Ready for Some Football

It is that time of the year again, time for the start of college football. What would the start of college football be without a preseason All-American list? Once again, I am here to give you my preseason All-Americans. As usual, there will be more than 11 a side, to account for the different types of formations (spread, three receiver set, 4-3, 3-4, etc). I explain some of my picks, while others I do not. Why? Because I can.  (Starters in capitals).

Offense

QB - AARON MURRAY, Georgia; Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville; Tajh Boyd, Clemson - I know that the topic is not who is included, but it is now who was left off - that is right, no Johnny Manziell - and it has nothing to do with all of the problems of the offseason.  Murray is about ready to rewrite the entire SEC passing record book, Bridgewater is the most accurate quarterback in football and Boyd is every bit the dual threat Manziell is.  In fact, I could think of three or four more to place here before I get to Manziell.

RB - D'ANTHONY THOMAS, Oregon; LACHE SEASTRUNK, Baylor; Ka'Deem Carey, Arizona; Todd Gurley, Georgia - Other than Clowney, this might be the most talented group on the board.  Thomas or Carey could single handedly win the Pac-10 (or whatever number they are using nowadays).  With all due respect to T.J. Yeldon, Gurley is the best RB in the SEC.  Seastrunk might be the most dynamic player in the country.  Is that Ka'Deem?  Nah, that ain't Ka'Deem!

WR - MARQUISE LEE, USC; SAMMY WATKINS, Clemson; Amari Cooper, Alabama; Stefon Diggs, Maryland - The first three are self-explanatory, or at least they should be.  Easiest starters to pick other than Clowney and Santos, especially for my brother Marquise.  I had to put Diggs somewhere, and since I did not select Duke Johnson as a RB, he has to be my special teams returner.

TE - AUSTIN SEFERIAN-JENKINS, Washington; Eric Ebron, Jr., North Carolina - The weakest spot in the team, but Seferian-Jenkins already has over 100 career catches.

OL - JAKE MATTHEWS, Texas A and M; DAVID YANKEY, Stanford; GABE IKARD, Oklahoma; CYRIL RICHARDSON, Baylor; TAYLOR LEWAN, Michigan; Cyrus Kuandijo, Alabama - Matthews will need to step into Luke Joeckel's shoes.  All 6 of these lineman are important cogs to their teams success this year.

Defense

DE - JADEVEON CLOWNEY, South Carolina; DEVONTE FIELDS, TCU; Stephen Tuitt, Notre Dame - With Clowney heading this group, no justification is really necessary.  I look for Fields to take a huge leap this year.  Tuitt had 12 sacks last year.

DT - WILL SUTTON, Arizona State; LOUIS NIX, Notre Dame; Tim Jernigan, Florida State; Dominque Easley, Florida - Sutton is the best collegiate DT since Ndamulkong Suh, and he can single-handedly stop a run game while also provide a bit of a pass rush up the middle.  Easley might be the stretch here, but I look for him to be up to the challenge of the tough SEC trenches.

LB - C.J. MOSLEY, Alabama; ANTHONY BARR, UCLA; KYLE VAN NOY, BYU; Ryan Shazier, Ohio State; Chris Borland, Wisconsin; Denzel Nkemdiche, Mississippi - Mosley and Barr are no brainers, while Van Noy has 45 tackles for loss in his career.  Shazier and Borland will rack up lots of tackles in the run happy Big 10.  I include Nkemdiche because a couple of years ago I mentioned, but did not include, a young Jon Bostic.  Nkemdiche has all kinds of talent and athleticism.

CB - BRADLEY ROBY, Ohio State; IFO EKPRE-OLOMU, JR., Oregon; Jason Verett, TCU; Louchiez Purifoy, Florida - Roby might not make a tackle or interception this year, teams are that scared of  him.  Ekpre-Olomu has the best name on the team.  Purifoy might play both ways this year.

S - ED REYNOLDS, Stanford; HA HA CLINTON-DIX, Alabama; Craig Loston, LSU; Lamarcus Joyner, FSU - Ed Reynolds is a returning Thorpe Award finalist, and there is nothing funny about the way Clinton-Dix plays with his 5 interceptions last year.  Joyner can play either corner or safety.

Special Teams

K - CAIRO SANTOS, Tulane - Nobody else is even close.  Second easiest choice in this list.

P - KYLE CHRISTY, Florida - He was the best punter last year; he should continue to be the best punter this year.

