40 Players in 40 Days: Number 18 Brandin Cooks

(photo cred: John Miller - Associated Press)

Wouldn’t you know it? Suddenly tonight has turned into another catch up night in the top 40 countdown as we reveal a third player. We revealed an offensive skill position player for a Northwest school earlier tonight and here comes another as the 18^th best player in the Pac-12 in 2013 is Oregon State Junior Wide Receiver Brandin Cooks. The previous names on the list are as follows:

 40. WR Chris Harper, Cal
39. OLB/S Dion Bailey, USC
38. S Alden Darby, Arizona State
37. OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
36. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Colorado
35. S Deon Bucannon, Washington State
34. LB Shaq Thompson, Washington
33. DE Taylor Hart, Oregon
32. DT DeAndre Coleman, Cal
31. CB Terrance Mitchell, Oregon
30. C Hroniss Grassu, Oregon
29. DL Henry Anderson, Stanford
28. QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford
27. LB Carl Bradford, Arizona State
26. RB Storm Woods, Oregon State
25. QB Taylor Kelly, Arizona State
24. DL Cassius Marsh, UCLA
23. S Ed Reynolds, Stanford
22. OT Jeremiah Poutasi, Utah
21. TE Colt Lyerla, Oregon
20. RB Bishop Sankey, Washington

19. DT Leonard Williams, USC

Cooks is one of the best deep threats in college football, he has great straight line speed but he is so much more than a track runner. He has great change of direction ability and is deceptively strong for his size. Those attributes allow him to beat cornerbacks off the line, run great routes to gain separation and sprint down field to create big plays. Those abilities also make him a beast after the catch which allowed OSU to call simple, short passes to give Cooks the ball close to the line of scrimmage and watch him burst for 10, 20, and sometimes 30+ yards. Cooks also possess smooth hands and great concentration which allows him to haul in poorly thrown passes and make a play when the team needs him to.

Here is the play that I think was his best highlight of the season.

Against UCLA, he gets good separation off the line and doesn’t allow the UCLA corner to jam him or rub him off his route. He makes a strong catch with some traffic around him and then turns on the jets to run away from defenders for an additional 65 yards and the touchdown as he turns a 10 yard slant and into a huge play.

All that game breaking ability was enough for Cooks to tally 67 receptions, 1151 yards, and 5 touchdowns in 2012. He had to play Robin to teammate Markus Wheaton’s Batman who was a 1^st team All-Pac 12 selection. However, with Wheaton moving on to the NFL, I expect Cooks’ role in the offense to increase even more and his production to balloon even further (especially his touchdown total).

His big question mark is obviously his size. At 5’10’’ he will have trouble at the next level. He can survive against college corners right now but he could have difficulty staying on his route against bigger and more physical corners in the NFL who have more freedom to play bump and run coverage. Pac-12 alumni like Steve Smith and DeSean Jackson have proven in recent years that one can be successful as a short WR in the NFL but I personally would prefer to see Cooks work in the slot at the next level. I think Cooks has elite after the catch abilities that few in college football can match and I believe he can best translate that at the next level by working out of the slot and trying to create matchup problems.

Brandin Cooks is simply put, one of the best Wide Receivers in college football. He is a dynamic threat that Defensive Coordinator’s need to start game planning for on Monday in order to be ready by Saturday. Thanks to his more productive team Markus Wheaton, Cooks was not an All-Pac-12 pick last season. With Wheaton gone and Cooks ready for his close up, a lack of accolades won’t be a problem in 2013.

