1 Player Each Top 25 Team Will Miss the Most in 2016
One of toughest things about the end of a college football season is knowing that so many of the best players in the game will be moving on. Both from graduating seniors and draft-eligible standouts who want to get the clock started on their pro careers, each winter we see a mass exodus from some of the most impactful players of the just-completed season.
No team is truly immune to this annual event. There's at least one player from every team that was listed in the final College Football Playoff rankings who will be sorely missed when the 2016 season starts in eight months.
We've identified one player from each ranked team whose absence next year will be the most noticeable.
NOTE: Only players whose eligibility has been exhausted or who have officially declared for the NFL draft are included on this list.
No. 25 USC
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LB Su'a Cravens
Had Cravens been asked to play on the interior of the defensive line this season, odds are he would have jumped at the chance and excelled. His career at USC was highlighted by several position moves, all of which resulted in mass success.
The 6'1”, 225-pound junior—who declared for the NFL draft last month—began as a safety and eventually moved to linebacker on a full-time basis in 2015. Along the way he finished with 207 tackles, 34.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, nine interceptions and four forced fumbles, leading the Trojans in tackles (86) and TFL (15.5) this season.
Cravens is projected by WalterFootball.com to be the No. 20 pick in the 2016 NFL draft.
“No matter what happens after this, no matter how far along I play in my career, I’ll always be a Trojan,” Cravens told the Los Angeles Times' Gary Klein.
No. 24 Temple
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LB Tyler Matakevich
Somehow, Temple was the only FBS school to offer the 2015 Bednarik and Nagurski award winner out of high school. It can only hope the defensive players it signs this February can come close to matching what Matakevich accomplished in his four seasons.
The 6'1”, 230-pound senior is one of just six players in FBS history to record at least 100 tackles in four different seasons, finishing his career with 493. He had 138 takedowns in 2015, nearly double that of junior Jarred Alwan—Temple's second-leading tackler at 74.
With Matakevich patrolling the middle of the field this season, Temple won 10 games for the first time since 1979 and won the American Athletic Conference's East Division.
No. 23 Tennessee
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OT Kyler Kerbyson
The best thing about the way Tennessee played during the second half of the 2015 season, finishing on a six-game win streak, is that it did so with a lineup that should stay relatively intact for next year.
There were only a few senior starters, the most notable of which was Kerbyson, who started all 26 games the past two seasons. He was the Volunteers' anchor at left tackle for all of this past year, helping them rank second in the SEC in rushing at 223.7 yards per game, per cfbstats.com. With Kerbyson leading the way, Tennessee allowed only 24 sacks in 2015 after its quarterbacks were sacked 43 times the year before.
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No. 22 Utah
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RB Devontae Booker
Utah's 10 wins were its most since joining the Pac-12 in 2011, and though it managed to win those last two without Booker, there was a noticeable difference to how the Utes looked on offense.
Before the senior running back went down with a knee injury in the ninth game of the season, Utah averaged 37.1 points and 4.33 yards per rush. In the final three contests, it had five offensive touchdowns and 3.69 yards per carry.
Booker ran for 2,773 yards and 21 TDs in his two seasons with Utah, also catching 79 passes along the way. His 26.8 carries per game in 2015 were the most in FBS, per cfbstats.com.
No. 21 Navy
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QB Keenan Reynolds
The triple option should continue to produce big rushing numbers for Navy in 2016, but the man running that complicated attack will be hard-pressed to perform at the level Reynolds has the past four seasons.
The all-time FBS leader in both rushing touchdowns and TDs from scrimmage, the senior scored 88 times on the ground in his career. He also finished with 4,559 rushing yards—the most ever by a quarterback.
Along the way he led Navy to 36 wins the past four seasons, its 11 victories in 2015 are the most in school history.
No. 20 LSU
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WR John Diarse
LSU tends to be one of the teams most impacted by early entry to the NFL draft each season, though so far its draft-eligible non-seniors haven't made their intentions known. That is, other than Diarse, a redshirt sophomore who has already graduated and plans to transfer for 2016.
Though he only had 13 receptions for 137 yards this season and 28 catches for his career, the 6'1”, 209-yard Diarse stepped in for injured junior Travin Dural over the final three games and would have been a candidate to replace Dural next year if he chooses to turn pro.
No. 19 Florida
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CB Vernon Hargreaves III
Though it had long been rumored, Hargreaves made it official on Monday that he was forgoing his senior year of college and turning pro, according to Landon Watnick of InsidetheGators.com. In three seasons he intercepted 10 passes, including four this year, and was credited with another 28 pass breakups in his career.