KR/PR - DUKE JOHNSON, Miami; Dri Archer, Kent State; - Duke Johnson does it all, including starting running back this year.  He is likely going to be the best player on the field in every game he plays this year.  Scored touchdowns rushing, receiving and returning last year.  Diggs and Thomas could also have been used here, but they are listed at WR and RB already.

All-Professional Footballers

As we approach the NFL Final Four, and on the heels of naming my collegiate Pepster All-Americans, it is time to name the best professional footballers of this NFL season.  This is my reflection of the best players from throughout the NFL.  It is simply who I thought played the best this year.  Although there are more than 11 offensive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I also choose some backups to account for different styles of players. I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I feel like it. Now here are the Pepster 2012 All-Pros.


Offense

QB - Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers; Tom Brady, New England Patriots - Controversy out of the gate as no Peyton Manning and none of the "young guns".  Don't worry RGIII, you will have plenty of time to make this list if you stay healthy, and Luck and Wilson look like future staples.  As far as no Manning, Rodgers and Brady just looked much more in control of games, against much stiffer competition than the AFC West this year.  Rodgers was first in QB rating, and Brady's Patriots led the league in scoring.

RB - Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings; Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks; Alfred Morris, Washington Redskins - No explanation should be necessary, nor will be forthcoming.

WR - Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions; Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears; Andre Johnson, Houston Texans; Wes Welker, New England Patriots - C. Johnson with a single season record 1,964 yards and 122 receptions and Marshall with an often electrifying 118 catches, for 1,508 yards and 11 TDs.  Johnson and Welker with equally spectacular seasons, although 118 catches for Welker can be described as ho-hum.  Remember all of the "where is Wes Welker in the playbook" discussions the first quarter of the season?

TE - Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta Hawks; Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys - Two of the all-time greats.

T - Ryan Clady, Denver Broncos; Joe Staley San Francisco 49ers; Joe Thomas, Cleveland Browns - Clady and Staley are nasty.  Staley's performance with one hand against Matthews was phenomenal.

G - Mike Iupati, San Francisco 49ers; Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens;  Logan Mankins, New England Patriots - Iupati, in my opinion, is the best offensive lineman in the game.  Yanda always seems to control his guy.  Mankins because the highest scoring offense has to get some line credit, and he is the best on that team.

C - Mike Pouncey, Miami Dolphins; Maurkice Pouncey, Pittsburgh Steelers - Mike doesn't get much credit yet because of his team.  When I asked Mike who should back him up on this team, he responded, "My brother Maurkice, calling up the freaks"!

Defense

DE - J.J Watt, Houston Texans; Julius Peppers, Chicago Bears; Cameron Wake - No discussion necessary.

DT - Vince Wilfork, New England Patriots; Justin Smith, San Francisco 49ers; Haloti Ngata - Again, no discussion necessary, but I will say that Wilfork, Watt and Charles Tillman should be the only 3 vote getters for defensive player of the year.

OLB - Aldon Smith, San Francisco 49ers; Von Miller, Denver Broncos; Chad Greenway, Minnesota Vikings - Smith and Miller are game changing defensive players.  Greenway led all outside backers in tackles.

ILB - Patrick Willis, San Francisco 49ers; NaVorro Bowman, San Francisco 49ers; Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers; London Fletcher, Washington Redskins; Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots - The Niners picks are no brainers, Kuechly led the league in tackles, and Fletcher has been good for a long, long, long time!!!

CB - Charles Tillman, Chicago Bears; Richard Sherman, Seattle Seahawks; Tim Jennings, Chicago Bears; Patrick Peterson, Arizona Cardinals - See my Tillman note above, and Sherman was fantastic.  Jennings led the NFL in picks with 9.  As for Peterson, remember when the Cardinals were undefeated and had a great defense - yeah me either - but Peterson is awesome.

S - Dashon Goldson, San Francisco 49ers; Thomas DeCoud, Atlanta Falcons; Morgan Burnett, Green Bay Packers; Thomas Davis, Carolina Panthers - Goldson is always around the ball, on runs or passes, and DeCoud caught every overthrown pass in the NFL. Burnett led all safeties in tackles, and I just love watching Thomas Davis play.

Special Teams

K - Blair Walsh, Minnesota - One of the greatest kicking seasons in history.  36-36 on extra points and 35-38 on FGAs, including 10-10 over 50 yards.

P - Andy Lee, San Francisco 49ers - I don't normally care about punters, and Lee led the league in net yardage (along with Thomas Morestead), but dropped more than Morestead inside the 20.

