Rising Stars Emerging in College Football Fall Camps

College football's long offseason provides plenty of time for new names to pop up as potential stars, but in most cases, this ends up being more a product of speculation than performance. This changes once teams begin preseason training camp, when the workouts go from informal to full-speed and depth charts begin to solidify.

This is the time when relatively unknown players suddenly rise up and demand attention—some in line to start and others putting themselves in position to contribute in a meaningful manner. Most of these names might be familiar to a specific team's fans, particularly those guys who came to school with high recruiting rankings, but from a national standpoint, this is each guy's first chance to be noticed.

Check out who's emerging as a possible star in training camp.

Donnie Corley, WR, Michigan State

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Donnie Corley is certainly a known quantity within Michigan State and Big Ten circles, as he's one of the top members of the Spartans' 2016 recruiting class who enrolled early and impressed during spring ball. He's managed to look even better since training camp began, to the point that head coach Mark Dantonio say there's "no question" he will play as a true freshman, per MLive.com's Kyle Austin.

The 6'2”, 186-pound Corley is one of two first-year wideouts who have impressed since arriving in January, along with Cameron Chambers. Corley appears further ahead, though, and could end being used in the return game along with being part of the receiver rotation.

"He also said that he's starting on the punt block unit as of now, and he's done some work at corner in camp, though right now his focus is on offense," 247Sports' Jeremy Warnemuende wrote.

The graduation of Aaron Burbridge and Macgarrett Kings Jr. has left MSU with an experience void at receiver. Senior R.J. Shelton returns after catching 43 passes and four touchdowns in 2015, but no other wideout had more than two receptions. Shelton is the Spartans' most experienced return man as well, but with more need for him on offense, that could open the door for Corley to have a starting role in the Sept. 2 opener against Furman.

Chris Evans, WR, Michigan

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Michigan's receiving corps is a veteran group, led by seniors Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson along with senior tight end Jake Butt. That trio combined for 159 catches, 2,145 yards and 17 touchdowns—a heck of a group of targets for whoever becomes the Wolverines' starting quarterback.

Yet Michigan may have to find room to include Chris Evans in the offensive plans—if not at receiver then in the backfield—based on how he's looked so far in the preseason.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh called the 5'11”, 200-pound Evans "one of the most outstanding of them all" out of the freshmen, as MLive.com's Nick Baumgardner wrote. That's notable considering Michigan signed the No. 5 recruiting class that includes top overall prospect Rashan Gary.

He's listed on Michigan's website as a running back but figures to have more of a future at receiver, though not necessarily in 2016. He was rated as the ninth-best all-purpose back in the 2016 class after rushing for 1,115 yards and 15 touchdowns while catching 40 passes for 511 yards and four TDs as a high school senior in Indianapolis, per MaxPreps.

Michigan doesn't have a featured running back, per se, so Evans' chance for touches on the ground look as promising as through the air.

Deondre Francois, QB, Florida State

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A foot injury to senior Sean Maguire ended up forcing head coach Jimbo Fisher's hand, but before Maguire was sidelined over the weekend, it was looking more and more like his starting quarterback job was in jeopardy. Now all signs point to Deondre Francois being Florida State's starter for the Sept. 5 opener against Ole Miss in Orlando, Florida.

"Francois had taken over first-team reps ahead of Maguire over the last few practices and is now a runaway favorite to land the job," SB Nation's Curt Weiler wrote.

Weiler noted that Fisher hasn't officially named the 6'2”, 205-pound redshirt freshman his starter, but Francois "will receive the majority of the first-team quarterback reps until another person proves himself."

The other healthy candidates are true freshman Malik Henry and redshirt sophomore J.J. Cosentino, who appeared in three games in 2015 and had 10 pass attempts.

Francois began to make his push to start back in the spring, when Maguire sat out while recovering from ankle surgery. He was 20-of-33 for 246 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions along with 37 rushing yards in FSU's spring game.

The last time FSU went with a redshirt freshman at QB was 2013, when Jameis Winston went on to win the Heisman Trophy and lead the Noles to a national title.

Daelin Hayes, DE, Notre Dame

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Notre Dame's rich tradition of young defensive standouts appears to be continuing with true freshman Daelin Hayes, though he might be creating his own path toward playing right away thanks to his versatility.

The 4-star prospect enrolled in January and was part of spring practice but on a limited basis because of shoulder surgery, though there's no indication that injury has lingered into preseason camp. He was recruited as a linebacker, but at 6'3” and 250 pounds, he is finding himself better suited to playing on the defensive line, though with the ability to still handle linebacker responsibilities depending on the situation.

