College Football 2011: Top 20 Players Under the Magnifying Glass Next Season
College football is never short on stories and we have a great one right here.
Every year there are college players put under the microscope, for one reason or another, and 2011 will be no different. A lot of them are household names and some of them are under-the-radar guys, but no matter what, their performance will be scrutinized.
The team with the most players under the proverbial magnifying glass is Ohio State and we all know why.
They will have five key contributors suspended for the first five games of the season due to NCAA violations last year. How will the team respond in their absence? How will the players respond when they are able to play again?
Another guy who will be relentlessly picked apart is Stanford QB Andrew Luck. His game is going to be dissected every way possible because he decided to come back to college, despite being the consensus No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.
Those are just a few of the guys that are on this list. There are plenty more players who will be put under the microscope in 2011.
Terrelle Pryor, QB, Ohio State
1 of 20
Pryor—more so than any of the other Ohio State players involved in the autograph-for-tattoo scandal—will be under the most intense pressure, simply because he is the quarterback of the team. He claimed innocence in the ordeal all along, but turned out to be guilty.
He would have entered 2011 as one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy, but now that he will miss almost half of the season, he won't sniff an invite to New York.
Dan Herron, RB, Ohio State
2 of 20
Dan Herron, Pryor's teammate, makes the list for the same reasons that Pryor did. He had a great 2010 season, running for over 1,100 yards and 16 touchdowns, but he will miss the first five games of 2011 because of his involvement in the Ohio State scandal.
It's interesting to think that these players will be more scrutinized for the games that they don't play in—especially if Ohio State loses—than any one of the games that they do play in.
DeVier Posey, WR, Ohio State
3 of 20
The third-and-final Buckeye to appear on the list is DeVier Posey, who will enter the 2011 season as the Buckeyes' biggest receiving threat, but will have to miss the first five games of the year for reasons that have already been talked about.
Ohio State could realistically come out of this five-game stretch at 3-2 before they take on their newest Big Ten rival, Nebraska, in Lincoln on October 8.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
4 of 20
Andrew Luck will enter the 2011 season as the favorite to win every major college award that a quarterback can possibly win, including the Heisman Trophy.
He has earned that respect after a brilliant 2010 season in which he completed almost 71 percent of his passes for 3,338 yards and 32 touchdowns.
The problem is that when you enter the season with the expectations that he will have, you open yourself up to intense scrutiny from everyone, everywhere. His game is going to be poked, prodded and torn apart at the slightest little hiccup.
Fortunately for him, he has the talent to be able to overcome all of the madness that will surround him.
Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
5 of 20
Kellen Moore will be playing in his 13th-and-final season as quarterback of Boise State in 2011.
He has done a lot of great things during his time with the Broncos. He has been great for this team every year he has played for them, but they are losing Titus Young and Anthony Pettis, their top two receivers, and that will put even more pressure on him to continue to produce at the level he has the previous three years.
Plus, this Boise State team will probably enter the season with BCS bowl aspirations—as they do every year—and Moore will be the key to getting them back to one of those big bowl games.
Denard Robinson, QB, Michigan
6 of 20
Denard Robinson had one of the best years of any quarterback in college football history in 2010. He was the first player to throw for at least 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season. However, a bad (and that's being polite) Michigan defense overshadowed everything else the team did.
The Wolverines new coach, Brady Hoke, doesn't run the same kind of offense that former coach Rich Rodriguez did, meaning that Robinson's game could be inhibited in some ways.
Taylor Martinez, QB, Nebraska
7 of 20
Nebraska had big expectations going into 2010 and, for the most part, they hit most of their goals. The reason that they didn't hit all of their goals is because of the Jekyll-and-Hyde season that QB Taylor Martinez had.
He started the season great, looking like one of the better duel threat quarterbacks in the country. However, he got hurt against Missouri in October and never looked like the same guy.
He clashed with head coach Bo Pelini and threatened to transfer, but cooler heads prevailed and Martinez will lead the Nebraska offense in their inaugural season in the Big Ten.
John Brantley, QB, Florida
8 of 20
John Brantley had the unenviable task of being the guy who replaced Tim Tebow as Florida's starting QB. He had some moments where he looked very good, but those were few and far between. He will have a new head coach and a new offensive game plan to learn going into 2011.
The Gators always have high expectations and if they hope to live up to them, Brantley will have to play well.
Plus, he will have to deal with some competition before the season with two highly sought-after recruits—Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel—coming to Gainesville.
Darron Thomas, QB, Oregon
9 of 20
Oregon had a great year in 2010 and a big part of that was the development of Darron Thomas. He completed almost 62 percent of his passes with 30 touchdown passes.
