10 College Football Players with Most to Prove in 2015
Thousands of college football players are set to hit the field in less than a month when the 2015 season gets underway. After a long offseason, they'll finally get to see if they can reach the goals they've set for the year. It will also be the first opportunity to prove themselves worthy of playing at this level, and possibly beyond.
Some players have much more to prove than others. Based on what they've done to this point in their career, or because of things that might have happened since last season ended, several of the most notable players in FBS head into 2015 looking to show they're worthy of the praise or deserve more than they're getting. Others are looking to get back on track after a checkered past, either on or off the field.
Here's a look at 10 players who have the most to prove in 2015.
Joshua Dobbs, QB, Tennessee
1 of 10
What to prove: He can handle a full-time role
The Joshua Dobbs that came off the bench midway through last season, paced Tennessee to a strong finish and created offseason hype was immensely fun to watch. His mobility, athleticism and cerebral play had defenses completely off-guard, and he instantly turned the Volunteers middling offense into a dangerous unit.
In five-plus games, he threw for 1,206 yards and nine touchdowns while adding another 469 rushing yards and eight scores. Tennessee averaged 23 points and 325 yards in the seven games prior to his redshirt being pulled against Alabama on Oct. 25, and with him in the lineup, the Volunteers saw those numbers jump to 34 points and 423 yards per game.
But to this point, we've only seen the quarterback in what amounts to a guest star appearance, someone added to a struggling sitcom to boost ratings and get people talking. Now a full cast member (and one that's getting top billing), Dobbs is in a position where he must produce over an entire season. He wasn't deemed ready to contribute at the start of his previous two years with the Vols, but now he is unquestionably the team's leader for 2015.
"We challenged him this spring to be what we call a 'CEO quarterback,'" Tennessee coach Butch Jones said at SEC media days, per Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee. "An individual who owns the team, owns the offense, can solve problems on his own and provide the leadership and stability that you would expect from that position."
Tennessee doesn't have any other viable options at quarterback, since all other scholarship passers from 2014 are no longer with the program, and the rest of the QBs are untested freshmen.
Devonte Fields, DE, Louisville
2 of 10
What to prove: He can make the most of a second chance
Devonte Fields was the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year at TCU in 2012, and it seemed like that was just going to be the tip of the iceberg for this superstar in the making. An injury limited him to three games the following season, but conference coaches still felt strongly enough of him to name him the preseason player of the year.
But Fields never played again for the Horned Frogs, as he was dismissed from the program last August after being implicated in a domestic dispute. He ended up spending last season at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas, where he was rated as the No. 5 overall junior college prospect and top-rated weak-side defensive end in the 2015 recruiting class (per 247Sports).
He's getting a second chance at the FBS level with Louisville, a team that lost seven defensive starters from a unit that ranked sixth in yards allowed last season. If he can get up to speed during training camp, he figures to make an impact, though Steve Jones of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote that "Fields' play and behavior will be scrutinized all season."
Everett Golson, QB, Florida State
3 of 10
What to prove: He can take care of the ball
Everett Golson has started a national championship game and had his name mentioned in serious Heisman Trophy talks. But none of that mattered when he became a turnover-prone player midway through the 2014 season, eventually losing his job because of it.
Golson committed 22 of Notre Dame's 26 turnovers in 2014, throwing 14 interceptions and losing eight fumbles. Four of those picks were returned for touchdowns.
Now, Golson is wrapping up his career at a different school, having transferred to Florida State in the spring as a graduate student, in hopes that he can get his career back on track and prepare himself for a potential NFL career. FSU is the place to do that, as coach Jimbo Fisher's last three starting quarterbacks have been first-round draft picks.
Golson appears to be the front-runner to win the vacant FSU quarterback job, succeeding Jameis Winston, with his main competition being 2014 backup Sean Maguire. Winston went 26-1 as a starter in two seasons, but he also had turnover issues with 18 interceptions and a costly fumble in the Rose Bowl loss to Oregon.
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Christian Hackenberg, QB, Penn State
4 of 10
What to prove: He can play like a top draft pick
It feels like Christian Hackenberg's name has been at or near the top of 2016 NFL draft boards since 2012, when he committed to Penn State as a junior in high school. Throwing for nearly 3,000 yards with 20 touchdowns as a true freshman in the Big Ten did nothing to change this.
But then Hackenberg had a sophomore year that fell far short of expectations, topping his 2013 yardage total by only 22 yards (despite one extra game) and throwing just 12 TDs against 15 interceptions. He was also sacked 44 times and completed only 55 percent of his passes, resulting in an offense that ranked 114th in FBS.
Yet Hackenberg remains highly regarded by NFL scouts, and he's still high on the draft boards. WalterFootball.com's 2016 mock draft has him going third overall, and Bleacher Report NFL draft expert Matt Miller ranked him No. 2 on his early big board in May. A strong junior year will confirm the hype, but another season like 2014 could cause his stock to fall mightily and keep Penn State from being able to contend in the Big Ten.
Maty Mauk, QB, Missouri
5 of 10
What to prove: He can be a game manager
With a defense as strong as Missouri had last year, Maty Mauk didn't need to set the world on fire with his quarterback play. A few sparks would have been nice from time to time, but overall, all the Tigers wanted from him was leadership and consistency.