40 Players in 40 Days: Numner 19 Leonard Williams

After Bishop Sankey was revealed earlier tonight, the Top 40 Players in the Pac-12 for 2013 rolls on with one of the brightest young defensive linemen in college football. This young man graduated from high school only 14 months ago but that hasn't stopped him from quickly becoming one of the most dominant defensive players on the west coast. The 19th best player in the Pac-12 for 2013 is USC DT Leonard Williams. You know the drill by now, here’s a recap of the first 21 names on the list:

40. WR Chris Harper, Cal
39. OLB/S Dion Bailey, USC
38. S Alden Darby, Arizona State
37. OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
36. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Colorado
35. S Deon Bucannon, Washington State
34. LB Shaq Thompson, Washington
33. DE Taylor Hart, Oregon
32. DT DeAndre Coleman, Cal
31. CB Terrance Mitchell, Oregon
30. C Hroniss Grassu, Oregon
29. DL Henry Anderson, Stanford
28. QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford
27. LB Carl Bradford, Arizona State
26. RB Storm Woods, Oregon State
25. QB Taylor Kelly, Arizona State
24. DL Cassius Marsh, UCLA
23. S Ed Reynolds, Stanford
22. OT Jeremiah Poutasi, Utah
21. TE Colt Lyerla, Oregon
20. RB Bishop Sankey, Washington

(photo cred: George Frey - Getty Images)

The USC defense was an unmitigated tire fire last season but that doesn’t mean the Trojans were without any bright spots amidst the rumble. Perhaps the brightest ray of hope was Williams who was honored as the Pac-12 defensive newcomer of the year after tallying 64 tackles (very high for a DT), 11.5 TFLs, 8 sacks, and 5 passes defended.

Williams’ athleticism and ability level is ridiculous. Here’s a quick little highlight film of Williams from last season. You can see he gets a great jump of the ball and uses his hands very well. His pass rushing moves and his block shedding ability is already elite which is rare to find in a true freshman. He has a long athletic frame at 6’5’’ which allows him to keep blockers at a distance and reach out and grab ball carriers. In the video you can even see him make a very smart play on his one interception last season. On screen passes, a lot of defensive linemen will get excited when the offensive line turns them loose and will go screaming after the QB and forget that they were let go for a reason. This is especially the case for true freshmen who routinely convince themselves that the offense has blown the blocking assignment and go looking to take the QB’s head off while taking themselves right out of the play. Williams makes a rare play for a recent high school grad though as he reads the blocks, finds the ball running back, and steps in front of him for the pick.

His length, athleticism, and movement skills make him a premier interior pass rusher but he needs to get bigger. He weighs only 270 pounds and was frequently exposed by bigger and more physical Guards in the run game. The encouraging thing for Williams is that he’s only 19 years old and still growing and with his tall and long frame, I think he has room to add another 15-20 pounds of muscle without sacrificing any athleticism.

He was put in a run stopping position last season in Monte Kiffin’s 4-3 but I think Clancy Pendergast’s new defense will really benefit him. Pendergast’s 3-4 (I know everyone at USC keeps calling it a 5-2 but that implies five defensive linemen on the field together at one time which would produce the slowest defense in the modern era. USC’s alignment is going to be a 3-4 that uses strictly 3-4 principles but always lines up with both OLBs on the line of scrimmage). In the new defense, Leonard will have more support around him to help against the run and he won’t be such a focal point on run downs for opposing offenses. Also, the ability to face up against Offensive Tackles and really use pass rushing moves instead of trying to shoot the gap between the guard and the tackle or the guard and the center should benefit him as well.

His production was good, especially for someone so young but it wasn’t Will Sutton good or even Ben Gardner good which prevents him from being higher on the list. Also being so young and having not yet truly grown into his body makes his placement in the top 20 a bit of a projection based on talent and future potential. However, I’m comfortable putting him here based on his future, especially considering at least one talent evaluator says he would be a top 50 prospect in the 2014 draft even though he isn’t eligible until 2015. Leonard Williams may hate El Paso,Texas, but with his potential and the other talented pieces at USC fitting into a system that better suits their talent, he shouldn’t have to go back to the Sun Bowl.