The Ducks will have big expectations going into 2011 because of Thomas' development in 2010 and they will hope that his game will continue to evolve.
LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
10 of 20
Another reason that Oregon will be back near the top of the preseason rankings will be because of Heisman Trophy finalist LaMichael James. He had a brilliant season in 2010, running for over 1,700 yards and 21 touchdowns.
He returns to school for his junior season with a mountain of expectations. He will be expected to perform at least as well as he did in 2010, if not better, because he is a year older. Fortunately, that offense plays to James' strengths as a runner, so he should be fine.
Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
11 of 20
Justin Blackmon was brilliant for Oklahoma State in 2010. He had at least 100 yards and one touchdown catch in every game and he would likely be one of the top receivers taken in the NFL Draft if he had chosen to come out.
He is staying in school for his junior season, and while he probably won't match his numbers from this year, if he performs anywhere close to the level he did last year it will enhance his draft stock.
Ryan Broyles, WR, Oklahoma
12 of 20
As good as Justin Blackmon was last year, Ryan Broyles was even better.
He, like Blackmon, could have entered the NFL Draft, but chose not to because of the allure of winning a championship with Oklahoma.
The Sooners are loaded with talent going into 2011 and will unquestionably be one of the teams to beat next year.
Stephen Garcia, QB, South Carolina
13 of 20
South Carolina will have high expectations in 2011, thanks in large part to their recruiting class this year and their SEC East title last year. One person who will be critical to just how far this team is able to go will be Stephen Garcia.
Garcia is able to put up solid numbers overall, but he is mistake prone far too often. He threw 14 interceptions last season. For the Gamecocks to reach their full potential next year, he will have to cut that number down.
Garrett Gilbert, QB, Texas
14 of 20
Texas finished 5-7 last year, their worst record since 1997.
The team looked out of sorts all year long and Garrett Gilbert was right at the center of that, which isn't surprising since he is the quarterback.
He was forced into action in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game against Alabama because Colt McCoy got hurt. Gilbert looked overwhelmed early in that game, but settled down as the game went on. Despite the loss, his performance in that game provided a lot of hope for the Longhorns last year.
That hope was quickly squashed and Gilbert finished the season with only 10 touchdown passes to 17 interceptions. If he wants to keep his starting job, those numbers have to improve dramatically.
Janoris Jenkins, CB, Florida
15 of 20
Janoris Jenkins is like the Andrew Luck of cornerbacks. He would have been a top pick in the NFL Draft if he had come out, but he decided to stay in school to finish his degree and possibly improve his draft stock.
It's always risky when you are a top-tier talent and you go back to school, because you open yourself up to so much scrutiny and pressure. He has the talent to rise above it, but he will still be watched closely by everyone around the country.
Matt Barkley, QB, USC
16 of 20
Matt Barkley isn't getting a lot of fan attention right now because USC is on probation, but he is one of the top quarterbacks in college football entering 2011. He was very good last year, throwing for almost 2,800 yards and 26 touchdowns.
He can move way up a lot of draft boards with continued improvement this year. He is a little small, but mechanically he is as advanced as any quarterback in college next year not named Andrew Luck.
Michigan's Entire Defensive Unit
17 of 20
Statistically, Michigan's defense wasn't the worst in college football—they ranked 108th in points allowed out of 120 teams. However, if you watched them play, they were completely hopeless. Forget what numbers say, they were the worst defense in college football in 2010.
They finally fired Rich Rodriguez and brought in Brady Hoke. His first order of business will be to fix the defense if he hopes to get this program back on its feet.
Auburn's Quarterback
18 of 20
Whether it's fair or not, Auburn's next quarterback will have to deal with following Cam Newton and being compared to him. It's the same thing that happened to Florida and John Brantley in 2010.
Plus, since it's the SEC, the scrutiny will be that much greater for whoever takes over the reins as the leader of the Auburn offense. Plus, they are coming off a national championship, which will make the task even greater.
E.J. Manuel, QB, Florida State
19 of 20
Florida State will have big expectations in 2011. They won 10 games last year and the defense was outstanding and will be again next year. The offense was also good, and looked better when E.J Manuel was leading them during the last two games of the year.
They had one of the top recruiting classes in the country and are one of the favorites in the ACC. The key for them to get past Virginia Tech will be dependent on Manuel's growth. He is a tremendous athlete and will have to use those skills to lead this Seminoles team to where they want to go.
Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina
20 of 20
Jadeveon Clowney, the nation's top incoming freshman, will have a lot of pressure on him because he is the top incoming freshman and he made a big production out of where he would play in college.
Expectations should be tempered with Clowney because he is only a freshman, but in this fast-paced, gotta-have-results-now society we live in, he will not be given a lot of time to prove himself.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
