Welcome back for the eighth edition of the 2024 Devy Notebook series. Things are starting to come together for my Devy rankings and the 2025 Rookie Class, with still a few weeks to go in the college football season. If you weren’t able to check out the latest update to the DFF Devy rankings after last week, go ahead and jump over there to view what players are moving around in the rankings after reading this article. With that, I am very excited to share this week’s observations with you all. Let’s dive in!
- Eli Holstein does a ton of boneheaded stuff, but he is potentially a top-15 QB heading into 2025. He feels a bit reckless with the ball sometimes but it hasn’t quite hurt him yet. The concerning part for me is that his leading receiver is the running back, which tells you a bit about his skillset and game plan (dump it off or chuck it deep). He still needs a ton of development and refinement before I can be sold on him as a true Devy asset, but now is the chance to buy low if you have any interest.
- Florida has made the transition to “seeing what they’ve got” at this point, and this is an excellent thing for us Devy players as well. Jaden Baugh was a darling of many folks for this freshman class, and it appears we may have hit the nail on the head after one week of good usage. He rushed for 106 yards and five touchdowns this week. It will be exciting to watch him and DJ Lagway for Florida for the rest of the season.
- Quinn Ewers faced perhaps the toughest test he has had in his college career this weekend. The game almost looked like it was happening too fast for him, which scares me for his potential to move up to the next level. The NFL will move even faster than the Georgia defense did this weekend. Secondly, Arch Manning took over for him in the second quarter for two series. Ewers did come back in the third quarter, but it makes me wonder how long Ewers’s leash is. If Manning does take over at some point for the remainder of the season, I would expect Ewers to stay in college and transfer rather than go to the NFL.
- Bhayshul Tuten massively stayed on the radar this week. He rushed for 266 yards and three touchdowns this week against a Boston College team player to rush for over 100 yards this season. He has a good set of tools for the NFL and likely needs to string a few of these performances together, but he has my attention.
- Jordan Moore started the season so well, but in recent weeks has been a serious disappointment. He caught only one pass for 10 yards this weekend and hasn’t caught more than five passes since Week 2. His production profile is not going to end up as one that makes me pull the trigger in later rounds of Dynasty Rookie Drafts.
- Evan Stewart led the Ducks in receiving in back-to-back weeks. Now that the playbook is wide open, he might be back on track as a top receiver in the 2025 class. There isn’t a reason to jump back in yet, but it’s trending in the right direction.
- For only the second time this season, Ollie Gordon gave us a game that was worth mentioning. He had a few good runs in this game against BYU that were reminiscent of what we’ve seen in previous seasons, but it’s going to take a herculean effort over the final five games to make me consider him worth any true value.
- Cam Ward answered the call every time he was needed against Louisville. Miami’s defense is one of the most porous that I have seen from a top 10 team, but it continues to give us chances to see Ward in pressure moments. He has a great arm, does very well when pushed off platform, can extend plays while keeping his eyes down field, and doesn’t make dumb decisions. He has all the tools you want from an NFL quarterback and he is one of three surefire first round quarterbacks for 2025. A team is absolutely going to fall in love with him and make him a top-5 pick.
- I asked Tawee Walker to show up against Northwestern and he did in a big way. He rushed 23 times for 126 yards. He has kept my attention through two weeks, and I will be watching intently against a stout Penn State run defense in their next matchup.
- Ryan Williams and Jeremiah Smith have taken college football by storm as freshmen, but not too far behind them has been Clemson freshman wide receiver, TJ Moore. He is a full-time starter for the Tigers and managed to lead the team in receiving this week, hauling in four catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. He is 6’3” and 200 lbs. which is ideal size for the NFL. If you can’t get your hands on the top-2 guys for the 2027 class, Moore is an excellent consolation prize. He will be a top-20 Devy player to begin next year.
- Xavier Restrepo set the record for most receptions as a Miami Hurricane this weekend, passing Hurricanes legend Michael Irvin. He finished with seven catches for 101 yards and one touchdown. He is a physical slot receiver that is very creative after the catch and is as reliable of a guy that you can find at the position. If Tom Brady were still playing, Restrepo would be his new favorite receiver to throw to. He is in the same mold as Danny Amendola and could produce similarly at the next level.