40 Players in 40 Days: Number 20 Bishop Sankey

Tonight, the second half of the top 40 countdown begins with the second Washington Husky to make the list, Junior Running Back Bishop Sankey, one of the great breakout players of 2012 who is set for big things in 2013. Before we get to Sankey, here's a recap of the first half of the list:

40. WR Chris Harper, Cal
39. OLB/S Dion Bailey, USC
38. S Alden Darby, Arizona State
37. OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
36. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Colorado
35. S Deon Bucannon, Washington State
34. LB Shaq Thompson, Washington
33. DE Taylor Hart, Oregon
32. DT DeAndre Coleman, Cal
31. CB Terrance Mitchell, Oregon
30. C Hroniss Grassu, Oregon
29. DL Henry Anderson, Stanford
28. QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford
27. LB Carl Bradford, Arizona State
26. RB Storm Woods, Oregon State
25. QB Taylor Kelly, Arizona State
24. DL Cassius Marsh, UCLA
23. S Ed Reynolds, Stanford
22. OT Jeremiah Poutasi, Utah
21. TE Colt Lyerla, Oregon

(photo cred:  Marcio Jose Sanchez - Associated Press)

Heading into 2012, the general opinion that most fans had about Washington was that the Huskies would move the ball effectively and score points but the offense would have to be mostly one dimensional. The Huskies had Keith Price returning for his junior year and coming off a record breaking sophomore season supplemented by the most talented tight end in the country in Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and WR Kasen Williams who was coming off one of the best freshman receiving seasons in Husky history. The consensus was that Price and friends would be able to pick up yards through the air at will but the team would struggle to run the ball. After all, the Husky had just lost senior tailback Chris Polk who had put together three consecutive seasons of 1200+ yards (including back to back 1400+ seasons) and had largely been defined as the heart and soul of the 2010 and 2011 UW teams. That combined with a shaky offensive line that was banged up heading into the season and never got healthy made it look like the Huskies ground game was doomed.

But then the games were played and low and behold, the opposite turned out to be true as the production in the passing game plummeted and Sankey stepped into the starter's role and went off for 1439 yards (fourth best in the Pac-12) and 16 touchdowns (third best).

When I brought up Storm Woods from Oregon State on the countdown I explained that he was on the list because he had no holes in his game and that made him a top 40 player despite not having any one attribute that really stood out about him. Sankey also has no glaring holes in his game but he is a top 20 player because he does possess some dynamic talents. Sankey is a very strong runner who is very adept at keeping his balance and falling forward. He isn't as fast as someone like De'Anthony Thomas and he doesn't break tackles at as high a rate as Ka'Deem Carey but he is still better than most at those traits.

He also possess amazing vision, finding cut back lanes and even using his eyes and body language to set up defenders to eventually make them miss. he doesn't just run blindly to where the play call says the hole should be but instead takes the cut back lane and challenges the defenses ability to contain the corner and the backside on every play. I encourage you to peruse this film of Sankey against Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl to see what makes him so special:

You can see how effective he is on every single carry. he usually made the first man miss and the rare time he did get brought down by the first defender, he always fell forward. Early in the clip though, at the 0:27 mark to be precise you can see Sankey showing off his one huge problem. For whatever reason, fumbles are a very poorly tracked stat in college football so I wasn't able to track down an official number on Sankey's fumbles but I can definitely say he had too many of them. The Huskies had 24 fumbles last year and some of them were from Price failing to feel backside pressure and getting the ball swatted and others were from other ball carriers certainly but Sankey had 286 of UW's 466 rushing attempts last season, good for 61% of UW's runs. suffice to say a decent portion of those fumbles came from Sankey.

This particular fumble against Boise is especially troubling because he was holding the ball so loosely. It's not like the defender got a great big punch or swing on the ball or laid a perfect hit and put his helmet square on the pigskin. The defender just reached out his left arm, Sankey ran into it, and out popped the ball. Sankey just doesn't hold onto the ball very strongly and it costs his team from time to time. he also isn't great in pass protection and blitz pick up which you can see in the video above but it seems as though nine out of 10 college running backs struggle with that so I'm not prepared to criticize him too harshly for that.

