Ranking the Best 5th-Year Seniors in College Football in 2015

With one of the main goals of every college football player being to get to the NFL, it's come to where the best of the best tend to spend as little time in school as necessary before setting off on a pro career. Though they can play four seasons and attend class for up to five, once three years are in the books many will make the move to the NFL.

Sticking around and using up every bit of eligibility has somehow become a red mark when evaluating a player's talent level, the feeling being that if they were good enough to turn pro earlier they would have done so. But life sometimes gets in the way, thus requiring a college student to spend their full five years in school.

And there are plenty of rewards for doing so. Besides the obvious benefit of being able to complete their college degrees, there's the ability to establish themselves as a team leader while also honing their craft to the point they have less of a learning curve at the pro level. And for the teams they play on, having fifth-year seniors is a huge boost in the experience department.

There are varying reasons why the best fifth-year seniors in college football needed that year away from the game. Many weren't ready to compete when they first arrived five years ago, or their teams were stacked at that position and it made sense to bring them along slowly. Others were forced to sit out a season either due to transfer rules or because of injury, but that time away has added to their drive and dedication.

As we creep ever closer to the 2015 season, here's our ranking of the best fifth-year seniors in college football based on their performance to this point in their careers and their value to their respective teams this fall.

15. Curt Maggitt, LB, Tennessee

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

With 27 careers starts, Curt Maggitt is one of the most-experienced players on Tennessee's otherwise young team. Those first starts came four years ago, when as a true freshman he appeared in 11 games and made eight starts, and then he started the first nine games of 2012 before going down with a season-ending torn ACL.

That injury also kept him out of all of 2013, which ended up being his redshirt year.

Fully healthy last year, Maggitt was the veteran leader of the Volunteers' underrated defense and finished third in the SEC with 11 sacks.

Tennessee has eight starters back on defense this year, and it was picked to finish second in the SEC East after going 7-6 last season. If the Vols are able to meet expectations, look for Maggitt to play a big part in that.

14. Braxton Miller, QB, Ohio State

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

There was never any intention for Braxton Miller to need his fifth year of eligibility, not after he became Ohio State's starting quarterback four games into his true freshman season in 2011.

It was a job he held throughout the next two years, getting plenty of Heisman Trophy consideration along the way, and he was primed to do so again last season before tearing the labrum in his shoulder in late August. That shelved Miller for all of 2014, starting into motion the Buckeyes' magical run to the national title that saw it turn to a pair of backup quarterbacks during the year.

Miller opted not to head to the pros but instead stay with Ohio State for a fifth season and get himself back into playing shape. Talk of transferring to another program or possibly switching positions surrounded him all offseason, but Miller has remained at OSU and may very well regain his starting job over 2014 darlings J.T. Barrett or Cardale Jones.

"Miller's primary advantage over Jones and Barrett heading into fall camp appears to be (coach Urban) Meyer's allegiance to the player who arguably laid the foundation for the Buckeyes' national title season, despite not officially participating in it," Bleacher Report's Ben Axelrod wrote.

All told, Miller has 8,346 yards of total offense (including more than 3,000 rushing yards), and he's been responsible for 84 touchdowns.

UPDATE: Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated reported Thursday that Miller would switch to H-back, a hybrid of receiver and running back, for the 2015 season.

13. Nelson Spruce, WR, Colorado

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

While Colorado's time in the Pac-12 hasn't been very successful, it hasn't been because of Nelson Spruce's contributions.

After sitting out his freshman year in 2011, Spruce began his assault on the Buffaloes' receiving records with a team-high 44 catches for 456 yards and three touchdowns. In 2013, he was again the team leader with 55 catches, 650 yards and four TDs.

But none of that compared to last season, when Spruce tied for fourth nationally with 106 receptions. That went for 1,198 yards and 12 TDs as he was among the most reliable receiving weapons in the country.

