Projecting College Football's 2015 All-Breakout Team
College football is a game marked by change. Each fall, players emerge from relative obscurity to find starring roles for the nation’s best teams and gain notoriety all their own. Soon enough, they graduate or leave early for the National Football League, and the cycle of replacement-to-star begins anew.
We’re always looking for that next breakout player, the guy who goes from unknown in August to the Heisman Trophy race by October. They’re out there again in 2015. It’s just a matter of finding them. Athlon Sports' Steven Lassan has his picks for breakout players right here.
Here’s the All-Breakout team for 2015, a group selected for their ability to make a difference this fall, thanks to the combination of talent, skills and opportunity. It might not be a perfect list, but it will have plenty of impact players included regardless.
Quarterback: Jeremy Johnson, Auburn
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Auburn returns only five starters on offense and must replace dual-threat quarterback Nick Marshall, who passed for 2,532 yards with 20 touchdowns against seven interceptions and added another 798 rushing yards and 11 rushing scores. But Gus Malzahn and Co. aren’t especially worried. Why not? They know what they have in Jeremy Johnson.
Johnson brings a very different feel to the position, with a 6’5”, 230-pound frame. Expect Auburn to air it out more this fall, but Johnson can run as well. His frame and skills have drawn comparisons to Heisman winner and No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Cam Newton. Last fall, Johnson played well as Marshall’s backup, with 436 yards and three touchdowns against no interceptions.
With a longer leash this fall, expect Johnson to make himself known to SEC fans and opposing defenses.
Running Back: Corey Clement, Wisconsin
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As Paul Chryst prepares for his first season as Wisconsin’s head coach, one of his biggest concerns will be replacing tailback Melvin Gordon. Gordon, a first-round pick of the NFL’s San Diego Chargers, had one of college football’s all-time best rushing seasons in 2014. He rushed for 2,587 yards (the second-best single-season total in the FBS ranks) with 29 touchdowns, averaging 7.5 yards per carry.
That said, tailback Corey Clement appears poised to step into Gordon’s shoes as the next great Badger tailback. Last fall, Clement, a junior, served as an excellent complement to Gordon, rushing for 949 yards and nine touchdowns while averaging 6.5 yards per carry. There are concerns about Wisconsin’s line, which must replace three starters, but Clement has solid speed and power.
As he showed with James Conner at Pitt, Chryst loves to feed the ball to a dominant tailback, and Clement fits the bill. With starter-level carries, his numbers should skyrocket as he becomes one of the Big Ten’s best tailbacks.
Wide Receiver: Chris Black, Alabama
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Three years ago, Chris Black and Amari Cooper arrived in Tuscaloosa as part of Alabama’s highly regarded wide receiver recruiting class. As Cooper prepares for his rookie season with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, Black is still looking to establish himself at Alabama.
The departure of Cooper, the 2014 Biletnikoff Award winner as college football’s top wide receiver, opens the door for Black to thrive in the Crimson Tide passing game. Black stands 5’11”, 186 pounds and has big-play ability, although he hasn’t necessarily shown it in game action.
Last fall, he had 15 receptions for 188 yards and no touchdowns, but an excellent spring practice has placed him at the top of the Tide’s wide receiver group entering preseason practice. Alabama will have significant talent and depth at receiver, and its quarterback situation remains unsettled, but this fall should see Black find his way to the front of the line in Alabama’s offense at long last.
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Offensive Line
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Alabama OT Cam Robinson
For offensive linemen, playing your true freshman season is rather rare. Starting at Alabama is rarer indeed, but Cam Robinson pulled off the task with aplomb last fall. Robinson started all 14 games at left tackle, protecting Blake Sims’ blind side and earning freshman All-America honors.
He stands 6’6”, 325 pounds, but still has plenty of room for improvement and playing with power on an every-down basis. As Alabama’s only returning offensive line starter, he’ll have to flex his leadership muscles in 2015.