The bottom line on Sankey is that he is a dynamic, game changing type player. The rest of the Huskies team combined for only three rushing touchdowns behind Sankey and UW"s second leading rusher was a wide receiver by the name of Kendyl Taylor with just 209 yards, almost seven times less than Sankey. Bishop Sankey, in addition to being a star on the Pac-12 all-name team accounted for 36.5% of Washington's total offense and 77.7% of it's rushing yards, two of the best marks in the nation. Some are tempted to say after he matched Polk's production that he is juts a "system back" and that any tailback could be plugged into UW's offense and be productive. In light of UW's struggles on the offensive line (which Steve Sarkisian has frequently used as a crutch and excuse to explain UW's shortcomings but it is true) and the amount of yards Sankey piled up after contact, I refuse to subscribe to that theory. Bishop Sankey would be far from my first pick of top play makers in the Pac-12 but is someone you can build an entire offense around and there are very few players like that. Sankey is an incredible dangerous weapon and a player to watch for closely on Saturdays next season and for many years beyond on Sundays.

40 Players in 40 Days: Number 21 Colt Lyerla

(photo cred: Nate Barrett - Daily Emerald)

After two days of dumping names in mass, we are finally up to date and can now get back to full posts about one player. Today's subject is one of the most freakishly talented players in college football, a man who can often be breathtaking with the ball. However, he also has struggled to match his production with his talent and may have a few of the field issues. The 21st best player in the Pac-12 for 2013 is Oregon Tight End Colt Lyerla. As always, here's a recap of the list so far:

40. WR Chris Harper, Cal
39. OLB/S Dion Bailey, USC
38. S Alden Darby, Arizona State
37. OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
36. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Colorado
35. S Deon Bucannon, Washington State
34. LB Shaq Thompson, Washington
33. DE Taylor Hart, Oregon
32. DT DeAndre Coleman, Cal
31. CB Terrance Mitchell, Oregon
30. C Hroniss Grassu, Oregon
29. DL Henry Anderson, Stanford
28. QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford
27. LB Carl Bradford, Arizona State
26. RB Storm Woods, Oregon State
25. QB Taylor Kelly, Arizona State
24. DL Cassius Marsh, UCLA
23. S Ed Reynolds, Stanford
22. OT Jeremiah Poutasi, Utah

Lyerla is an absolute freak. He can do absolutely anything on the field. he has tremendous size at 6-5, 250 lbs and he uses it well. He can stand his ground and let defenders bounce right off him, he can throw one of the meanest stiff arms you'll ever see (pictured above), and he can use explosive leaping ability combined with his height and length to take to the sky for high passes and snatch them away from defenders. he can line up at TE, Fullback, Running Back, or in the slot, making him one of the most versatile play makers to ever see the field.

I love the mismatches he creates but he still plays a really simple game.Watch this full video of Lyerla's best plays from last year.

You can see his physical play, especially how he runs with the ball as a RB against Arizona. With Oregon losing Kenyon Barner and with DeAnthony Thomas likely not having the physical makeup to be a true feature back, I'd like to see Oregon use Lyerla at tailback more often. But, do you notice something familiar about all his catches? He only runs two routes. He either goes straight down the middle on a seam route or breaks off to the right or left on a quick out route. I don't know if this is the design of the offense or if Lyerla doesn't have the skills to run more routes. It could be a bit of both I suppose but in order for Lyerla to become a truly dominant player he needs to master a more complete route tree. He can get by on his size and athleticism for now but if he wants to be the best (and he is capable) then he needs to expand his skills and becomes a savant at his position.

Better than his pass receiving or even his versatility is the singular ability that makes him a truly great player, and that is his blocking. Lyerla is a force of nature in the run game, one of the few college tight ends I have ever seen consistently solo block defensive linemen and win at the point of attack. A lot of pass receivers hate blocking and constantly demand the ball in their hands and hardly do much work when their teammate has the ball. Not Lyerla, he clearly takes great pride in his blocking and uses his size and brute strength to manhandle defenders and utilizes a tenacious attitude to never let a defender go until the whistle.

Check out this game tape of Lyerla against Kansas State to see what I'm talking about. Facing a very physical and productive front seven, Lyerla consistently gets his hands on defenders and pushes them back, frequently sealing off the edge to spring productive runs for Oregon's tailbacks.