With 205 catches for 2,294 yards and 19 TDs, Spruce needs 15 receptions, 295 yards and four scores to become Colorado's all-time leader in each category. Considering he had a 19-catch, 179-yard, three-TD effort against Hawaii last season, he should reach that before September is over.

12. Josh Doctson, WR, TCU

Ashley Landis/Associated Press

Josh Doctson had to leave Texas in order to play FBS football, but after one season he was ready to come home.

Despite catching 35 passes for 393 yards and five touchdowns (including one against TCU) as a freshman at Wyoming, Doctson opted to transfer to TCU after the 2011 season. He had to sit out 2012 before resuming his college career much closer to his Mansfield, Texas, home.

The 6'3", 195-pound Doctson was TCU's co-leader in receptions in 2013 with 36, while hauling in four TD catches and 440 yards. It wasn't until last season that he really broke through as a star, though, capitalizing on the Horned Frogs' switch to an Air Raid-style offense.

As a junior Doctson, had 65 catches for 1,018 yards and 11 TDs, setting single-season school records for yards and scores and finishing one reception shy of Josh Boyce's school mark from 2012.

11. Jack Allen, C, Michigan State

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Regarded as one of the best center prospects in the country coming out of high school, Jack Allen had to try a different spot on the offensive line in order to get his college career started.

Allen redshirted in 2011 and then started five games at left guard in 2012 before Michigan State's starting center, Travis Jackson, was lost for the year to an injury. He was shifted into his natural position, and since then has rarely left the field.

He's now made 30 career starts at center, and in the past two seasons the Spartans allowed only 28 sacks in 27 games.

10. Dadi Nicolas, DE, Virginia Tech

Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

There have been many great defensive linemen at Virginia Tech during Frank Beamer's long run in Blacksburg, and Dadi Nicolas has continued that trend over the past three seasons. Even though he's smaller than most defensive ends, that hasn't prevented him from standing out.

Nicolas redshirted in 2011, when Tech had the last of eight straight seasons with 10 or more wins. The next two years saw the 6'4", 236-pound Nicolas play a reserve role, yet he still managed six sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss.

Moved into the starting lineup last fall, Nicolas led the Hokies with nine sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss while also blocking a pair of kicks. This season he'll anchor a veteran defensive line that should be a strength of the team in its push to win its first ACC title since 2010.

9. Spencer Drango, OT, Baylor

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Baylor's unstoppable offense during the last few seasons has been attributed to many different people, including the quarterbacks and skill position players that are churning out the yards and lighting up the scoreboard as well as the coaches calling the plays. But without its offensive line, where would the Bears be?

During Spencer Drango's three seasons as Baylor's starting left tackle, that line has allowed just 65 sacks. That's for a team that threw the ball 1,442 times in those three years, not to mention plenty of other times that quarterbacks ended up scrambling for yardage.

The 6'6", 310-pound Drango has protected several passers' blind sides during his time at Baylor, which began in 2011 with a redshirt season before taking over the starting job a year later. He's made 35 starts, missing the final four games of 2013 with a back injury, and last year was a consensus All-American as well as a first-team All-Big 12 selection for the second time.

8. Kevin Hogan, QB, Stanford

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

It's never easy following up a No. 1 draft pick, but Kevin Hogan has managed to do a pretty admirable job since succeeding Andrew Luck at Stanford.

Hogan served as an understudy to Luck in 2011 while redshirting and got to watch as he led the Cardinal to an 11-2 season. In 2012 he split time with Josh Nunes, taking over the starting job in the second half and helping Stanford win the Pac-12 title and the Rose Bowl. In 2013, he began the first of two seasons as the full-time starter.

The initial year was another conference title-winning season and another Rose Bowl appearance, and he threw for 2,635 yards and 20 touchdowns. Hogan's numbers were better overall last season, with 2,792 yards and 19 scores, though Stanford slipped to 8-5.

Rather than head into the NFL, Hogan is back for a fourth year as a starter and will be looked to for great leadership on a team that should again contend for a conference title.