G Wyatt Teller, Virginia Tech
If Virginia Tech is going to regain the glory that saw the program put together eight consecutive 10-win seasons, it’ll need more consistent play from its offensive line. Sophomore guard Wyatt Teller must lead the charge.
Although Teller has only half a season’s worth of starting experience, the 6’6”, 295-pounder has already emerged as a leader for the offensive line. He’ll need to prove that 2014’s strong finish wasn’t a fluke. If he can do so, Teller can make a charge at All-ACC and All-America honors.
Defensive End: Shaq Lawson, Clemson
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Over the past decade or so, Clemson has built a strong tradition of talented, sack-happy defensive ends. The late Gaines Adams, Da’Quan Bowers, Malliciah Goodman and now Atlanta Falcons first-round pick Vic Beasley all made a significant impact at the collegiate level, even if their NFL careers have been somewhat mixed.
Beasley left as Clemson’s career sack leader, leaving a significant void behind. However, junior Shaq Lawson is poised to fill it. Lawson and senior defensive tackle D.J. Reader are the only returnees from 2014’s defensive line two-deep, and Lawson will be expected to test offensive tackles down-in, down-out.
He was a freshman All-American in 2013 and has great pass-rush skills. Last fall, he racked up 34 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks backing up Beasley, and with full-time snaps, those figures should balloon in 2015.
Defensive Tackle: Lowell Lotulelei, Utah
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You probably know Star Lotulelei, the Carolina Panthers’ starting defensive tackle and a former NFL first-round pick. But if you’re a college football fan, you should probably get to know his little brother, Lowell. Well, “little” is a relative term: Lowell stands 6’2”, 310 pounds.
He excelled as a freshman last fall, starting nine games and making 33 tackles, four sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss en route to freshman All-America honors. As a returning starter this fall, the powerful younger brother will be expected to take another step forward in his development. Right now, he’s on pace to terrorize quarterbacks across the Pac-12 and, sooner rather than later, join his big brother Star in the NFL.
Linebacker: Raekwon McMillan, Ohio State
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Last summer, Raekwon McMillan was a fresh face on Ohio State’s defense. The 5-star recruit enrolled early and learned behind senior Curtis Grant, but he still made a significant impact, piling up 54 tackles with 6.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and an interception returned for a touchdown.
With Grant graduated, McMillan will step into a more prominent role as the Buckeyes’ starting middle linebacker. He’ll team with Joshua Perry and Darron Lee to create a formidable linebacker corps. McMillan is a big hitter, and he’ll be expected to quarterback the OSU defense from the middle.
“Coach (Luke) Fickell trusts me as the (middle) linebacker to have everybody around me in the right spots,” McMillan told Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch. “I’ve got to be the coach on the field like Curtis Grant was last year.”
It’ll be a big leap in responsibility, but McMillan has shown the chops and the maturity to handle it in 2015.
Cornerback: Shaq Wiggins, Louisville
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Louisville is replacing all four members of its secondary this fall, but that isn’t as dire a situation as it sounds. Second-year defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has a pair of ready-made replacements in Georgia transfers Josh Harvey-Clemons and Shaq Wiggins, both of whom sat out last fall after following Grantham from Athens.
Wiggins started eight games as a Georgia freshman, making 19 tackles with four pass breakups and a pair of interceptions. He should fit right in as one of Louisville’s starting cornerbacks and potentially become one of the ACC’s top corners in short order.
Safety: Jamal Adams, LSU
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Jamal Adams was highly regarded when he signed with LSU in February 2014, but breaking into the starting lineup wasn’t an overnight accomplishment. LSU’s defense is one of the nation’s most talented, so Adams was forced to bide his time, making an impact on special teams.
By November, however, he had earned a starting role, and he finished the season with 66 tackles, five tackles for loss and five pass breakups. Ronald Martin’s graduation leaves an opening at safety, and Adams slid right into the role during spring practice.
He’ll begin 2015 as a starter and has solid tackling and coverage ability. Expect him to take another big step forward this fall as LSU’s next great defensive back.
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