Ranking 10 Best Freshman Seasons in College Football History
While college basketball has become synonymous with superstar freshmen—you can thank the NBA and its age limit for that—it's still somewhat of a rarity for a first-year player to have a major impact in college football. Though more and more freshmen are playing right away, or bursting onto the scenes after a redshirt season, it's still the exception rather than the rule.
But every now and then, a player makes his collegiate debut with such a tremendous performance that it ranks up there among the greatest in college football history. Not just for freshmen, but compared to all other players.
A ranking of the best of these freshmen seasons isn't as easy as you'd think, though. Statistics play a big part in it, but so do how those numbers compared to others that year as well as how much they mattered to their team. We looked at all aspects of the game, not just the offensive skill positions. And though we looked back throughout the years, the list leans heavy on the recent past.
Remember, freshmen weren't fully eligible for most of the first century.
Check out who made our top 10 (and who just missed the cut), then give us your thoughts in the comments section.
Honorable Mention
1 of 11
It would have been easier to put together a list of the 20 or 30 greatest freshman seasons, ever, since that would mean not having to eliminate so many outstanding performances. But we had to stop somewhere, meaning the following stellar efforts fell just short of the top 10:
J.T. Barrett, QB, Ohio State (2014): 2,834 passing YDS, 64.6% completion rate, 34 TDs, 10 INTs; 938 rushing YDS, 11 TDs
Tony Dorsett, RB, Pittsburgh (1973): 1,868 rushing YDS, 13 TDs
Marshall Faulk, RB, San Diego State (1991): 1,429 rushing YDS, 21 TDs; 17 REC, 203 YDS, 2 TDs
Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma (2014): 1,713 rushing YDS, 21 TDs; FBS single-game record 427 rushing YDS
Jamario Thomas, RB, North Texas (2004): 1,801 rushing YDS; 17 TDs
Herschel Walker, RB, Georgia (1980): 1,616 rushing YDS; 15 TDs
10. Roberto Aguayo, K, Florida State
2 of 11
Year: 2013
Getting this list off to a great start, credibility-wise, huh? Well, before you brush off the fact that a kicker made the top 10, consider the perspective of what Roberto Aguayo accomplished as a redshirt freshman (as well as what it meant to the national champions that year): He nearly outscored Florida State's competition.
Aguayo hold the FBS record for points in a season by a kicker, with 157, the product of 21 field goals (on 22 attempts) and a perfect 94-of-94 on extra points. Sure, the Seminoles won their games by an average of 39.5 points and their only single-digit margin was in the BCS title game, but knowing that Aguayo was automatic took a lot of stress off the rest of the team.
Arizona State's Thomas Weber was the first freshman to win the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top kicker, in 2007. His numbers were good, but they weren't Aguayo good. Had FSU only used Aguayo's scoring against that of its opponents, it still would have won eight out of 14 times.
9. Luke Kuechly, LB, Boston College
3 of 11
Year: 2009
The NCAA has only been officially tracking tackles since 2000, and in that time, no freshmen has taken down more opposing players than Luke Kuechly. His 158 tackles in his true freshman season were the second-most of any player in the country that year, as were his 87 solo tackles.
Kuechly accounted for more than 17 percent of Eagles tackles, who went 8-5 in 2009. After a modest 11 tackles over his first two games, he had 13 against Clemson in his ACC debut and went on to log at least 10 in nine of the next 10 contests.
Throw in 13 tackles for loss and an interception returned for a touchdown, and Keuchly's freshman year goes down as one of the best in history.
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8. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
4 of 11
Year: 2007
Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy in 2008, but the seeds for that award were planted the year before during his redshirt freshman season. That's when he set FBS freshman records (that have since been topped) with 36 touchdown passes and a 69.5 percent completion rate.
He also threw for 3,121 yards, a tally that would have been higher had he not missed almost all of a November loss at Texas Tech after suffering a concussion. That would be the start of Bradford's injury issues in college, including in 2009 when he twice hurt his shoulder.
Bradford only threw nine interceptions on 341 attempts, with only one multipick game. He completed at least 70 percent of his passes in eight of 14 games, going 21-of-23 in his debut and having streaks of 22 and 21 consecutive completions.
Oklahoma went 11-3 that year, winning the Big 12 but falling to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
7. Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma
5 of 11
Year: 2004
The record books officially recognize Adrian Peterson as having the most prolific freshman year for a running back, with 1,925, since by then statistics from bowl games were counted. Otherwise, his 1,843 yards during the regular season would have fallen just short of Wisconsin's Ron Dayne from 1996 (1,863).
But that's just semantics. The reality is that Peterson's first year of college was an incredible one, with nine consecutive 100-yard games and 11 overall, including 172 yards and three touchdowns in the Big 12 title game win over Colorado.
Peterson carried it 339 times that season, which remains the FBS freshman record, though his biggest disappointment came in the national championship, the 2005 Orange Bowl. That's when USC held him to a season-low 3.3 yards per carry in Oklahoma's only loss of the season, 55-19.
Peterson would go on to top the 1,000-yard mark in his other two seasons with the Sooners, but injuries limited him to 18 games in 2005-06.
6. George Shaw, DB, Oregon
6 of 11
Year: 1951
We need to take the wayback machine to find the best freshman season ever by a defensive back. George Shaw is best known for his play as Oregon's quarterback, where he started for three seasons before going No. 1 overall in the 1955 NFL draft to the Baltimore Colts. But he spent his first year in college on defense.
And that lone season is one that remains etched in the record books, as Shaw set one of the longest-active freshman records with 13 interceptions. That came in just 10 games and amid a 2-8 season for Oregon under first-year coach Len Casanova.