7. Brandon Doughty, QB, Western Kentucky

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Brandon Doughty is unique from the rest of the players on this list in that he won't be a fifth-year senior in 2015. That came last season, when he led FBS in passing yards (4,830) and touchdowns (49). Throughout much of that year he had no expectation of being able to recover time he'd lost along the way because of two major knee injuries.

But last December the 6'3", 220-pound Doughty was granted a sixth year of eligibility, making up for him missing nearly all of the 2011 and 2012 seasons. And that came after redshirting in 2010.

Once he was able to stay healthy, though, Doughty has been on a constant upward rise. He has twice set the Western Kentucky passing record, first in 2013 with 2,857 yards and then this past season when he had two 400-yard games, two 500-yard efforts and threw 24 TDs with two interceptions over his final five games.

Doughty now gets one more year to destroy opposing defenses, and he gets two shots to do so against SEC teams by opening against Vanderbilt and also visiting LSU.

6. Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State

Ron Elkman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images

Dak Prescott's mobility is what enabled him to get onto the field at the start of his career, and it's now why it's so hard to get him off it.

After redshirting the 2011 season, Prescott served as Mississippi State's short-yardage option at quarterback. He ran for four touchdowns on 32 carries while also throwing four TDs, but Tyler Russell got the bulk of the snaps as a junior.

Prescott worked his way into a share of the job as a sophomore in 2013, starting seven games and outplaying Russell along the way. He threw for 1,940 yards and 10 TDs and ran for another 13 scores and 829 rushing yards, leading the Bulldogs to an Egg Bowl win over Ole Miss and then a blowout victory against Rice in the Liberty Bowl.

Then came his massive 2014 campaign, when Prescott piloted MSU to No. 1 in the country and school-best 9-0 start before tailing off with three losses in the final four games. Still, he amassed 4,435 yards of total offense and was responsible for 42 touchdowns.

A Heisman contender again this fall, Prescott is the key to whether the Bulldogs can maintain last year's level or fall back.

5. Cody Kessler, QB, USC

Donald Miralle/Getty Images

He plays one of the most popular positions in college football in the country, one that has produced two Heisman Trophy winners and three first-round draft picks this century. Yet somehow Cody Kessler hasn't garnered the same kind of attention that other USC quarterbacks have had since 2000.

That might change this year if Kessler's senior season includes returning the Trojans back to the top of the college football world with a playoff berth and a possible national championship run.

Kessler attempted all of two passes in his first two seasons with USC, redshirting in 2011 and then serving as Matt Barkley's backup a year later while also handling holding duties on extra points and field goals. Once Barkley was gone, though, Kessler still had to battle for the starting job and didn't end up beating out Max Wittek for good until a few games into the 2013 campaign.

That season was a good one, statistically, with 2,968 yards and 20 touchdowns, but USC was a mess as a team after firing coach Lane Kiffin midway through the year. Still, Kessler persevered and finished with a 345-yard, four-touchdown performance in the Las Vegas Bowl win over Fresno State.

Last season was a huge one for Kessler, as he set three school records including for completion percentage (69.7) while throwing 39 TDs and just five interceptions in 451 pass attempts.

With Kessler under center for another season, USC is getting a lot of hype as a title contender, and that should help to raise his individual profile.

4. Connor Cook, QB, Michigan State

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Connor Cook could have left Michigan State after the 2014 season and been a relatively high draft pick. By sticking around, though, he might end up being the first quarterback taken in 2016, a far cry from the lightly regarded prospect he was coming out of high school.

Rated by 247Sports as the 34th-best pro-style passer in the 2011 class and the No. 968 overall prospect, the Stow, Ohio, native sat out the 2011 season while Kirk Cousins threw for 3,300-plus yards in an 11-2 season that featured a trip to the Big Ten title game. Cook's first action came as a redshirt freshman in 2012, but he only appeared in three games and just once in conference play.

Then 2013 came around, and the rest has been history.

