Who to watch in college football this week

October 21, 2016

#6 Texas A&M (6-0) at #1 Alabama (6-0); 3:30 PM ET; CBS … NFL scouts have had this game circled since the schedule came out with the prospect of having the consensus top prospect overall in Texas A&M junior DE Myles Garrett going up against the consensus #1 OT in this year’s draft class in Alabama junior LT Cam Robinson. And while the Garrett-Robinson confrontation will indeed be one of the keys in this contest, this game has turned into one of the big games of the year – period – in college football as the Aggies have morphed into the biggest threat on the Alabama schedule.  Alabama still has to play at LSU later in the year, but the winner of Saturday’s A&M-Tide battle looks to have a pretty direct route to the SEC championship game in December, not to mention the BCS playoffs.

Of course, for pro personnel people, their prime scouting focus in this game remains Garrett, the Aggiers’ RDE going against Robinson, the Tide’s LT. In fact, there may be a little more pressure on Robinson who had his hands full dealing with Tennessee DE Derek Barnett last week. However, these two are hardly the only top pro prospects who will be under the gun when the Aggies and Tide kick it off Saturday afternoon. Alabama, for example, has a dominating DE of its own in senior DE Jonathan Allen, another Tide player with top 5-10 potential, while redshirt sophomore CB Marlon Humphrey is one of the top 2-3 candidates at the position for the upcoming draft. Same story for OLB Tim Williams, one of the most explosive edge rusher in the country, although he has struggled at times both on and off the field so far this fall. The talented Alabama defense also features MLB Reuben Foster, SS Eddie Jackson and OLB Ryan Anderson, each of whom has top 100 potential. On the other side of the ball, TE O.J. Howard joins Robinson as this top-rated guy at his position.

While Garrett is unquestionably Texas A&M’s top pro prospect, the key to success against Alabama may be veteran QB Trevor Knight, the one-time Oklahoma starter, who has brought some stability to the position for the Aggies. Knight is an athletic dual-threat although he may somewhat better as a runner than passer. In a sense that’s too bad for the Aggies as they have one of the most explosive receiver corps in the country including emerging senior Josh Reynolds and juniors Ricky Seals-Jones and Speedy Noil. Seals-Jones may be the household name among the group, but track-star-turned-wideout Reynolds, a big-play threat who has averaged 19.5 yards per catch this fall, is the rising draft star. Meanwhile, Garrett is not the only Aggie defender who pro scouts will be watching as safety Justin Evans, who leads the team in both tackles and interceptions, has emerged as one of the top 5 candidates at that position. At the same time, senior DE Daeshon Hall combines with Garrett to give the Aggies one of the better 1-2 DE combos in college football. Prospects to watch:

TEXAS A&M                                                                              ALABAMA

#8    QB   Trevor Knight, 6-1, 215                                               #74  OT  Cam Robinson, 6-5, 330, JR
#9    WR   Ricky Seals-Jones, 6-4, 240, JR                              #50  OG Alphonse Taylor, 6-5, 345
#11   WR   Josh Reynolds, 6-3, 195                                            #88  TE  OJ Howard, 6-5, 245
#2    WR   Speedy Noil, 5-10, 200, JR                                        #93  DE  Jonathan Allen, 6-3, 295
#65  OT    Avery Gennesy, 6-5, 315                                               #9  DE  Da’Shawn Hand, 6-3, 280
#15   DE   Myles Garrett, 6-5, 270, JR                                       #54  DE  Dalvin Tomlinson, 6-3, 305
#10   DE   Daeshon Hall, 6-5, 270                                              #10  MLB Reuben Foster, 6-1, 240
#14   SS     Justin Evans, 6-0, 200                                              #56  LB Tim Williams, 6-3, 240
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                              #22  LB  Ryan Anderson, 6-2, 255
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                              #26  CB  Marlon Humphrey, 6-1, 200, RSO
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                               #4    SS   Eddie Jackson, 6-0, 195
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                              #99  PK  Adam Griffith, 5-10, 195
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                               #15   P    JK Scott, 6-5, 200, JR