Despite his ridiculously high ability level, Lyerla is not without his issues. As mentioned above, he can only run two routes thus far and in the NFL especially, even the best athletes can't afford to be that predictable. There is also some off the field baggage with Lyerla. He was mysteriously absent from practices just prior to the start of last season. The reason behind that absence could be totally benign but it is something he will have to answer for in NFL interviews. He also stirred up some controversy this off season when he tweeted out conspiracy theory materials regarding the Sandy Hook school shooting. His production also hasn't totally been there. He's only touched the ball 45 times in two seasons so far. he did a lot with them by putting together 616 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns but those numbers still need to get higher in order for him to be the best tight end out there.

Regardless, Lyerla is an amazing athlete and a great football player. Oregon's coaches need to give him the ball more and he should reward them by staying off twitter. If and when those things, I believe Lyerla will surpass all Tight Ends in college football and end up a very high draft pick either next April or in 2015. He might even surpass a certain drunk driver up in Seattle who happens to be coming up on this list in about a week...

40 Players in 40 Days: Numbers 27-22

The Top 40 countdown finally returned to action yesterday after a hiatus and we're back today with a few more names. As explained yesterday, due to changing circumstances in my life the blog and by extension, the countdown take a back seat. I did a multi-player post yesterday and I will have six more players in the post today to get caught up. Before we get started, here's a recap:


40. WR Chris Harper, Cal
39. OLB/S Dion Bailey, USC
38. S Alden Darby, Arizona State
37. OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
36. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Colorado
35. S Deon Bucannon, Washington State
34. LB Shaq Thompson, Washington
33. DE Taylor Hart, Oregon
32. DT DeAndre Coleman, Cal
31. CB Terrance Mitchell, Oregon
30. C Hroniss Grassu, Oregon
29. DL Henry Anderson, Stanford
28. QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford

27. Carl Bradford
Bradford was used sparingly at ASU as a freshman in 2011 under Dennis Erickson and showed flashes of elite ability as a stand up pass rusher. Last season under new head coach Todd Graham, Bradford had a breakout season with 20.5 TFLs, 11.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles. He is a great pass rusher who can get to the QB whenever ASU needs him to. He measures in at 6-1, way below what you normally look for from a 3-4 OLB. Despite racking up 81 tackles, I'd like to see him improve his run defense and as far as his future goes, I can't see him making it in the NFL in a 3-4 at his size. I think he has the talent and skills to be an OLB in a 4-3, especially one with an attacking style that featured him in blitz packages. However, despite his production and ability I question his upward mobility at his position.

26. Storm Woods
Woods came from way off the radar as a freshman in 2012 and broke out to the tune of 1253 yards and 13 TDs. Woods isn't overly explosive, he's not a wildebeest who trucks through defenders on every play. Woods is one of those guys who just does everything well, nothing poorly, and nothing at an elite level. That is both a benefit and a detriment. Woods will ground out his five yards a carry, catch checkdowns, keep the Beavers ahead of the chains and punch the ball into the endzone or past the first down line. It's also a detriment because Woods likely won't break off absurd long runs or score touchdowns in bunches and take over games in a moment. Woods is a fine tailback but he doesn't have the upside of other backs in the conference. I also have my concerns over how he holds up over the course of games. Woods scored only one fourth quarter touchdown, with a 3.87 yard per carry average (versus 4.63, 5.18, and 5.64 in the first three quarters) last season and his longest fourth quarter run all year was just 11 yards.

25. Taylor Kelly
Kelly was one of the nations most efficient passers last season, putting together a 159.45 QB rating, a 66.9 completion percentage, and 8.4 yards per attempt. He is a very accurate passer who distributes the ball to his play makers effectively and avoids costly mistakes. He is also a plus athlete, running on designed plays and scrambling for yardage when the pocket breaks down to the tune of 520 yards last season. Nine interceptions is a pretty low number but he was actually better than that as most of those picks were deflections and miscommunication with receivers. He lacks elite arm strength and is not an overly dynamic player either a s a passer or runner. Like Woods, he's another, everything good, nothing great player but you would be happy to make him your QB as long as you surround him with elite athletes who can run after the catch and a smart play caller who puts him in a position to succeed. Luckily, ASU has both of those things in spades.

