on Saturdays.

The Alabama Crimson Tide, for instance, lose arguably their two best offensive weapons in Amari Cooper and T.J. Yeldon, while teams like the Kansas State Wildcats and Florida State Seminoles are also left to replace their biggest tools on the offensive side of the ball.

Obviously losing a ton of starters will earn a team a spot on this list, but so will losing top, irreplaceable skill position players or guys that have been program staples. 

So which college football offenses will struggle most to replace the guys who will suit up for the pros in 2015?

Note: All draft prospect projections and rankings are from CBS Sports unless otherwise noted.

Florida State Seminoles

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When thinking of Florida State players heading to the draft, everybody immediately jumps to Jameis Winston.

He's one of the top-rated quarterbacks in this year's draft, and the departure of a Heisman Trophy winner—one who lost only one college football game in his career—leaves a huge hole for Florida State to fill.

But here's the rest of the offensive FSU players projected to be drafted, from earliest to latest: offensive tackle Cameron Erving, offensive guard Tre' Jackson, wide receiver Rashad Greene, offensive guard Josue Matias, tight end Nick O'Leary and running back Karlos Williams.

Those guys, plus Winston, represent nearly every significant contributor from the Seminoles offense this past year. How do you replace that?

You don't. While Florida State will still be an elite ACC team—because, well, the ACC is a weak Power Five conference—the Seminoles' window to compete among the elite teams in the nation has closed with those departures, at least for now.

Kansas State Wildcats

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The landscape of The Little Apple is set for a massive overhaul, leaving the Wildcats with a shell of their former offense.

Quarterback Jake Waters, wide receiver Tyler Lockett and center B.J. Finney—the latter two were anchors of the Kansas State offense over the last four years—are all set to depart Bill Snyder's squad and find greener pastures in the NFL.

Lockett and Curry Sexton, who will graduate but isn't projected to be drafted, were far and away the top two targets for Waters. The duo combined for 2,574 of the team's 3,736 receiving yards. 

Lockett was also extremely valuable in the return game for the Wildcats, an area in which Snyder earns his paycheck year in and year out.

Joe Hubener is set to replace Waters at quarterback, and he fits the Collin Klein "run headstrong, pass if need be" mentality. But Hubener saw limited playing time in mostly mop-up situations last season.

Snyder is the wizard of college football. There's no denying that. But he'll need more than magic to replace so much talent on the offensive side of the ball.

Alabama Crimson Tide

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College football's best receiver last year, Amari Cooper, is headed out of Tuscaloosa.

So is running back T.J. Yeldon, along with quarterback Blake Sims.

And don't forget three offensive linemen who are all projected to be drafted.

Can Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban adequately find replacements for those guys next year? Well, when your recruiting classes are essentially handpicked creams of the crop, you'd like to think so.

But Alabama's evolution has slowed, and that showed against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl—as well as in the previous season's Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma.

The Tide are still the team to beat in the SEC, but there are more and more competitors growing by the year.

Ole Miss and Mississippi State will be contenders, as will Auburn and LSU. A team like Georgia or Missouri could steal it from the West in the conference title game. Even Arkansas showed glimpses of hope last year.

As the rest of the SEC begins to catch up to the Crimson Tide, losing so many offensive weapons will be a major sticking point this offseason in Tuscaloosa and could prove to be Alabama's downfall in 2015.

LSU Tigers

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The biggest loss for the LSU Tigers in this year's upcoming draft is undoubtedly offensive tackle La'el Collins, who will almost certainly go on the first day.

Running backs Kenny Hilliard and Terrence Magee—two heads of the three-headed backfield that also included Leonard Fournette—are set to depart as well.

Fullback Connor Neighbors won't be back in the Bayou, either.

That's a lot of power players for one team to lose, especially for a team known for its grit.

The Tigers are still shaky at the quarterback position—last year's leader in nearly every passing category, Anthony Jennings, threw for just 1,611 yards and 11 touchdowns with seven picks.

It seems like a lot of talent is leaving Louisiana, and the Tigers don't have much to fall back on in 2015.

Arizona State Sun Devils

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One of the most electric quarterback-wideout duos in the nation last year—Taylor Kelly and Jaelen Strong—is about to be a thing of the past for the Arizona State Sun Devils, as both players are headed to the draft.

Strong is one of the top-rated receivers available, ranked fifth at his position. That makes him a possible first- or second-round pick.

Kelly is a long shot to be drafted, but he is still one of the top-25 quarterbacks available and should draw interest as an undrafted free agent at the very least.

Another huge loss for the Sun Devils is offensive guard Jamil Douglas. He's projected to go in the middle rounds.

The only answer the Sun Devils have at those positions for now is quarterback Mike Bercovici, who was solid when replacing an injured Kelly last year. But even he is still unproven when it comes to carrying a team through an entire Pac-12 season.

There's no replacing Strong, and losing a quality offensive lineman is always a huge blow.

The Sun Devils were the 16th-best scoring offense in the nation with 36.9 points per game in 2014, per CFBStats.com. But without Strong and Co., it's hard to see Arizona State replicating that same level of success next season.