R - Jacoby Jones, Baltimore Ravens (Kicks); Leodis McKelvin, Buffalo Bills (Punts); T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts - all three were incredibly exciting, although Trindan Holliday marks a huge run after his playoff performance.  I could also just have Patrick Peterson return kicks as well.

The Ole College Try

Once again, I will attempt to do a weekly wrap-up of the college football season, told from a couple of days distance simply to let some of the stories simmer a bit and to gain a bit of perspective. Generally this column will come out on Wednesday. Although you may have a different take on the past weekend, I can only truly comment on games that I have seen, and this is my perspective.

Also, I write this column as if every player is a Heisman Trophy candidate. Why? Because it is ridiculously ludicrous that the networks, including the World Wide Leader, nay, especially the World Wide Leader, emphasize the Heisman Trophy race this early in the season. After all, who knew who Mark Ingram was at this time last year. Regular readers will remember, or at least can go look up, my initial column last year where I accurately predicted the third straight sophomore Heisman winner (so what if it wasn't Jacory Harris?) Consider this my sarcastic homage to stupid reporting.

The only thing is we have no "Big 3 Edition" this season, since Bradford, McCoy and Tebow all defected to the riches of the NFL.

Heisman Watch

Quarterback Edition

Favorite - Kellen Moore - Boise State - Only 23-38 for 215 yards, but 3 TDs, including the last minute, prime time Labor Day evening game winner over Virginia Tech.

Tyler Yates - North Carolina - 412 yards, 3 TDs, no INTs against LSU. North Carolina's defense was undermanned this game (perhaps the season), so they needed every single one of Yates' yards to even compete.

Sleeper - Nick Foles - Arizona - 32-37 for 360 yards. Only 5 incompletions. Did have 1 interception, though.

Rising - Andrew Luck - Stanford - With his old backfield mate now on the Vikings (that's Toby Gerhart), this is Luck's team. Could be in contention for a PAC-10 title.

Falling - Nobody - yet.

And yes, I suspect this is the only time Yates and Foles merit mention in this column.

Running Back Edition

Favorite - Demarco Murray - Oklahoma - 208 yards and 2 TDs. This team is now definitely back to being a running team, and Murray is the lead horse.

John Clay - Wisconsin - Only 123 yards, but on 17 carries. Will have a much heavier workload in tougher games.

Sleeper - Davin Meggett - Maryland - 105 yards, but on only 8 carries. I don't expect him to keep up this pace, but the Terps need something to work on offense for them to be good this year.

Rising - Nobody is rising after only one week.

Falling - Same.

Defensive Leader - Lance Mitchell S - Oregon State - 18 tackles! Not sure OSU wants its safety to have this many tackles, but he deserves to be on top for this week.

Co-Leader - Janoris Jenkins - CB - Florida - When the Gators so desperately needed a play, it was Jenkins, and not any of the members of the vaunted offense, that stepped up.

Player to Watch

Jacory Harris - QB - Miami - I am going with him for the second straight year after week 1. The fact that the Canes need him to play extremely well going into the Horseshoe is understating the facts.

My New Favorite Player

Kyle Padron - QB - Southern Methodist - Simply because of his name

Goat of the Week (Player Edition)

Mike Pouncey - C (former C) - Florida - He is not his brother Maurkice. Must have had 300 bad snaps during the game. Almost cost them the game against Miami (OH). One of the ESPN announcers stated that the Gators should bench Brantley and promote a shortstop.

Goat of the Week (Coach Edition)

Ken Niumatalolo - Navy - I understand going for it when your team is the underdog, tired, and becoming less and less competitve. When you have the better and stronger team? Go for the tie, prolong the game and outlast the weaker opponent. Even Niumatalolo admitted this mistake. You were rushing at will against Maryland, did you think that wasn't going to last in overtime?

Predicted BCS Championship Game Matchup
Boise State v. Alabama - Boise State has one big matchup left, against Oregon State. Alabama, until someone knocks them off is on top. Still way too early to tell.

Rant(s) of the Week
Florida State wide reciever/punt returner Greg Reid goes down with what looks to be a leg cramp, but could be more serious. The team gets him to the sidelines, and right in front of the cameras someone gives him a pill, puts something in his water bottle and has him drink. Now, I am sure it was a potassium pill or something similar, but for crying out loud, in this day and age of PEDs, at least have someone tell the audience what it was that he took.

Congratulations of the Week

Boise State - For the first time in their history, they looked like an actual great (potentially) team, rather than just a plucky good story with a good system.