- Jackson Arnold regained his spot as the Oklahoma signal caller after Michael Hawkins came back down to earth against South Carolina. This isn’t a call to buy back in on Arnold just yet as the team around him is still brutal to watch. He was 18 for 36 for 225 yards and a touchdown in a blowout situation. He will likely struggle the rest of the season due to injuries at the receiver position and lack of a good offensive line. There is still a glimmer of hope.
- Harold Fannin saw what Tyler Warren did last week and wanted to make sure that we didn’t forget about him. He caught 10 balls for 171 yards and a touchdown this week against Kent State. There were questions coming into this season if he could produce against good competition, and he responded with his two best games of the season versus Penn State and Texas A&M. The only remaining question is about his size for the NFL and if teams view him as a weapon or not. There aren’t many guys built more like a wide receiver that are successful at tight end in the NFL. He will need to follow in the footsteps of Evan Engram
- Jalen Milroe has come crashing back down to earth. It was only a couple of weeks ago he was being touted as the potential number one overall pick in the NFL draft. After lighting it up against Georgia, he has put up three straight stinkers against Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Tennessee. His arm talent really scares me out of calling him a high tier Devy asset and I think he has the makings of getting a GM fired if they think they can develop him. If Saban and DeBoer can’t do it, you probably can’t either.
- Dylan Sampson continued his impressive run this season and was clearly the best player on the field against Alabama. He rushed 26 times for 139 yards and two touchdowns. He is impossible to ignore at this point and I feel as though he should be locked in for Day 2 draft capital.
- Many of us had (and have) high hopes for Nico Iamaleava, but I have yet to see anything on the screen that shows me he can play on Sundays. He consistently makes poor decisions and is not accurate on intermediate and deep throws. I think he forces the game too much and needs a lot more development. This Alabama secondary is very young and he should have been able to pick them apart. If I could trade Nico for the 1.01 in campus drafts to take Bryce Underwood, I would do it at the drop of a hat.
- Travis Hunter better not play on both sides of the ball in the NFL. The college game is not nearly as physical as the NFL and he already battles injuries on what feels like a weekly basis. This isn’t a knock on him as a player, because I think he is elite on offense and defense, but I genuinely don’t know that his body will hold up if he tries to do both. If there is any shred of a chance that he does that, I won’t be touching him with a single draft pick in 2025.
- Michael Van Buren put another feather in his cap this week. He faced a tough Texas A&M defense and threw for 242 yards and three more touchdowns. He is still far on the outer ranges of my Devy radar, but we have to pay attention at this point.
- Caden Durham is now my second ranked running back from the 2024 freshman class (only behind Nate Frazier). He rushed for 101 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas this weekend and has completely taken hold of the starting role for LSU.
What I am looking for heading into Week 9
- Ricky White gets a chance to show more eyes that he can be a Day 2 guy. He needs a big game against Boise State to make that happen.
- Really excited to see Notre Dame against Navy in a ranked matchup this weekend. Riley Leonard will be the second best rushing QB on the field and the Fighting Irish could be on upset watch. Jeremiah Love is my Devy player of interest here.
- Can Evan Stewart continue his recent hot streak against an Illinois team ranked #20?
- Jake Retzlaff travels to face UCF. He has been great so far this season but needs a few more good performances to be a Devy guy. I like this away test for him.
- Luther Burden against a young Alabama secondary should be a feast. Can he prove me wrong this week?
- A battle of the running backs takes place in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend. Who will shine the most between Singleton, Allen, and Walker?
- Aidan Chiles faces a good Michigan defense in a rivalry game on the road. Can he build off of recent performances in a tough environment?
Thank you for reading the eighth edition of The Devy Notebook. If you have any thoughts or questions regarding any of the players mentioned, or if you would like my opinions on a player who is not mentioned in this article, you can reach out to me on Twitter @Evan_Kerr_. #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding #AlwaysBeScouting
