Kellen Moore & the Least Appreciated College Football Stars of the Last 10 Years

College football is a fun sport to follow because there are so many teams and so many talented players.

Unfortunately, some of those players slip through the cracks for whatever reason. It could be that we're not paying attention to their team because they're not as popular as the bigger programs. Or that we just expect them to be so great that we really just don't appreciate their true value. 

Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore played his last collegiate game last night and he is one of the most underappreciated players of the last 10 years.

Here's the list with Moore and four others.

FIU WR T.Y. Hilton

Hilton has finally been getting some love this season but he's played four seasons at Florida International. Head coach Mario Cristobal has done a fabulous job of building that program, but it's a lot easier with a player like Hilton on his offense.

He did everything for the Panthers in his four seasons. He had more than 3,000 receiving yards and nearly 500 rushing yards. He had more than 3,000 return yards and 36 total touchdowns. Keep in mind that he was on a run-first team and really the only receiving threat that opposing teams respected. He is also the first player in FIU history to score a touchdown in five different ways.

Let's not also forget that it was his hook-and-lateral play against Toledo on fourth down that resulted in the school's first bowl victory. 

T.Y. Hilton was fun to watch. Hopefully, he won't be remembered for the fumble in this year's bowl game.

Michigan QB John Navarre

John Navarre was often criticized for whatever reason. I'll never understand it. The guy was one of the best quarterbacks for the Wolverines statistically.

He holds Michigan records that include most passing yards in a game, most passing yards in a season and even most passing touchdowns in a single game. He held other records as well, but those were eventually broken by either Chad Henne or current quarterback Denard Robinson.

Navarre may not have been the most popular quarterback or the most successful at the next level. But he got the job done at Michigan and should be more appreciated than what he is.

Kansas State QB Josh Freeman

So what if the Wildcats only won 17 games in the three seasons Freeman was the quarterback? That team was lucky to be that successful.

Freeman did nearly everything for that team as he threw for more than 8,000 yards, rushed for more than 300 and had 64 total touchdowns. He's only one of two quarterbacks in wildcats history to score at least 60 career touchdowns. And to think, many colleges wanted this kid to play tight end.

Many people may forget just how good Freeman was for Kansas State because of their poor record, but he put up numbers during those three seasons. He's one of the most successful players to come out of the university in a long time.

LSU RB Jacob Hester

Jacob Hester may have been a little guy at 5'11", 230 pounds, but his production for the Tigers wasn't.

It took him a while to earn playing time, but his freshman season he did finish with nine tackles on special teams. Hester would fly down the sidelines and blow up whoever had the ball. When his senior season came around, he finished with over 1,000 rushing yards and averaged five yards a touch.

He was a big reason the Tigers won the national championship in 2007. His 86 rushing yards led the team and he was the only LSU player with a rushing touchdown.

It's often the little guys that we take for granted, but Hester made a huge impact on this LSU team for four seasons.

Boise State QB Kellen Moore

Kellen Moore's stats and what he's done at Boise State are fairly well-known.

He put up more than 14,000 yards passing, a career 69.4 completion percentage and 140 passing touchdowns. He also went 50-3 as a starter. But it's not really the statistics that matter so much for the Broncos quarterback. It's the fact that he accomplished so much at Boise State.

This little school in Idaho was never as big as they are now. We were never having debates about whether they should be in the national championship. This quarterback with an odd delivery put this program on his back and was doing it with a roster full of sub-par players. Only a handful of players on this Boise State team could make a roster in a BCS conference, let alone start.

We hear the numbers all the time, but do you really appreciate them?

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]