The 2020 college football season is rapidly approaching.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this particular season will feel much different than any other. The game-day experiences will be altered, limited fan attendance and two major conferences won’t be competing.
However, many of the best players in the country will still be taking the field. 247Sports recently ranked the top 50 college football players heading into this season.
Their formula was quite simple:
- Players were initially sorted by position and were assigned rankings.
- Players were then sorted into overall tiers.
- Positional value was often used to break ties.
- Generally, what a player has done in his career was used as a tiebreaker as well.
- Some players on this list are more projections than proven entities. In those cases, we tended to be a little more cautious with their rankings while still reflecting what we expect them to become.
To no surprise, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence landed at the No. 1 spot. Although Texas has two players within this talented group, quarterback Sam Ehlinger wasn’t ranked the highest.
Left tackle Sam Cosmi was listed at No. 17 while 247Sports alluded to the fact that he only allowed one sack last season. Cosmi was the second tackle on this list and the third offensive lineman overall.
“Cosmi has been excellent in his career thus far, emerging as Texas’ best offensive tackle prospect in a decade. The 6-foot-7, 309-pound redshirt junior played a big part last season in keeping quarterback Sam Ehlinger healthy – few QBs are asked to run more – allowing just a single sack across 595 pass blocking snaps, per PFF College. Picking the nation’s second best tackle behind Sewell is tough right now. But Cosmi has all the tools to emerge as a top 15 pick in 2021.”
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger was listed within the top 30. Ehlinger is known as the heartbeack of Texas’ offense and landed at the No. 27 spot.
“Thirty-three starts into his career, Ehlinger is one of the most decorated QBs in the country. In fact, his career total of 10,400 yards leads all active FBS players. Ehlinger had a special 2018 season in which he totaled 40 touchdowns against just five interceptions, while throwing for 3,292 yards and completing 64.7 percent of his passes. He became only the sixth Power Five QB the last 20 years to throw for 25 touchdowns and rush for 15. The others won a Heisman. Ehlinger came back down to earth some last season, as did Texas. But you could argue no quarterback is responsible for creating more of his team’s offense than Ehlinger, who is both top-tier QB and pseudo-running back.”
Ehlinger was the fifth-best quarterback on this list behind Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Trey Lance and Sam Howell.
It appears to be a tale of two Sam’s for Texas football this season.