Under Performance of the Week

Florida - Just awful. They got outplayed. Lucky to have won.

Offensive Play of the Week

Touchdown Catch by Boise State TE Tommy Gallarda. Magnificent diving catch in the endzone, holding onto the ball while hitting the ground with his elbow.

Co-Defensive Plays of the Week

Maryland Safety Kenny Tate stopping Navy QB Ricky Dobbs at the goal line with :34 left was important, but it paled in comparison to teammate Adrian Moten jumping over the line of scrimmage at the snap and simultaneously sacking Dobbs and causing a fumble. Roy Williams-like in athleticism.

Trivia Question of the Week

TCU QB Andy Dalton is tied with the most wins in school history. With who is he tied?

Matchup(s) to Watch

3. USF v. Florida - Could Florida really be that bad? South Florida QB B.J. Daniels is a handful - if you don't believe me, ask Florida State fans.

2. Florida State v. Oklahoma - Florida State's offense can compete with anyone, now we will see if the Seminoles defense can stop somebody good. Demarco Murray and Ryan Broyles give Landry Jones two phenomenal weapons to use.

1. Miami v. Ohio State - Need you ask?

Waiting for College Football

As we approach the commencement of college football season, I feel that this is the appropriate time to unveil my preseason All-American team. At the urging of Jorge O., it is time to have a beer in hand, breakfast on the stove, and college football on the television. A few rules, although there are more than 11 offenseive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I can. Now here are the Pepster Preseason All-Americans.

Offense

QB - Kellen Moore, Boise State; Case Keenum, Houston - I had Moore as my second team NCAA All-American QB last season, and he returns. Keenum will put up tons and tons of stats. Moore may finish undefeated and gain a birth in the BCS Championship game. If I had to pick a surprise third QB, it would be Christian Ponder of FSU.

RB - Mark Ingram, Alabama; Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech; Jazquizz Rodgers, Oregon State; Dion Lewis, Pittsburgh; John Clay, Wisconsin - Ingram and Williams are returning from my post-season All-American list last season, even though Ingram may not be the best running back on his team (see Richardson, Trent). Williams is my preseason player of the year. Lewis and Clay will both post lots and lots of yards, and are likely conference player of the year candidates, especially Clay behind that big Wisconsin line.

WR - A.J. Green, Georgia; Michael Floyd, Notre Dame; Julio Jones, Alabama; Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma - I having been touting Green for a couple of years, and Floyd was likely Notre Dame's best receiver last year. It is now time for Jones to show the fruits of all of that talent of his. Broyles could catch 90 balls.

TE - D.J Williams, Arkansas; Kyle Rudolph, Notre Dame - Ryan Mallet could make a real star out of Williams.

T - Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin; Jason Pinkston, Pittsburgh - Look for both offensives to strive this year.

G - Rodney Hudson, Florida State; John Moffitt, Wisconsin - Hudson was a Pepster All-American last year, and Moffitt will lead the interior of a great running game at Wisconsin.

C - Mike Pouncey, Florida - Only because his brother Maurkice is gone.

Defense

DE - Adrian Clayborn, Iowa; Cameron Heyward, Ohio State - Both very experienced, and both will wreak havoc on opposing offenses. Heyward is the son of former NFLer Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, so he must be tough.

DT - Jared Crick, Nebraska; Stephen Paea, Oregon State - Crick learned by playing next to the best, Ndamukong Suh, last season, and more than holding his own. Paea is a small mountain.

LB - Von Miller, Texas A & M; Greg Jones, Michigan State; Quan Sturdivant, North Carolina; Vontaze Burfict, Arizona State; Dont'a Hightower, Alabama; Sean Spence, Miami - All athletic beasts that will make a ton of tackles. OK, maybe Spence was a bit of a homer pic.

CB - Patrick Peterson, LSU; Brandon Harris, Miami; Janoris Jenkins, Florida - Harris among the leaders is passes defensed last year. Jenkins will make sure that Gators fans do not miss Joe Haden too much.

S - Rahim Moore, UCLA; DeAndre McDaniel, Clemson - The easiest position to select on the team, as both were high talents last year among the NCAA interception leaders

Special Teams

K - Matt Bosher, Miami - A little homerism, but, he is just the kicker.

P - Drew Butler, Georgia - Again, he is just the punter.

R - LaVon Brazill, Ohio University - A great returner, and he is from nearby my hometown.

Forgive me for any typographical errors, I didn't feel like proofreading this. I simply want to start college football season. Stay tuned for my weekly college football updates.