24. Cassius Marsh
Marsh is almost like the Pac-12's mystery man. He was wildly over shadowed on UCLA's defense last year thanks to stars like Anthony Barr and Datone Jones. Marsh was responsible mostly for eating up blocks but still found time to produce seven sacks. he wasn't an All-Conference pick and I haven't found too many NFL scouts who love him although I also haven't found one that does not like him. I love his mix of size and athleticism and I really enjoy watching him use his ability to eat up blocks and allow guys behind him like Erik Kendricks to rack up tackles. He isn't an elite pass rusher but he has the size, athleticism, and skill set to play several different position which gives him very good upward mobility down the road.

23. Ed Reynolds
Reynolds is easily the best returning safety in the conference. Reynolds had an incredible year last year, tallying six interceptions and returning half of them for touchdowns. He is a great deep safety with great range, instincts, and ball skills that allow him to cut off an entire section of the field and break passes. Most people define Stanford by their physical play and dominant front seven. However, due to poor defensive back play, Stanford still put up middling defensive numbers for years until last season when the DBs, specifically, Reynolds, caught up to the big guys. He does get in trouble some times by selling out for an interception and mistiming his jump or reading a play a split second too late which leads to a big play surrendered. I also don't like him against run support which isn't a huge deal right now but if he's going to stick in the NFL, he needs to become a better tackler.

22. Jeremiah Poutasi
 The one and only Utah player on the Top 40 countdown happens to be one of the brightest young offensive linemen in the nation and a likely future 1st round pick. Poutasi is a mountain at 6-4, 345 pounds and possesses great quickness and athleticism for his size. He has good foot work and bends well at knees and never gets caught reaching or putting himself off balance. Love his strength at the point of attack and the nasty attitude he plays with however I would like to see him shed a little weight to improve his athleticism and alleviate health concerns that frequently come up for even the healthiest 340+ pounders. Only a Sophomore he has plenty of time to improve as a player and find his right body type. he already has the length, strength, footwork, and raw athleticism to play on Sundays though.

40 Players in 40 Days: Numbers 33-28

As a result, of my life circumstances I am now way behind on the Pac-12 Top 40 Players countdown and as a result, I'm going through a bunch of names with only abbreviated explanations today. The blog had to take an unfortunate sacrifice in the past week and a half and this is the consequence. I'm going to release the next six players in the countdown today and more multi-player posts this week in order to get caught up and do the full blog posts that the top 20 players deserve. Before we get to today's big rundown, here's a recap of the list so far, which I can use myself.

40. WR Chris Harper, Cal
39. OLB/S Dion Bailey, USC
38. S Alden Darby, Arizona State
37. OT Tyler Johnstone, Oregon
36. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Colorado
35. S Deon Bucannon, Washington State
34. LB Shaq Thompson, Washington

33. Taylor Hart
Quick, who led the Ducks last season in sacks? You're first instinct would probably be Dion Jordan, the former All-American pass rusher who was drafted third overall by the Miami Dolphins. It was actually Hart, who tallied eight sacks and played his role within the Ducks defense perfectly. I cant think of anyone else in the conference who is a better system fit than Hart. The Ducks run a 3-4 that is predicated on using height, length, and athleticism at the point of attack. Hart is a beast at 6-6, 292 pounds and uses his size to its utmost potential. He occupies space beautifully, commanding double teams and giving the linebackers behind him freedom to make plays. As a fifth year senior who didn't really break into the lineup until last year you have to wonder about his athletic upside and whether he has reached his ceiling. he also has highly talented sophomore Deforest Buckner hot on his tail searching for more playing time which prevents him from being higher on the list. But, the bottom line is that Hart is a very good and effective player who knows his role on the team and fills it perfectly.

32. Deandre Coleman
Coleman is an interesting guy because his talent and dynamism is undeniable but it just doesn't seem like he has the right fit anywhere. He had the right size to play Nose Tackle and Clancy Pendergast's 3-4 but didnt like it there. He had the athletic upside to play one of the end spots and produce but he might have been a little too big for that spot and teams were able to just run away from him. With Cal moving to a 4-3, I think Coleman is going to finally find his niche as an interior pass rusher who can anchor against the run. He's had a bit of a star-crossed career so far but I'm looking for Coleman to have a huge season terrorizing backfields in the Pac-12.

