Tag: Phil Steele

Phil Steele joins On Texas Football to preview the Longhorns’ season

“Across the board I have Texas No. 1 or tied for No. 1 (in the Big 12) at every single position.”

College football analyst Phil Steele has Texas winning the Big 12. He jumped on the On Texas Football podcast to discuss his reasoning. According to Steele, it all comes down to talent.

Steele has the Texas offense making a significant leap in the upcoming season. He said the following about why he is buying the Longhorns to win the conference.

“I looked at Texas’ schedule and I said, you know, everybody’s gonna be gunning for Texas this year. I don’t want to pick Texas No. 1. I’ll be flat out honest with you. And they play, of the top six teams in the Big 12, they are the only one that plays each of the other five. The Big 12 schedule maker didn’t do them any favors. But it comes down to talent.

Steele then went into roster specifics he likes about this team.

“You start with quarterback. Quinn Ewers comes in. I loved what I saw (against Alabama). … I don’t think he was 100% (after injury). I think he was one of the most improved players. After talking to Coach Sark, he’s highly confident. … Receiver corps is amazing. Bringing in Adonai Mitchell from Georgia to team with Whittington, Worthy, one of the best tight ends in the country in Ja’Tavion Sanders. … (The offensive line is) bigger, stronger, better. So they’re gonna be potent offensively.

Many of Steele’s talking points revolved around the same areas of strength we have been touting this offseason. An interesting nugget Steele shared involved the Texas defense. According to Steele, the unit held opponents on average 70 yards below their season average. That really pokes a hole in the notion some are asserting that the Longhorns defense isn’t all that great.

Steele spoke highly of a number of Texas defenders including Arkansas transfer Jalen Catalon. When healthy, Steele asserted, Catalon is among the nation’s best at the safety position.

Road games at Baylor, TCU and Iowa State were mentioned as tough battles for Texas. I have the Longhorns losing to TCU and Iowa State despite my 10-2 prediction for the team.

Notably, Steele’s projections have Texas scoring over 39 points per game while allowing just under 22 points per game. If his success at projecting past seasons is any indication, the Longhorns are in store for a huge season.

Check out where Ohio State lands on Phil Steele’s defensive position group rankings

Not bad, but are folks sleeping on how good this OSU defense can be? #GoBucks

Phil Steele recently released his yearly college football preview magazine with the season about a month and a half away.

Steele provides in-depth previews for all Football Bowl Subdivision teams and one of the best components of his magazines are his top 65 position group rankings. For defense, he ranks where each team’s unit falls for defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs.

The Buckeyes’ defense the last few seasons hasn’t necessarily been bad but hasn’t quite performed to the standard needed for the team to achieve what it’s capable of.

The unit has struggled in particular against top-tier teams and has been the reason Ohio State lost some big games in recent years. The unit gave up 42 points in each of the Michigan losses the last two seasons, 35 points against Oregon, and 42 points against Georgia in the College Football Playoff semi-final matchup in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

It’s defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ second season, and, with highly touted recruits due for breakout seasons, the defense projects to improve. The question will be how consistent it’ll be and if it shows up in big games.

Steele ranked the Buckeyes in the top 12 in college football in each of the three defensive position groups. Here’s where OSU landed.

Auburn is expected to be one of college football’s most improved teams this season

College football expert Phil Steele believes that the Tigers can play to their full potential this season.

There has been a drastic change in the energy surrounding the Auburn football program since [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] took charge in December.

After two seasons of a tenure that left a lot to be desired, Tiger fans have high hopes for what Auburn will be able to accomplish in Freeze’s first season with the program.

Fortunately for Tiger fans, Phil Steele is high on the Tigers’ chances to rebound. He has included Auburn in his 16 most-improved teams list.

Steele’s thoughts are included on why he thinks the teams he believes to be improved will be that way. With the recent changes within the program, he sees Auburn playing to its potential.

Steele’s take on Auburn: “All nine sets of my power rankings call for a winning season, there is no weekly talk about when a coach will be fired as the team is fully behind both Hugh Freeze and Cadillac Williams and will play to their potential with 17 returning starters and some solid transfers.”

Auburn will look incredibly different in 2023, which is likely a positive thing. Time will tell if Auburn can live up to these expectations or if recent trends continue.

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Check out where Ohio State lands on Phil Steele’s offensive position group rankings

Phil Steele likes Ohio State’s offensive position groups. #GoBucks

With college football around a month and a half away from kicking off, the venerable Phil Steele released his yearly college football preview magazine.

Steele provides in-depth previews for all Football Bowl Subdivision teams and one of the best components of his magazines are his top 65 position group rankings. For offense, Steele ranks where each team’s unit falls for quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and offensive line.

It’s difficult to project how a team’s specific unit will perform in a season as teams will have injuries, as well as players who overperform or underperform. Regardless, these lists provide us with expectations for teams and players headed into the season.

Ohio State has been spectacular on offense in recent years as it was a top-two-scoring offense in both 2022 and 2021.

With CJ Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Paris Johnson Jr., Dawand Jones and Luke Wypler off to the NFL, the Buckeyes are losing some great players. The good news is they’re also bringing back many high-quality players from last year’s unit and have players ready to step into bigger roles.

Ohio State fared pretty well on Steele’s lists as it was ranked in the top 10 in three of the four position groups. Here’s how it all shook out.