Hargreaves' play in 2015 aided Florida in winning the SEC East under first-year coach Jim McElwain, and despite three straight losses to end the season, the Gators still ranked 14th nationally in pass defense, per cfbstats.com.
Jalen Tabor, a sophomore who started opposite Hargreaves at cornerback this season, will likely take on opponents' top receivers in 2016, while Quincy Wilson (who had two interceptions in 2015) is in line to take Tabor's spot.
No. 18 Houston
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WR Demarcus Ayers
Quarterback Greg Ward and first-year coach Tom Herman got most of the attention for Houston's tremendous 2015 season, but Ayers was just as integral to the Cougars' success as anyone else. And now that the junior has declared for the NFL draft, they'll have to search elsewhere for someone who can contribute as a receiver, rusher, return specialist and occasional passing threat.
If that's even possible from just one player.
The 5'11”, 190-pound Ayers threw a 20-yard touchdown pass for Houston in its Peach Bowl win over Florida State—his second passing TD of the year. That went along with eight receiving TDs as well as one each on a run and punt return.
Ayers was Ward's top target, catching 98 passes for 1,222 yards.
No. 17 Baylor
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WR Corey Coleman
Baylor seems to have a never-ending supply of offensive weapons, and as it showed in rushing for a bowl-record 645 yards against North Carolina, it can even get by without a capable quarterback. The Bears won't have to resort to such an approach next season with both Seth Russell and Jarrett Stidham expected to be healthy again, though they'll need to find another No. 1 receiver.
Coleman, a junior who declared for the NFL draft in December, had a whopping 20 touchdowns on 74 receptions this season. Before injuries at the QB position impacted Baylor's game plan, he was well on his way toward challenging the FBS record of 27 TD catches that Troy Edwards had for Louisiana Tech in 1998.
He had at least 100 receiving yards in seven of the Bears' first eight games, with at least two TD catches in seven consecutive contests. In three years, Coleman finished with a school-record 33 receiving scores.
No. 16 Oklahoma State
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QB J.W. Walsh
While junior defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah weighs his future, the most impactful loss for Oklahoma State's 2015 team is the quarterback whose mobility made for one-half of a deadly combination.
Walsh accounted for 26 touchdowns during his senior season, 13 through the air and 13 on the ground, despite splitting snaps with sophomore Mason Rudolph. His 13 TD passes came on just 85 attempts, eight of those scores coming on 22 red-zone passes, and all 13 of his rushing scores came from inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
“J.W. will always have a special place in the hearts of the Oklahoma State family,” OK State coach Mike Gundy said, per Kyle Fredickson of NewsOK.com.
No. 15 Oregon
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DE DeForest Buckner
Oregon's defense wasn't particularly strong in 2015-16, something that was very evident on Saturday when it blew a 31-0 halftime lead against TCU in the Alamo Bowl. Despite the poor numbers from a team standpoint, though, Buckner still managed to have an amazing year.
The 6'7”, 300-pound senior made the most of his final season, logging 10.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss among his 83 tackles. That earned him Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors—the second Oregon player to win the award.
Buckner is projected as the No. 9 pick in the 2016 draft by Bleacher Report's Matt Miller.
No. 14 Michigan
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QB Jake Rudock
It was about this time last year that Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz decided he was going with C.J. Beathard as his quarterback for 2015, paving the way for Rudock to move to Michigan as a graduate transfer. That decision seems to have worked out for both schools, as Iowa had an unbeaten regular season and made the Rose Bowl, while Michigan far exceeded projections in Jim Harbaugh's first season as coach.
Rudock's play in his lone year with the Wolverines had a lot to do with the team's success, particularly in the season's second half when he became one of the country's top passers. According to Drew Hallett of Maize N Brew, Michigan had never had a quarterback throw for 250 or more yards in three straight games before Rudock came along.
“Rudock did it in five straight to close out the year,” Hallett tweeted after Rudock threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns in the Citrus Bowl win over Florida.
No. 13 Northwestern
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TE Dan Vitale
Vitale's official position with Northwestern was “superback”—a fitting description of what he meant to the Wildcats offense in 2015 and throughout his career.
The 6'2”, 235-pound senior caught 136 passes the past four seasons, including a team-best 33 this year. His 355 yards and four touchdowns in 2015 were also best for a Northwestern offense that ranked 120th nationally in passing, per cfbstats.com.
Vitale did not catch a pass in Northwestern's 45-6 loss to Tennessee in the Outback Bowl—only the second time in his final three seasons he was held without a reception.