31. Terrance Mitchell
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu might be the best corner in the nation and he gets all the hype and praise at Oregon but he couldn't do it without Mitchell. Ifo piled up one of the better stat lines you'll ever see from a CB last season but that had a lot to do with what T-Mitch was doing on the other side of the field. Mitchell's guy was simply never open, leading to teams routinely throwing toward Ekpre-Olomu and paying the price for it. Mitchell is actually a little taller and longer than IEP and has better cover skills. IEP is the superior athlete and playmaker which puts him higher on this list and in the eyes of NFL scouts but the gap isn't as wide as many would imagine.

30. Hroniss Grassu
I personally think Grassu is the best Center in the nation. Grassu has to call out protections and identify blitzes at the line of scrimmage and is also faced with making shotgun snaps 80 times a game in Oregon's blistering offense. A lot can go wrong for a center in shotgun, certainly more than with the QB under center so I think Grassu needs to receive more respect for consistently snapping the ball on target and preventing negative plays from happening at the snap on the ball. He may be the best at his position but he is a little diminutive at 6-2, 290 and gets blown off the ball a little too much for my liking. If he can put on some more weight and play more physically, I would put him higher but I think he has room to improve despite being the best.

29. Henry Anderson
I touched on this in the Tyler Johnstone piece but I think Anderson made the All-Pac 12 team based on one performance so I'm hesitant to put him way up on the list with the likes of Anthony Barr, Scott Crighton or Anderson's teammate Trent Murphy. I do think he has the talent to get up there and perform on that level every week but for now I'm keeping him back in the low 20's. I really like how he uses his strength and long reach. He uses one long arm to keep lineman away from him while using the other arm to go after the ball carrier. It's a rare ability to have and it helps give Anderson one of the highest ceilings in the conference.

28. Kevin Hogan
yes, I have Hogan way down at 28 and I don't have him in the same class as Marcus Mariota, Brett Hundley, or even Taylor Kelly. Look, Hogan was great down the stretch last season, but his sample size was so small, I'm not ready to project him as the next big thing. He didn't take over until week nine and despite going undefeated with him at the helm, don't you think there has to be some warts in his game that prevented him from beating out freshman Josh Nunes for the job out of camp? I've seen this movie too many times in this conference to fall for it again. The guy who comes in midway through a season, puts together a few great games, gets anointed the next great one before he plays a full season, and then regresses drastically. From Kevin Riley, to Nate Longshore, to Rudy Carpenter, to Justin Roper, to Patrick Cowan. I`ve seen this scanario so many times it makes me feel nervous about Hogan.

I still think Hogan will develop into a great player and be much higher on this list next year. but, for now I'm holding him back and waiting to see a larger sample size, just in case he is the next Longshore.

Pac-12 media Day Recap: Part 3...I guess

Okay, confession time. When I started this blog I was unemployed and looking for something to do and I figured this would help me jump start my writing career in some way. I was able to churn out 2000 words a day and it was no problem. Then I got a job about a week ago and that sapped me of most of my free time and energy that I was using to write Athletes in Space. Now that I've been working for a little while I've found a routine that will allow me to go to work and put out spectacularly mediocre content here on the blog everyday. I'll have more content being pushed out on the weekends but my goal is to do at least one post per day before I go to work.

I know Pac-12 Media day was a week ago and some of the individual schools are already having their own media days so in lieu of going over some press conferences that happened a week ago, I'll just run through some news and notes that have come out in recent days.

