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Wednesdays Watchers is a weekly feature breaking down the players who's draft stock were most affected by the past weekend's games, for good, or for bad. Who's rising? Who's Falling? Find out each week with Wednesdays Watchers!
1. Cordarrelle Patterson- WR Tennessee. Every year, there is a prospect or two who comes straight out of JUCO,
and bursts onto the college football scene (Usually in the S.E.C). He spend 2 years at JUCO getting his academics in order, but it's not like he's coming from totally off the radar, as Patterson was the clear-cut #1 JUCO recruit, and was heavily recruited by most College Football powers. He's 6-3, 205, and has showed off his blazing speed and acceleration so far, torching NC State for 45, and 67 yard TD's in game one, which has him at 21 yards a Touch, through two games. It's only been two games, but Patterson's play demands our immediate attention, and is already considered one of the top Junior talents in the nation.
2. Jonathan Banks/Darius Slay- CB Mississippi State. Jonathan Banks has been firmly on the radar for some time now, and certainly could have been a Top 50 pick last year had he entered the draft. Darius Slay however, is yet another JUCO transfer who is paying large dividends. This, Slay's 2nd season, is off to a great start, as he has already recorded 2 INT's. Besides the stats, Slay moves extremely well for a 6-1 Corner, showing excellent speed and a great first step. Banks just kept doing his thing Saturday in a route of Auburn, intercepting 2 passes, and almost scoring a Touchdown. It's such a great class of Corners, and Banks is right in contention for the #1 CB.
3. David Amerson- CB NC State. First off, I thought David Amerson was given far too much criticism for his first game against Tennessee. Certainly he didn't have his best game, but people jumped off the bandwagon way too soon, as Amerson bounced back with a huge 2nd game against UCONN. Granted it was the Huskies, and not the Volunteers, but Amerson was very aggressive, and instinctive, which led to his 1st interception of the season, and breaking up a UCONN 4th and 5 pass at the end of the game. He played a huge part in holding the Huskies to only 204 yards through the air.
4. Jordan Poyer- CB Oregon State. Wisconsin vs Oregon State was one of the most boring games of the weekend, as neither offense could do much of anything. For Oregon State, they were able to stack the box and shut down Wisconsin's run game, trusting their secondary to hold their own, and they did more than that. Jordan Poyer looked like Tyrann Mathieu on Saturday, completely locking down his half of the field, giving Danny O'Brien nowhere to throw the football. Poyer also chipped in with a huge Sack, and forced fumble. We have an outstanding class of Cornerbacks this year, and Poyer I feel will be a guy who is underrated all year!
5. Kawann Short- DT Purdue. Kawann Short is another guy who could have been a Top 50 pick last year had he entered the draft, but he chose to stay, and this year has not missed a beat. He has 5 tackles on the season so far, 3 Sacks. He was an absolute beat Saturday against Notre Dame, playing a huge role in holding the Irish to only 52 yards on the ground, despite Notre Dame having 36 rushing attempts. He also had two big sacks, while bring constant pressure on the Quarterback. Kawann Short has moved up to #16 in our Top 50 Rankings.
6. Johnathan Franklin- RB U.C.L.A Jim Mora has the Bruins looking nothing like the underachievers we've been used to seeing in recent years. U.C.L.A is playing with a ton of energy and enthusiasm, and a lot of that is thanks to star RB Johnathan Franklin. Franklin rushed for 214 yards on 15 carries against Rice, then followed that up with 215 yards rushing and 59 yards receiving in an upset win over Nebraska. Franklin is a bit undersized, but is a very shifty, powerful runner with a low center of gravity. He's making a big name for himself, and certainly is drawing NFL attention.
1. RB's Marcus Lattimore/Knile Davis. These are two prospects who I still love, but I fear neither is 100% recovered
from torn A.C.L's last year. Though Lattimore has 3 TD's, and Davis 2, it's obvious they aren't the same player's they were just yet. Lattimore has always been a "Bruiser" but he is lacking an obvious explosiveness that he has had the past two years. Evidenced by a 4.2 YPC average, which has been 4.8, and 5.0 over the past two years. He isn't able to explode and accelerate like we are used to seeing from him. Same for Davis, who has a 3.9 YPC Average, compared to 4.9 and 6.5 the last 2 years. Hopefully they are just knocking the rust off, but if they aren't able to recover fully from their knee injuries, that could become a serious issue.
2. Sheldon Richardson- DT Missouri. Overall, it just wasn't a great day for Junior DT Sheldon Richardson. Richardson made waves saying Georgia played "Old Man Football" dismissing their offensive attack. When you make that type of statement, you had better to be able to back it up, Richardson wasn't atrocious, but Missouri was unable to bring pressure on QB Aaron Murray, and Todd Gurley ran for 6.5 YPC. Richardson had his moments, but he shone the spotlight on himself, and didn't do nearly enough to earn the limelight. He's been highly touted as a Junior, but likely should not consider leaving as an underclassmen.
3. Brad Sorensen- QB Southern Utah. Believe it or not, a Southern Utah player was generating considerable buzz coming into this season. Sorensen threw for over 3,100 yards last year, and many felt he was an FCS QB who could play at the next level. So far I have been very unimpressed. He was dreadful in Game One against Utah State, going 12-31, 0-1, in a blowout loss. His numbers against Cal were better, 31 for 45, with 4 TD's and 1 INT, however his yards per completion were just over 9, getting mostly dump offs. To me, Sorensen lacks the top end arm strength to be considered a QB from the FCS level that I should pay considerable attention to.
4. Khaled Holmes- Center U.S.C. It was just a nightmare day for U.S.C's star Center. The main reason he is on this list is because he was carted off the field late in the game with a Lower Leg injury. We've been hearing it's a high ankle sprain, which obviously is not a good thing. He likely will miss some time, and that unfortunately, is an injury which can linger. Even before Holmes went out of the game, he was struggling on the field. He gave up at least 2 TFL's, and 1 Sack. Fumbled a snap, and overall just did not get a great push against a mediocre Syracuse D-Line.