No. 12 Ole Miss
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WR Laquon Treadwell
When Treadwell broke his leg in November 2014, ending his sophomore season, it put his career in jeopardy and devastated Ole Miss' offense. He managed to return better than ever this fall, and that enabled the Rebels to win 10 games for the first time in a dozen years.
Now Treadwell is off to the NFL, having officially declared for the draft on Monday, per OleMissSports.com, and Bleacher Report's Matt Miller has him slotted as the No. 15 pick.
Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly threw for a school-record 4,042 yards this season and connected for at least 30 receptions with six different players—four of which are expected to return for 2016. But none was as involved in the offense as Treadwell, who had 82 catches for 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns.
No. 11 TCU
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QB Trevone Boykin
Its amazing comeback against Oregon in the Alamo Bowl notwithstanding, TCU's rise in the Big 12 and on a national level the last two seasons was due to the play of Boykin more than anything else. And with his career in Fort Worth over, the Horned Frogs go into 2016 with a major hole to fill at quarterback.
Boykin—who missed the bowl game after being arrested in San Antonio earlier in the week—spent his first two years at TCU bouncing around various positions to find the right fit. Co-offensive coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham then turned him into a superstar as a junior, with more than 4,600 yards of total offense and 42 total touchdowns, and in 2015 he had another 4,187 yards and 40 total scores in just 11 games.
Bram Kohlhausen, who started in place of Boykin in the Alamo Bowl, is also a senior, while redshirt freshman Foster Sawyer completed only 40.7 percent of his passes and had three interceptions in his action in 2015. TCU also has former Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill, who sat out after transferring to the program, as an option for 2016.
No. 10 North Carolina
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QB Marquise Williams
North Carolina's career leader in total offense, Williams is one of only five players in ACC history to top the 10,000-yard mark. His 96 total touchdowns are third-most in conference history, with 37 of those coming in 2015, as he led the Tar Heels to the ACC title game and their most wins (11) since 1997.
Williams was at the helm of the nation's top offense this season in terms of yards per play, at 7.28 per snap, per cfbstats.com He personally accounted for 7.81 yards per play, with his 948 rushing yards sixth-best in FBS among quarterbacks, also per cfbstats.com.
No. 9 Florida State
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LB Terrance Smith
A year after having 11 players taken in the NFL draft, Florida State's losses to the pros will be far less significant this time around. Junior defensive back Jalen Ramsey is a projected first-round pick, per Bleacher Report's Matt Miller, though he has yet to officially declare.
Among the Seminoles' departing seniors, Smith will be the hardest to replace. He had 65 tackles in nine games in 2015, missing four contests midway through the season because of an ankle sprain, and in his absence FSU allowed 22 points per game.
It gave up 139 total points in the nine games he was able to participate in.
No. 8 Notre Dame
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WR Will Fuller
After previously saying he planned to return to Notre Dame for his senior year, on Sunday he changed his mind and declared for the NFL draft via Twitter. Bleacher Report's Matt Miller quickly slotted him into his updated mock draft at No. 22, citing his “deep-threat ability and game-changing speed.”
It seemed like every one of Fuller's catches in 2015 went for a touchdown, though in reality it was only 14 of the 62 receptions. Both of those were team highs, as was his 1,258 receiving yards. The rest of Notre Dame's pass-catchers combined for just 11 TDs.
Fuller had seven 100-yard games this past season, and his 20.29 yards-per-catch average was the best among the 75 FBS receivers who caught at least 60 balls, according to cfbstats.com.
No. 7 Ohio State
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RB Ezekiel Elliott
It might be easier to describe which of the many departing stars Ohio State will miss the least, since the Buckeyes' exodus is larger than it is for most teams. As of Monday, they're losing at least seven starters on defense, including Eli Apple, who confirmed his decision via Twitter. Junior Vonn Bell remains undecided about his future. On offense, at least six starters are moving on.
Ohio State's depth across the board makes most of these departures manageable, Bleacher Report's Ben Axelrod noted, writing that “the Buckeyes can look forward to a reload and not a rebuild in the coming year.”
But replacing Elliott will be the most difficult, because of his production and the evidence from this past season of what happened when he wasn't heavily used. The junior ran for 1,821 yards and 23 touchdowns on 289 carries, yet in OSU's loss to Michigan State, he had a season-low 12 carries for 33 yards. The 86 yards OSU had in that game were its fewest since 2009.
OSU's top returning rusher, other than quarterback J.T. Barrett, is Curtis Samuel—a sophomore who had 17 carries for 132 yards and a TD.