Husky Stadium has reopened for business, and it looks gorgeous. Time for some real talk. The old Husky Stadium was one of the worst dumps of a sporting venue even put in use. It really says a lot that Seattle lost the Super Sonics because Key Arena was so decrepit yet it wasn't even the worst facility in the city. That has changed now as Washington is ready to show off it's new place to the world as the team was allowed to practice within the confines of Husky stadium for the first time this past week. Here's a nice before and after photo:

The big deal for me anyway is that the track is gone. I was at Husky Stadium in 2011 for Ducks-Huskies and was sitting in the end zone (foreground of the picture) about 15 rows up. Normally supposed to be great seats right? nope. Because of the track, it felt like being in the upper deck. The distance from the field was about the same as being in the upper deck but the seats were still in the lower bowl so you didn't get that nice high up view to see the whole field. As a result, you couldn't see a damn thing at the other end of the stadium.

They've also dealt with the suspended press box attached to the roof that would sway during games, updated the scoreboard, and improved the comfort of the seats among other things. I also like that UW built a new football operations center and attached it to the stadium above the near end zone, similar to what Colorado has at Folsom Field, A look that I am personally a huge fan of. I used to go to UW games fearful of getting hepatitis from just sitting on the benches. Now, I can't wait to go check out the new digs.

Speaking of new digs and football operations buildings, Oregon just built a spaceship and it will make you poop your pants. Oregon had been building this monstrosity for over a year and gave little in the way of details as to what the structure would ultimately be used for ("football operations" was always a little vague no?) and what the innards of the structure would look like. That was all finally put to rest last week when Nike U opened up the $68 million Hatfield-Dowlin complex and unveiled the greatest achievement in the college athletics facilities arms race thus far.

I'm really happy to see this thing built entirely by private money. Major universities constantly upgrading athletic facilities using taxpayer dollars and student fees has been a negative sticking point for a lot of people including myself but when it's built by private money, awesome.

The locker room looks like it belongs on the Starship Enterprise and Mark Helfrich's office is probably more immaculate and advanced that the offices belonging to CEO's of multi-billion dollar corporations. I'm not sure about "eating your enemies" since I have a feeling that Trojan meat with a garnish of trees and a side of Sun Devils won't taste very good, but the Buffalo meat from the Colorado section should taste good. Also, where can I buy those carpets for my place?

Lane Kiffin is safe at USC...allegedly. Just prior to Media Day, USC Athletic Director Pat Haden put out a video on "the state of football at USC."

Haden goes through the usual riff-raff you expect from ADs. It's an exciting time of the year, there will be anniversary celebrations, they'll improve the fan experience, yada, yada, yada. Haden went out of his way to talk about embattled head coach Lane Kiffin and gave him a vote of confidence. Haden is "behind Kiffin 100%" and has "great confidence in him." Will I run these quotes and this video over and over again every time USC loses a game they shouldn't? probably. Will I write a blog post about this video when USC inevitably falls short of expectations again? yes. Will I run this video over and over again when Pat Haden is introducing James Franklin as the next head coach at USC in December? oh hell yeah.

This statement feels more like Haden writing cheques that Kiffin can't cash more so than a vote of confidence. Haden talks about academics and community service which is fine but I hope no one out there honestly believes that anything other than winning matters at USC. the hire of Kiffin was Mike Garrett's last act as AD. Kiffin is not a Haden guy and Haden did not hesitate to fire men's basketball coach Tim Floyd whom he also inherited from Garrett midway through last season after giving him a vote of confidence. You can take Haden's words at face value if you want but personally, I am not that gullible.

BJ Denker is the favorite to be Arizona's QB, but you probably knew that. While the QB competitions at USC, Cal, and Oregon St. appear to be dead heats, Arizona seems to be have found their man for this season. Denker was Matt Scott's backup last season and even got a chance to start against lowly Colorado and had an impressive afternoon. He wasn't asked to do much but he threw a couple really nice passes and looked good running with the ball. With former USC transfer Jesse Scroggins slowed by injury all summer, Louisiana Tech transfer Nick Isham probably lacking the talent to succeed in the Pac-12 and true freshmen Anu Soloman and Khari McGee not being field ready, Denker looks like a lock to be the man barring something drastic. I am very high on Solomon's talent and future potential but I think the best thing for everyone is for the Senior Denker to lead this year and provide a redshirt year for Solomon to adjust, mature, and learn the offense.

That's about it for now, I'll be dumping a bunch of names in the top 40 countdown in a bit to get caught up on the list.