According to Matt Jones of Rivals.com, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is eyeing Hayes for a spot in the team's "speed package," where he could come off the edge or drop back into coverage against teams that "aren't as aggressive at the point of attack." He still has work to do in order to be able to handle teams that use more of a power approach, but progress is being made there as well.

Jonathan Kongbo, DE, Tennessee

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Tennessee scored a major win in February when it signed the top-rated junior college transfer in the country in Jonathan Kongbo, who began his career at Wyoming before spending last season at Arizona Western College. Though the Volunteers have plenty of talent on the defensive line, you can never have enough big guys up front (as last year showed).

At 6'6” and 270 pounds, Kongbo is among the largest defensive ends in the country and is getting reps at tackle this month. New defensive coordinator Bob Shoop is using the same strategy he implemented at Penn State with Carl Nassib, who constantly moved around on the line in 2015 and ended up with a school-record 15.5 sacks along with 19.5 tackles for loss and six forced fumbles.

"I’m not going to ask him to do 25 different things," Shoop said of Kongbo, per SEC Country's Mike Griffith. "It’s do two things really well in a game."

The learning curve has been steep but fast for Kongbo, who was born in the Congo and moved to Canada when he was five but didn't begin playing football until his senior year of high school.

Shaq Quarterman, LB, Miami (Florida)

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Post-spring practice depth charts are about as accurate as a 30-day weather forecast—you should trust neither for too long. So when Shaq Quarterman was listed as the starting middle linebacker after spring camp ended, it turned some heads but not enough to ensure he'd still have that job in September.

There's no longer much uncertainty, if any. Since Miami began preseason camp, the 6'1”, 240-pound true freshman has maintained that spot and doesn't look to be giving it up any time soon.

"He's in the backfield a lot," Hurricanes running back Gus Edwards said, per Christy Chirinos of the Sun Sentinel. "He's the QB of the defense as far as I see it." 

First-year Miami head coach Mark Richt has admired how Quarterman has handled all the early praise, not taking it for granted, according to 247Sports' David Lake:

"

Sometimes a freshman can come in and get into a starting role, there might be some resentment, especially if a guy is real cocky or brash or acts like he owns the place. Sometimes it's hard to swallow for some of these veterans. But when a guy comes in with a humble spirit, works his tail off and just physically gets the job done, like Shaq did, I think they're embracing the guy. I think they’re excited about him being there.

"

Devwah Whaley, RB, Arkansas

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Arkansas' offense might have become more wide-open in 2015 under offensive coordinator Dan Enos with a greater emphasis on passing, but running the ball remains the foundation of what the Razorbacks have done since Bret Bielema arrived in 2013. He's had four 1,000-yard rushers in three seasons, with Alex Collins rushing for 1,577 yards and 20 touchdowns last year.

Three rushers are vying for the carries this fall, two of whom were Collins' main backups and a third who has quickly shown he deserves to play right away. Devwah Whaley didn't show up until late May, but in that short time, he's right up there with senior Kody Walker and sophomore Rawleigh Williams III.

The 5'11”, 216-pound Whaley ran for 95 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries in Arkansas' most recent scrimmage, per SEC Country's Jason Kersey. He's high on the list of true freshmen Bielema is likely to give meaningful time to this fall because he meets the main criteria for newcomers: consistency.

"Nothing rattles Devwah Whaley," Bielema said, per AJ McCord of 4029TV.com.

Troy Williams, QB, Utah

Troy Williams' college career began at Washington, where he spent two seasons and appeared in five games as a redshirt freshman in 2014. That included a start against Arizona State, when he was 18-of-26 passing for 139 yards with two interceptions, but he didn't throw another pass for the Huskies and transferred to Santa Monica College.

A strong year at Santa Monica—he threw for 2,750 yards with 31 touchdowns and four interceptions, per his online bio—sent him to Utah in January with a great chance to step in and replace four-year starter Travis Wilson. Then a "sore throwing arm" sidelined him for the tail end of spring practice, allowing junior Brandon Cox and true freshman Tyler Huntley to stand out in the spring game.

Before getting shut down, Williams was the "most impressive" of the Utes' quarterbacks, head coach Kyle Whittingham said in April (h/t the Salt Lake Tribune), and he's returned to that form.

"He's No. 1, but it's not set in stone yet," Whittingham said Monday. "He is the guy who has clearly been our best performer through camp."

All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.