The Impact of the True Freshman in SEC Football

Due to the weight carried by names such as Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno in 2008, a young speedster with superior size from Summerville, South Carolina managed to slide under the casual football fan's radar and light up the bright scoreboards of the SEC for eight touchdowns last season. Yes, by "SEC" I do mean the Southeastern Conference, arguably the single toughest conference in college football, and youngsters like previously mentioned Georgia Bulldog's receiver AJ Green are making huge impacts in their debut seasons. Other players such as Alabama receiver Julio Jones and teammate, running back Mark Ingram, also established themselves as major difference makers for top ten teams last season. From the looks of things in the first two weeks of this season, it appears that this trend will continue in the south as well as around the country.

Highly touted freshman quarterback Matt Barkley from USC might be getting all of the TV time this season for his recent promotion to starter out west, but just like last year, there are players already proving their worth early and often in the SEC. Recently freshman running back Trent Richardson demonstrated why the Crimson Tide may have the most running back depth in all of college football. He was able to rack up nearly 120 yards on the ground and reached the painted turf twice in the second half alone. Now, granted, while Florida International University does not exactly claim to be a defensive powerhouse, Richardson's early season production may be a sign of things to come for the Tide as they currently boast four running backs who could easily claim starting spots at various schools within the conference. Another great true freshman performance came from Alabama's arch rival. Auburn University's running back Onterio McCaleb came onto the scene recently and is already being mentioned in the same sentence as Auburn great, Bo Jackson. While this mention may be a bit pre-mature, McCaleb was able to put together a total of nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns in his first two college games.

Even with these impressive performances this year, it does not appear that there will be another AJ Green or Julio Jones, but the fact that coaches in the SEC appear to becoming more willing to play these young athletes makes one think that this trend will not slow down any time soon. High school players are coming into their freshman year with better coaching, more national exposure and increasingly greater size and speed; all of these factors assist them as well as their coaches in making the transition from high school to college that much more seamless.

Other freshman worth following in the SEC are Vanderbilt's running back Zac Stacy, Mississippi State receiver Chad Bumphis, and South Carolina receiver Tori Gurley (Not a "true" freshman, but a player to be watched none the less). All of these players have already seen the view from an SEC end zone this season and they are likely to be back in that position more as the year progresses.