Are you ready for some football!!! … There actually were some college football games this past weekend, but the 2018 collegiate season gets underway in earnest this coming week with the first full weekend of games in what promises to be a really interesting season. No surprise here that Alabama and Clemson, the past two national champions, again look to be the class of the field, but there should be really competitive races in conferences like the Big Ten – and especially the B10 East – as well as the PAC-12, where any one of a half dozen teams could emerge as champion. There will also be plenty of talented players to watch in anticipation of the 2019 draft – which for the record is just 250 days away – in action this fall. In particular, the upcoming draft looks like it will the year of the defensive lineman. Indeed, it wouldn’t be a shock if the top 5 picks next April were defensive lineman from a group that includes DEs Nick Bosa of Ohio State, Michigan’s DE Rashan Gary, Clelin Ferrell of Clemson, Alabama’s Raekwon Davis and Zach Allen of Boston College and DTs Ed Oliver of Houston and Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins of Clemson among others. The 2019 draft could also include a very good group of OTs as well another very talented set of RBs. And while this year’s QB class has more questions than this past year’s group, there are a lot of talented passers out there with at least some opening round potential including Justin Herbert of Oregon, West Virginia gunslinger Will Grier, Nick Fitzgerald of Mississippi State, Jarrett Stidham of Auburn, Missouri’s Drew Lock, Ryan Finley of NC State, Clayton Thorson of Northwestern, Khalil Tate of Arizona, Washington’s Jake Browning and Tyree Jackson of Buffalo among others. We’ll have more in-depth previews of some of the individual positions over the course of the next several weeks. For now, here are our staff picks for the top teams and players for the upcoming college football season. Enjoy. Should be fun.