Cook split time with Andrew Maxwell during the first two games of the year. From the third game on it was all Cook, as he finished with 2,755 passing yards and 22 touchdowns while leading MSU to a Big Ten title—beating Ohio State—and then knocking off Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

Last season Cook was even better, throwing for 3,214 yards and 24 touchdowns that included a 314-yard, two-TD performance in the comeback win over Baylor in the Cotton Bowl.

Cook needs 3,069 yards this season to become the Spartans' all-time passing leader, and he's also primed to lead them to a fourth season of double-digit wins in the past five.

3. Shilique Calhoun, DE, Michigan State

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Shilique Calhoun showed plenty of patience at the beginning of his college career, so it shouldn't be a surprise that he's in no hurry to move to the NFL despite having been a possible first-round pick this year.

"I'm happy I'm still here, I'm not mad about it,'' Calhoun told MLive.com's Mike Griffith in April of his decision to forgo the NFL draft and return to Michigan State for his senior season. "I'm loving my decision to still be a part of the Spartan football team and family.''

The 6'5", 250-pound Calhoun could have jumped to the pros after his breakout season in 2013, when he was the Big Ten's defensive lineman of the year after scoring three defensive touchdowns and registering 7.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss. But it was his first year of full action, following a redshirt season in 2011 and then a reserve role in 2012.

Last year Calhoun had another big year, with eight sacks and 12 TFLs, and he enters his third year as a starter for the Spartans as one of seven returning defensive starters from a unit that was eighth nationally in yards allowed in 2014.

2. Shawn Oakman, DE, Baylor

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

It's hard to imagine a time when Shawn Oakman didn't strike fear into the hearts of opposing blockers, his 6'9", 280-pound frame looming over the edge of the line waiting to pounce on a quarterback or ball-carrier. In reality, though, there was two years of such a scenario during which Oakman never saw the field.

Originally a Penn State signee, he redshirted in 2011 during the final season of Joe Paterno's legendary career. He never played for the Nittany Lions, as he was booted from the program in March 2012 following an incident at an on-campus convenience store in which he attempted to steal a sandwich and got into a minor altercation with a female store clerk.

"I did everything wrong, and there is no one in my shoes but me," Oakman told Joseph Santiloquito of CBS Philly. "I did what I did and it obviously got me kicked off the team."

Baylor gave Oakman a second chance, but he had to sit out the 2012 season and lose a year of eligibility. His first college game didn't come until August 2013, and though he didn't start he still finished second on the team with 12.5 tackles for loss.

Last year Oakman was as dominant as any edg- rusher in the country, with 11 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss while becoming an Internet sensation thanks to his fearsome figure.

1. Trevone Boykin, QB, TCU

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Few players have evolved over the course of their career like Trevone Boykin has at TCU. From where he was as a true freshman in 2011 to what he's become this year, it's hard to believe it's the same player.

A 3-star prospect who wasn't among the top 100 players in his home state of Texas, Boykin redshirted during the Horned Frogs' final season in the Mountain West as Casey Pachall had the quarterback job locked down. In 2012, though, Boykin took over the starting job a month into the season after Pachall was suspended for drug use and finished with 15 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions while TCU went 3-6 in its first year of Big 12 play.

In 2013, Boykin was in and out of the starting lineup, starting the year in a platoon with Pachall before getting five games all to himself while Pachall was injured. After Pachall returned, though, Boykin ended up spending time as a running back and receiver in order to get him touches. He managed to contribute seven passing TDs, seven rushing scores and 26 receptions but seemed like a player without a position.

All that changed in 2014, though, when Boykin became the centerpiece of a new offensive scheme led by coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham. The uptempo system maximized Boykin's dual-threat abilities but focused on his passing, and it resulted in school records for passing yards (3,901), TD passes (33), total offense (4,608) and total TDs responsible for (42).

Not surprisingly, TCU went 12-1 and shared the Big 12 title, and now the Frogs enter Boykin's senior year as overwhelming conference favorites while the 6'2", 205-pound passer is the early front-runner for the Heisman Trophy, per Odds Shark.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.