It’s officially that time of year. No more talking about prospects and what we think they are capable of. No more victory laps after spring reports and camp news. The players stepped onto the field for the first time this past weekend, and despite the game slate being a lighter one, there are still plenty of takeaways for us devy fanatics.
This will now be the third season of The Devy Notebook. For anyone new here, this series was born out of my love for sitting on my couch and watching live college football games week in and week out. I decided to put pen to paper and share my analysis of prominent devy players for all the world to see. I intend to go deeper this year than ever before, and I hope you all enjoy the ride. Without further ado, it’s time to kick this season off with my takeaways from week 0 of the college football season.
The NFL draft community loves to push sleeper prospects on social media. Recently, I have seen some chatter regarding TCU transfer QB Jaden Craig as a potential riser this season. The first game of the college football season showed us exactly the opposite. Craig is not a mobile QB despite many touting him to be, and he was not nearly as accurate as he was during his time at Harvard. The entire TCU team may just be terrible this season, and Craig is not the guy to take them to any promised lands. Feel free to sleep on him.
On the opposing team in this game were two lower-tier players that are worth mentioning. Both Jordan Shipp and Jelani Thurman were focal points of the UNC offense, and I will be curious to see if the Thurman portion of this duo sticks. He caught 4 passes for 94 yards and was seen multiple times as an athletic and willing blocker in the run game. If Thurman can produce at this clip with any consistency while also being under the tutelage of Bill Belichick, he could be a very sneaky player for the 2027 NFL draft.
Waymond Jordan only rushed the ball 8 times this weekend for USC. Part of this was because they easily handled the opposing San Jose State Spartans, and part of it was because King Miller is a very good running back in his own right. In the little work we saw from Jordan, it was clear that he has some of the best vision at the line of scrimmage of any back that will be in the 2027 class. We need to see him stay healthy for an entire season before we anoint him as one of the next stars of NFL fantasy football, but the writing could be on the wall.
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