Instead, they got some of the most inconsistent play of any full-time passer in a power conference, as Mauk completed only 53.4 percent of his passes and was intercepted 13 times. He threw for 2,648 yards and 25 touchdowns, yet had a five-game stretch in September and October when he averaged 110.8 yards per game and went more than 12 quarters without a TD pass.
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel remains confident in Mauk, never pulling him last year and showing no indication he'd look to do that this fall. If that were to happen, it would possibly be for true freshman Drew Lock.
The Tigers have a veteran offensive line and a senior running back in Russell Hansbrough, but no experience at receiver. Their defense is also getting overhauled, so Mauk might try to do too much. Just managing the game is all that's being asked of him.
Braxton Miller, WR, Ohio State
6 of 10
What to prove: He can be a productive receiver
Each member of Ohio State's three-man quarterback competition had his own separate storyline this offseason. For Braxton Miller, it was whether his shoulder would be strong enough to throw the ball effectively after missing all of the 2014 season due to surgery.
We got that answer recently when he told Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel that he was switching to wide receiver for his redshirt senior year. It's something he'd been secretly working on for months, and now that the Buckeyes have opened training camp, he's practicing full-time at that position and leaving the QB battle to J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones.
The 6'2", 215-pound Miller has the body to be a wideout, and as one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country from 2011-13, he's shown he can run well and elude defenders. But whether that will translate into being effective at his new position is still uncertain.
Jones told Bleacher Report's Ben Axelrod that Miller "looked like it was his first time playing receiver" on Monday.
Miller's progress learning his new position is important, particularly for OSU's Sept. 7 season opener at Virginia Tech, since three other offensive players (H-backs Jalin Marshall and Dontre Wilson and receiver Corey Smith) have all been suspended for that game.
Isaac Seumalo, C, Oregon State
7 of 10
What to prove: He can return to form
Isaac Seumalo was the first Oregon State true freshman to start at center since 1978, per his online bio, when he began his career in 2012. That was the first of 25 starts for the Corvallis, Oregon, native whose father Joe was OSU's defensive line coach. His brother Andrew was also a defensive tackle for the Beavers.
A foot injury suffered in the 2013 Hawaii Bowl required offseason surgery, but Seumalo was still a popular choice for preseason all-conference and All-American teams. However, the foot didn't heal as expected, and he had to miss all of 2014, as well as spring practice in April.
Seumalo has been participating in fall camp, and he hopes to play in the Beavers' Sept. 4 opener against Weber State, per Gary Horowitz of the Statesman Journal.
Despite not having played in 20 months, Seumalo is on the watch list for both the Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy.
Sterling Shepard, WR, Oklahoma
8 of 10
What to prove: He can be a No. 1 receiver
Sterling Shepard caught 45 balls as a freshman in 2012, a number that ranked fourth on a team that threw the ball more than 570 times for nearly 4,400 yards. Last year, Shepard had 51 catches and was the team leader, doing nearly all of that in Oklahoma's first seven games.
A groin injury suffered while making a 46-yard catch early in a loss to Baylor limited Shepard the rest of the year, and he only had one more reception. No one else on the Sooners stepped up to fill the void, and in the final five games of 2014, they averaged 108.6 passing yards.
A switch to the Air Raid passing attack could yield that much per quarter this season, as new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley plans to have Oklahoma sling the ball all over the field. This will require several receivers to step up and handle the rise in production, but will also require a true go-to wideout.
Shepard has been eyed as that guy since his freshman year but isn't there yet. He's running out of opportunities.
Tyrone Swoopes, QB, Texas
9 of 10
What to prove: He can be Texas' offensive leader
Tyrone Swoopes wasn't ready to compete when outgoing Texas coach Mack Brown pulled his redshirt midway through the 2013 season, and it showed with tentative play and bad decision-making. New coach Charlie Strong had no choice but to use Swoopes last season after David Ash suffered a career-ending head injury in the opening game. And while there were some good results, the overall assessment was that much improvement was still needed.
Then Strong switched Texas from a pro-style attack to a spread offense, something that redshirt freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard played exclusively in high school, and that looked to be an indication that Texas was prepared to move past Swoopes and skew younger.
But Strong has stuck with Swoopes, keeping him first on the depth chart after spring ball and giving him most of the first-team reps during the opening week of training camp, according to Bleacher Report's Zach Shelton.
In order for the second year of Strong's tenure to show progress, there must be offensive improvement. If Swoopes is going to be the person running that offense, he must prove he can handle that responsibility.
Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson
10 of 10
What to prove: He can stay on the field
Injuries are, for the most part, unavoidable. No matter what a player does to stay out of harm's way, the uncertainty and unpredictability of a violent sport like football makes it impossible to completely protect oneself from injury.
Deshaun Watson is well aware of this, having missed time because of three different injuries during his true freshman season in 2014. A broken hand sidelined him for a month, then a knee sprain knocked him out of one game before a torn knee ligament required surgery and kept him from playing in Clemson's bowl game.
When able to play, Watson was electric. He made an offense that could hardly move the ball with senior quarterback Cole Stoudt into a true force, tallying 1,666 yards of total offense and 19 total touchdowns in parts of eight games.
Watson had surgery in December and missed spring practice, but he's in line to be Clemson's starter for the season opener in September. If coach Dabo Swinney could get clearance to have his quarterback play while covered in bubble wrap he would, but the onus is on Watson to do what he can to not take risks that could lead to further injury.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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