Shane Carden, QB, East Carolina
Carden will be the best signal caller in the American Athletic Conference, a league that produced the first quarterback taken in last year’s NFL draft. He is coming off of a phenomenal junior season in which he threw for 4,139 yards, 33 TDs and only 10 INTs. Expect him to make a splash in weeks two and three when he takes on South Carolina and Virginia Tech on ESPN2 and ABC respectively.
Rakeem Cato, QB, Marshall
Cato has already thrown for 10,176 yards and 91 TDs in his career and the senior will continue to put up gaudy numbers in Conference USA, one of the worst conferences in the FBS. Not only is the conference schedule soft the out of conference schedule is laughable featuring Miami (OH), Rhode Island, and what will be their toughest game of the year a mediocre Ohio team.
Travis Greene, RB, Bowling Green
After a freshman season in which Greene only had one carry he exploded onto the scene last season totaling 1594 yards and 11 TDs. The MAC plays a lot of weekday games which air on ESPN so look out for him on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Josh Harper, WR, Fresno State
With the Bulldogs’ primary option last year, Devante Adams, going to the Packers in the second round Harper becomes the man. Even as the second receiver Harper racked up 1011 yards and 13 touchdowns. Last year’s star quarterback David Carr is also gone but Fresno State plans to run the ball a lot more this year, which will prevent teams from solely focusing on him.
Qushaun Lee, LB, Arkansas State
Lee is undersized at 5’11” 225 lbs. but despite his stature he was still voted one of the hardest hitters in all of college football by College Football 24/7. He’ll get a chance to prove himself against some of the big boys this year in early games at Tennessee and Miami.
Anthony Gaffney, CB Princeton
Heading into his junior year Gaffney is already a two-time All-Ivy League selection. Gaffney’s has the new prototypical cornerback body type, 6’3” 200lbs, and has the athleticism to return kicks.
Kevin Byard, SS, Middle Tennessee State
As a sophomore he was selected to Conference USA’s first team and comes back this year as a candidate for C-USA defensive player of the year. He already holds the school record for interception return yards (304) and interception touchdowns (5) and had 5 and 4 interceptions the last two seasons.
