Top Performers Week 6 NCAA Football: Rising Stock Week 7

 

By Ken Noble

Another week of the NCAA football season has come and gone. It’s crazy to think we have already seen half of the regular season pass us by. Week 7 wasn’t full of many surprises. Iowa found a way to lose to Purdue and that was a bit of a shock, but the rest of the Top 25 played out pretty much the way one would have assumed.

Caleb Williams didn’t wait for Rattler to pass the torch, but rather he took it and is running strong. This makes my choice to not include Spencer Rattler in my preseason Top 5 quarterbacks look like a win. Matt Corral gave us an injury scare, but claims to be fine and ready to roll. Lastly, Alabama put all speculation to rest that they were slipping by routing Mississippi State with a little help from Jordan Battle. Battle has put his name back in the minds of scouts after a relatively quiet season thus far.

Who else stood out and made a statement prior to the 2022 NFL Draft? We once again turn our attention to draft eligible players who screamed look at me during week 7.

 

Sam Williams, Defensive End, Ole Miss Rebels

Prior to the season, not many casual fans were sitting around the water cooler mentioning the name Sam Williams, but a few more may be now. In a class that seems to be top heavy at the defensive end position thanks to the Kayvon Thibodeauxs and Aidan Hutchinsons of the world, Williams is still finding a way to stand out.

The Ole Miss Rebels are led my QB Matt Corral and all the talk seems to be about the offense. However this week, when the offense needed help, Sam Williams showed up with an “S” on his chest. Corral threw a late interception and Tennessee was threatening late, but that’s when Williams came up clutch with a big time sack in a big time moment. As a result, Williams legit saved the day. His full stat line Saturday included 7 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.

In just six games thus far, he is tied for 6^th in the nation with 6.5 sacks. In addition, he has also forced two fumbles and recorded 7.5 tackles for loss. He has been a bright spot on a relatively porous defense. As we enter the back stretch of the 2021 NCAA football season, Sam Williams has made an impression. Therefore, Williams is in the conversation to be a top 5 defensive end in the 2022 NFL Draft if he keeps it up.

 

David Bell, Wide Receiver, Purdue Boilermakers

 

It’s strange to think someone who entered the week with 430 yards receiving and three touchdowns in just four games was slipping under the radar. However David Bell, who our analyst Joe Loncarich thinks highly of, continued to impress. He compiled a stat line of 11 receptions, 240 yards, and 1 TD this weekend.

What makes the stat line even more impressive is who he did it to. The vaunted Iowa Hawkeyes’ defense had no idea what happened to them. Bell was the primary piece of the Purdue puzzle. He accounted for more than half of the teams total offense against one of the best defenses in the nation.

If would-be scouts hadn’t heard his name before, they best be listening now. Bell has averaged over 100 yards per game in addition to nearly 1 TD every game. With the NFL looking to pass more and more every day, Bell most definitely has a place in the league on Sundays.

 

George Karlaftis, Defensive End, Purdue

We are back to the Boilermakers already? How could a team like Purdue have not one but two players dominate the number 2 team in the nation? Well apparently Karlaftis made it look easy. He may have only recorded 1 tackle, 1 sack, and 1 tackle for loss, but anyone with eyes who watched the game could see how dominate he was.

We already had him in our preseason Top 10, but after what has been a down year statistically, some may have thought he fell off. However, this weekend he made sure we all know better. It seemed as if I was consistently saying “WOW!” watching him. If he wasn’t double teamed, he seemed to be in Petras’ face every chance he had.

As a matter of fact, he registered 10 pressures against Iowa. This is a feat that has never been done during the PFF college era according to saturdaytradition.com. If Karlaftis can stay healthy, and erase any injury concerns, he has all but locked up a first round nod with this performance alone.

 

Trey McBride, Tight End, Colorado State

 

Do you even know the Colorado State team name? The answer is the Rams in case you didn’t know. I’m here to tell you that you are going to want to learn a little bit about them though, because their senior tight end, Trey McBride, is making his case to be one of the top players at his position in the 2022 NFL Draft.

This weekend against New Mexico he had 7 catches for 135 yards. I know New Mexico isn’t much of a team, but few would say Colorado State is either. This was McBride’s 4^th 100 yard game of the season. In six games he has 49 receptions for 593 yards with 1 TD.

The 6’ 4” 260 lb. tight end leads all tight ends in both receptions and yards. If he continues to play like he has been all season and tests well at the combine, we may be hearing his name even before Jalen Wydermeyer.

 

Jalen Tolbert, Wide Receiver, South Alabama

 

Can you say deep threat? In his six games this season, Tolbert’s long reception for each game is as follows; 49, 42, 40, 61, 43, and 40 yards. He is averaging just under 20 yards per reception and has 718 yards on the season.

This weekend he saw more volume than usual though. He reeled in 11 catches for just 174 yards and 1 TD. Doesn’t it seem weird to say 11 for just 174? Yes it does, but with Tolbert that’s how it feels.

Next April, teams looking for a deep threat would be wise to target the 6’ 3” 190 lb. receiver. You would think from his stats he is just a burner, but that is not the case. He is deceptively fast for his size, but uses his body well to fight off defenders. In addition, Tolbert is one of two small school standouts I love at the position in the 2022 Draft.

 

Honorable Mention

No strangers to the weekly rising stock, both honorable mentions have found their way onto the report once before. If you feel like I missed anyone please feel free to comment and let us know who. Who were your top performers during the week 7 games?

Devin LLoyd, Linebacker, Utah Utes: Lloyd had another dominate performance and showed he can be a real force behind the line of scrimmage. He put up 2 sacks and 4 tackles for loss.

Jacob Cowing, Wide Receiver, UTEP: Cowing is the other receiver I was referring to in the Tolbert section. During this weekend, he added another 9 receptions for 166 yards to his season. He now has 35 catches for 775 yards and 4 TDs.