Bowl season set to kick off … Yes, Virginia, there are still bowl games. Lots of ’em in fact, although nobody knows why. They never did matter all that much, at least the non-New Year’s Day big games, and now they matter even less with the evolution of the CFP playoffs. This year’s bowls get underway with 6 games on Saturday, although there won’t necessarily be much in the way of top draft talent to check out in any of this weekend’s games. The LA Bowl (hosted for some reason by Gronk who apparently will also sing the national anthem) would at least have had a top ten prospect with UCLA (7-5) for all intents and purposes hosting Boise State (7:30 PM ET; ABC), but unfortunately Bruins’ DE Laiatu Latu opted to skip the game in order to start his draft prep. The Bruins, though, will have RB Carson Steele (#33, 6-1, 225) and LB Darius Muasau (#53, 6-1, 230), a couple of decent later round prospects. For its part, Boise State also has a couple of All-Americans in RB Ashton Jeanty (#2, 5-9, 210) who had over 1,800 yards from scrimmage this fall, and P James Ferguson-Reynolds, but both are sophomores who won’t be draft eligible until next year. In the meantime, keep an eye on DE Ahmed Hassanein (#91, 6-3, 275) who had 12.5 sacks this fall in just his 3rd year playing the game after arriving from Egypt.
The only other game Saturday with anything remotely close to any decent prospects is the Independence Bowl in Shreveport (9:15 PM ET) between California and Texas Tech, a couple of 6-6 teams from Power-5 conferences. In fact, both programs got early Xmas presents as both got word that their star RB – sophomore Jadn Ott (#1, 6-0, 200) of the Bears and the Red Raiders’ Tajh Brooks (#28, 5-10, 230) – each of whom was among the top 10 rushers in college football this fall, would be back next year. Texas Tech also features one of the better punters in the country in Austin McNamara, while OLB Steve Linton (#7, 6-5, 235) and OT Caleb Rogers (#76, 6-5, 310) have some later round potential. Same for Cal DT Brett Johnson (#90, 6-5, 295) a strong comeback player of the year candidate who was an emerging star in what seems like years ago, but is finally healthy again after missing more than two full seasons with injuries. Scouts will also be taking a hard look at the Bears’ LB David Reese (#7, 6-1, 240) who had 6.5 sacks this season, and S Patrick McMorris (#9, 6-0, 210).
For the record, Saturday’s other FBS bowls include the Myrtle Beach Bowl (11 AM ET; ESPN) between Ohio and Georgia Southern; the New Orleans Bowl (2:15 PM ET) between Louisiana and Jacksonville State; the Avocados from Mexico Cure Bowl (3:30 PM ET; ABC) between Miami of Ohio and Appalachian State; and the New Mexico Bowl (5:45 PM ET; ESPN) with New Mexico State hosting Fresno State. As an aside note, we are really curious to check out the Cure Bowl as we just aren’t sure why avocados from Mexico would be sponsoring a US college football game. Curious minds wonder about these things!