The switch to offense proved to be a smart one for Shaw, who led the nation in total offense in 1954 as a senior. He started briefly in the NFL before a broken leg opened the door for future Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas to take over the Colts' starting job.
No freshman has had more than six interceptions in any of the past eight seasons, and only two players in FBS history (including Louisville's Gerod Holliman in 2014) have picked off more passes in one year.
5. Jeremy Maclin, WR, Missouri
7 of 11
Year: 2007
Christian McCaffrey's destruction of the FBS all-purpose yardage record last season put a spotlight on players who were able to impact the game in a variety of ways. His 3,864 yards came as a rusher, receiver and both a punt and kick returner, and he was more than five-fold better than the 796 all-purpose yards he amassed in his first season.
Or, 1,980 fewer than Jeremy Maclin had as a redshirt freshman.
Maclin was in line to be a key contributor for Missouri as a true freshman in 2006, but a knee injury suffered during the summer forced him to sit out. Once able to participate, Maclin managed to do so in every way he could.
His 1,055 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches led the Tigers, while he was second on the team with 375 rushing yards to go with four TDs. Maclin averaged 24.2 yards on 43 kickoff returns, scoring once, and his 25 punt returns averaged 12.3 yards including two TDs.
Missouri went 12-2 that season, with its only losses coming to Oklahoma. Maclin had 2,833 all-purpose yards in 2008, then turned pro and was the Philadelphia Eagles' first-round pick in 2009.
4. Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech
8 of 11
Year: 2007
By now you should realize that 2007 was a good year for freshmen in the Big 12. Michael Crabtree is the third player from that conference to make our list based on that season, with his performance managing to outshine those from players on the two division champions.
Texas Tech went 9-4 and finished third in the South Division that season, though it did hand Big 12 champ Oklahoma a loss that knocked it out of the national title picture. And Crabtree had a lot to do with that, as his performance against the Sooners is part of the best receiving season ever by a freshman.
After sitting out 2006 because of transcript issues, Crabtree caught 134 passes for 1,962 yards and 22 scores as a redshirt freshman. All three of those statistics are records by a first-year player and are all among the top six single-season performances in FBS history.
Against Oklahoma, Crabtree had 12 catches for 154 yards and a TD, one of 11 100-yard games and eight with at least 10 receptions. Because of his monster freshman year, Crabtree's sophomore numbers (97 catches, 1,165 yards, 19 TDs) seemed pedestrian.
3. Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin
9 of 11
Year: 1996
As far as the NCAA is concerned, Ron Dayne's true freshman year isn't worthy of special recognition. That's because it wasn't until 2002 that bowl statistics counted toward season records, meaning the 246 yards he gained in the Copper Bowl kept him from still holding the FBS freshman rushing record.
But it's hard to argue that any other running back was more dominant in his first college year than Dayne, who ran for 2,109 yards with 21 touchdowns for Wisconsin. The yardage was second to Iowa State's Troy Davis, who had 2,185, and he was one TD behind Washington's Corey Dillon.
Dayne was pretty much a one-man team for the Badgers that year. He outgained quarterback Mike Samuel, and including his 133 receiving yards, he accounted for nearly 45 percent of Wisconsin's average.
It only went 8-5 that year, but Dayne had firmly established himself as a star. That was solidified three years later when he had a second 2,000-yard season and finished with 7,215 yards, the most in FBS history. Not including bowl yardage, his 6,397 yards is also the all-time best.
2. Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State
10 of 11
Year: 2013
For decades it seemed like it would be impossible for a freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, but after Jameis Winston became the second consecutive first-year player to win the award (after Johnny Manziel in 2012), it officially marked a sea change in how freshmen are used. And after the season he had in 2013, many wondered why Winston had to wait a year to make his debut.
That's because Florida State had a firmly entrenched starter at quarterback, E.J. Manuel, who after setting the school's career completion percentage record, would go on to be a first-round draft pick. There was no point in playing Winston in 2012 because of this, and instead, he was able to learn Jimbo Fisher's complicated playbook.
That study time paid off in a huge way for the Seminoles and for Winston. He set an FBS freshman passing record with 4,057 yards and 40 touchdowns, completing 66.9 percent of his throws while also adding four rushing TDs.
Oh yeah, he also piloted FSU to a 14-0 record and its first national title since 1999.
1. Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M
11 of 11
Year: 2012
How did we end up ranking Manziel over fellow Heisman-winning freshman Winston? It wasn't easy, but in the end, Manziel's combination of numbers and importance to his team gave him a slight advantage.
Like Winston, Manziel sat out his first year of college because A&M had a returning starter at quarterback, that being Ryan Tannehill. But Manziel didn't have the luxury of stepping in the following season with a knowledge of the system, as new coach Kevin Sumlin's offense varied greatly from the one that Mike Sherman ran in 2011.
We'll never know what Manziel would have accomplished under Sherman, but under Sumlin's guidance, he set the FBS total offense record with 5,116 yards. He threw for 3,706 yards and 26 touchdowns with a 68 percent completion rate and ran for 1,410 yards with 21 TDs. The rushing tally is most by a freshman and ninth-most in FBS history.
The Aggies went 11-2 in Manziel's redshirt freshman year, finishing in the Top Five in the Associated Press rankings for the first time since 1956. Along the way, A&M handed eventual national champion Alabama its only loss, with Manziel accounting for more than 70 percent of the offense and 47 of its 72 offensive TDs in 2012.
All statistical information courtesy of CFBStats.com or SportsReference.com, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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