No. 6 Stanford
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QB Kevin Hogan
Hogan faced an uphill battle from the moment he took over as Stanford's starting quarterback midway through his redshirt freshman season, with his every move (and throw) compared to predecessor Andrew Luck. But when his career was over, it was Hogan who stood atop the Cardinal's wins list.
The 45-16 blowout victory over Iowa in the Rose Bowl was his 36th, five more than Luck had at Stanford. Three of Hogan's four seasons ended with a trip to the Rose Bowl, including two victories.
"The void created by Hogan's departure is akin to the one left behind by Andrew Luck after the 2011 season,” Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News wrote. “Hogan isn't Luck, of course, but his grip on the job lasted longer than Luck's, and he led the Cardinal to greater heights than Luck.”
Stanford will head into this offseason in a similar position as after Luck left, unsure who will be its quarterback. Sophomore Keller Chryst and junior Ryan Burns, who each appeared in four games this season, will get first crack at the job.
No. 5 Iowa
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DE Nate Meier
Iowa is hoping senior defensive lineman Drew Ott, who tore his ACL in October, will be granted a medical redshirt. On Monday it learned cornerback Desmond King, a junior who won the Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back, will return for his senior season, according to Danny Payne of the Daily Iowan.
There's no uncertainty when it comes to Meier's departure, an anchor on the Hawkeyes' line who started all 27 games the past two seasons.
Meier had team highs in sacks (6.5) and tackles for loss (10.5) in 2015, the fifth-year senior taking on even more responsibility after Ott went down. He finished this season with 76 tackles, among the top totals in the country by a defensive lineman.
No. 4 Oklahoma
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WR Sterling Shepard
Oklahoma is losing several key players from its playoff team, including many of the most important members of its underrated defense. Yet, it's an offensive departure that will be the toughest to replace, since Shepard's reliability in 2015 was integral to the Sooners becoming better as a passing team.
Shepard led Oklahoma in receptions (86), yards (1,288) and touchdowns (11) this season, the main target for Baker Mayfield in the move to an Air Raid passing attack. The Sooners' second- and third-leading wideouts combined for 90 catches, 1,302 yards and seven TDs.
In his final game, the Orange Bowl loss to Clemson, Shepard had seven catches for 87 yards. The yardage total tied a school record for that bowl—a mark achieved by his late father Derrick Shepard from the 1985 Orange Bowl.
No. 3 Michigan State
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QB Connor Cook
The all-time leader in passing yards at Michigan State, Cook also exemplified the drive and dedication that coach Mark Dantonio sought from his players in the program's rise to elite status. Cook had the opportunity to turn pro after the 2014 season and likely would have been a high draft pick, but he opted to return for his senior year to help the Spartans win a championship.
He got them a Big Ten title, as well as a spot in the playoffs, but Cook and MSU had no answer for Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
Cook was 19-of-39 for 210 yards with two interceptions in his final game, taking away from a strong senior season in which he threw for 3,131 yards and 24 touchdowns. His career totals of 9,184 yards and 71 TDs are both tops in Spartan history.
No. 2 Alabama
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DB/KR Cyrus Jones
None of Alabama's juniors have made their future plans known, instead focusing on the upcoming national championship game against Clemson. That class features several of the most notable expected departures, but not all of them.
Jones began his career with the Crimson Tide on offense, with eight receptions as a freshman in 2012, before getting moved to cornerback the following season. He's started the last two years, but as a senior he emerged as one of the FBS' top punt returners with a school-record four touchdown returns, including one in the Cotton Bowl win over Michigan State.
He also had a key interception in that win, picking off MSU's Connor Cook just short of the end zone in the final minute of the first half, when the score was only 10-0.
No. 1 Clemson
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DE Shaq Lawson
Lawson is in his first season as a full-time starter, having spent his first two seasons as a situational contributor, but it was evident in 2014 he was going to be key to the Tigers defense this year. Not surprisingly, he's leading the FBS with 23.5 tackles for loss along with a team-high 10.5 sacks.
The 6'3”, 270-pound junior declared for the NFL draft three weeks ago, and Bleacher Report's Matt Miller has him projected as the No. 13 overall pick this spring.
Clemson is sixth nationally in total defense, allowing 301.6 yards per game, and its 117 tackles for loss are tops in the country. It will have players to fill in for Lawson, such as freshman Austin Bryant, but no one who is yet at Lawson's level of performance.
Lawson was hurt early in the Orange Bowl win over North Carolina, injuring his left knee, but he's determined to play in the national title game against Alabama on Jan. 11. "I'm very optimistic he'll be able to play," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Monday, per ESPN's Brett McMurphy.
Stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com and Sports-Reference.com, unless noted otherwise.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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