Where Phil Steele ranks each of Wisconsin’s position groups entering the 2023 season

Phil Steele likes Wisconsin’s roster entering the 2023 season:

No college football offseason is complete without a skim or thorough read, depending on your preference, of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview.

I could take a million angles from the magazine to preview Wisconsin’s season. But Steele always does a tremendous job with in-depth previews of where each roster stands entering the season.

The Big Ten has seen substantial change this offseason. New coaches are at Wisconsin, Nebraska, Purdue and Northwestern, and top programs, including Ohio State and Penn State, have new young quarterbacks.

What isn’t changed? The Big Ten East and West exist for one final season before USC and UCLA join the conference in 2024. That, and Wisconsin has a terrific running back room.

Here is how Phil Steele ranked every Wisconsin position group entering the season, compared to both the Big Ten and the rest of the country:

Texas football among top projected scoring offenses in 2023

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will have plenty of weapons at his disposal in 2023.

Texas’ offense will play a key role in the team reaching its goals in 2023. Continue reading “Texas football among top projected scoring offenses in 2023”

Phil Steele includes a USC surprise in list of 2024 draft-eligible QBs

If Caleb Williams needed any motivational material, here’s something to put on his bulletin board. #USC

Legendary college football magazine publisher Phil Steele recently released his top-10 draft-eligible quarterbacks entering the 2023 college football season. He has North Carolina’s Drake Maye at the No. 1 spot, surprisingly ahead of USC’s Caleb Williams, who came in at No. 2.

Williams set several single-season records at USC last year, including total offense, passing yards, total touchdowns and passing touchdowns. In 2022, Williams passed for 4,537 yards and 42 touchdowns. He also rushed for 382 yards and 10 scores.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10:

3. Riley Leonard (Duke)

4. Quinn Ewers (Texas)

5. Bo Nix (Oregon)

6. Joe Milton (Tennessee)

7. Michael Pratt (Tulane)

8. Jordan Travis (Florida State)

9. Devin Leary (Kentucky)

10. Austin Reed (Western Kentucky)

Putting Drake Maye over Caleb Williams isn’t ludicrous or insane, but it’s definitely a minority position. It does cut against what most football experts think. If there is a thought process which elevates Maye, it would probably go something like this: Maye doesn’t have nearly the quality of receivers or coaching which Caleb enjoys at USC, and yet Maye has thrived in spite of that comparative lack of high-end tools at North Carolina.

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See which Buckeyes made it on Phil Steele’s Preseason All-American Teams

Six Ohio State football players made it on Phil Steele’s Preseason All-American teams. #GoBucks

Phil Steele, who releases an excellent, in-depth college football preview magazine every year, recently released his preseason All-American teams for the 2023 season.

Preseason All-American teams are very difficult to predict as there will inevitably be players who perform worse than expected and under-the-radar players that emerge. However, they’re still useful to set an expectation for players and teams.

Steele released first through fourth All-American teams. Offensively, each team featured one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, two tackles, two guards, and a center. Defensively, each team featured two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, four linebackers, two cornerbacks, and two safeties.

Steele featured six Ohio State players in total with two on the first team, three on the second team, and one on the third team.

Here’s a rundown of which Buckeyes caught the eye of Phil Steele.

First up … Phil Steele First-Team Preseason All-Americans

Pair of Hawkeyes featured as Phil Steele preseason All-Americans

A pair of Hawkeyes, cornerback Cooper DeJean and punter Tory Taylor, were honored by Phil Steele in the preseason.

Two Iowa Hawkeyes were featured in Phil Steele’s preseason All-American teams.

After a fantastic sophomore season, Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean made Phil Steele’s second-team defense. Behind first-team members Kool-Aid McKinstry of Alabama and Kalen King of Penn State, DeJean is joined on the second team by Notre Dame‘s Benjamin Morrison.

DeJean was a first-team All-Big Ten member last year by the league’s media after finishing second in the Big Ten with five interceptions. He set a single-season record with three interception return touchdowns in 2022. DeJean is PFF’s second highest-ranked returning cornerback in the nation behind King.

The Hawkeyes did have a first-team preseason All-American in punter Tory Taylor.

Taylor got plenty of action trying to flip the field for Iowa and its lackluster offense last season. He set the Hawkeyes’ single-season record for 3,725 yards in punting, which was almost 200 more yards than the second-place punter in college football a year ago. – Cody Nagel, 247Sports.

Last year, Taylor was named a first-team All-American by the Football Writer’s Association of America, Phil Steele and Pro Football Focus. He was also named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press. He was a first-team All-Big Ten member by the league’s media and Phil Steele.

But then puzzlingly, Taylor was a second-team All-Big Ten choice by the Associated Press and a third-team All-Big Ten selection by the league’s coaches. He somehow also wasn’t a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, which is crazy.

Anyone who watched Iowa football last year would tell you that Taylor was at times one of Iowa’s best players. His great punts pinned opposing teams near their own goal line, and honestly helped contribute just as much to Iowa’s point total as the passing attack. So much of Iowa’s success was because of this punter and he absolutely deserves national recognition.

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Texas lands at No. 11 in Phil Steele’s college football preseason ranking

This feels like a realistic spot for the Longhorns.

Phil Steele revealed his preseason college football Top 40 this week. Continue reading “Texas lands at No. 11 in Phil Steele’s college football preseason ranking”