Week 3 of the college football season is the first of two weeks I consider “trend” weeks. If a player continues to show that they can be productive through this week and next, it likely means that they will be featured in their teams’ offense moving forward. If a player hasn’t shown us anything through the first four weeks of the season, it is unlikely that they will be showing us anything for the rest of the season (barring injuries). When evaluating the devy landscape, I find it important that players show a positive trend line by this point in the season. Let’s get into the players that made an impression on me in the third edition of The Devy Notebook.
- I did a little more digging into Ollie Gordon this week after starting the season with two relatively poor showings. He is now listed at 225 lbs., which is roughly 15 pounds heavier than last season. He already wasn’t a great athlete and looked even worse with the added weight. He has also totaled 61 carries for less than 200 yards on the season. Maybe it is too early to write him off, but his arrow continues to trend down. If not for an overtime touchdown last week, I might be even more skeptical.
- Darius Taylor is an ex-wide receiver, and that has been showing in his first two games as a pass-catcher. We always love when running backs have the chops to catch passes out of the backfield. It might be a bit aggressive, but athletically, he compares similarly to Kareem Hunt. With the massive group of running backs leaving for the NFL in 2025, I see a path where Darius Taylor becomes a top-5 back in college football next season.
- I also learned this week that Jordan Moore is an ex-quarterback. He has shown through the first three games that he has good hands at the line of scrimmage and stays alive well when QBs run the scramble drill. This probably comes from his time spent at QB, which is an excellent skill to possess. He is a very good athlete, and his play style is reminiscent of a Jakobi Meyers type of receiver.
- I did not anticipate mentioning an IDP talent in this series, but I found it impossible not to mention Dylan Stewart, a defensive end from South Carolina. He is an athletic freak who is as impressive a defensive player as we have seen at South Carolina since Jadaveon Clowney. He is a future top-10 pick, if you ask me.
- Tet McMillan had the bounce-back game we were looking for. He hauled in 11 passes for 138 yards and zero touchdowns. This Arizona team looks outmatched against better competition, but it clearly doesn’t stop McMillain from putting up video game numbers. I struggle to see at this point how he isn’t the 1.01 in all formats and a top-10 pick in the NFL draft.
- Quinn Ewers‘ injury history is starting to become concerning to me. His oblique/abdominal injury occurred this weekend while he was throwing the ball. I’m never one to write players off due to injury history, but this will be an official red flag for me. I love his overall talent, but when a player can’t make it through one college football season healthy, I find it hard to believe they will become a picture of health at the next level.
- The Arch Manning cat is officially out of the bag. He went 9/12 for 223 yards and four touchdowns through the air while rushing for 53 yards and a touchdown against UTSA. With the Ewers injury occurring over the weekend, I expect Arch to make the start next weekend and put on another show. It is going to become increasingly difficult for Texas to put the cat back in the bag the more time that Arch spends on the field. With the little glimpse we got this weekend, I am comfortable pushing Arch into the top 3 quarterbacks in my devy rankings.
- CJ Bailey was inserted for Grayson McCall this weekend. He was one of my favorite freshman sleepers at the quarterback position. With only 156 yards through the air and 27 yards on the ground, he didn’t blow us away on the stat sheet, but his tools are very interesting. In his first official start in Week 4, he draws a difficult Clemson team. It is safe to assume we can begin his real evaluation next week against NIU. As a small tidbit of information, Bailey was a three-time state champion in high school. He was the quarterback who threw to Jeremiah Smith and Jodi Trader as well, and I fear the community may have been discounting him on the assumption that those two wide receivers were just making him look good.
- Caden Durham looked extremely impressive against South Carolina. He carried the ball 11 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns in the comeback win vs. the Gamecocks. He came into college a bit undersized, but he has clearly been the best running back in the LSU backfield. Kaleb Jackson has been difficult to watch to begin the season and John Emery Jr. is out for another season. This now leaves the door open for Durham to take over the room and push himself up the devy rankings. Should he truly take the reins for the Tigers in the coming weeks (and look as good as he did this past weekend), I will comfortably have him in my top 5 devy running backs to start the 2025 season.
- In the same game, Garrett Nussmeier showed why some are concerned with him as a potential high draft pick. He is a bit cavalier with the ball when he really should be throwing the ball away. He nearly cost his team the game by throwing a pick-six in the fourth quarter. Teams have not respected the LSU run game through the first three games, and Nussmeier has not been shy about throwing into coverages that he probably shouldn’t. He will need to clean up his decision-making if he wants to be locked in as a top prospect.
- Ryan Williams was at it again in the game against Wisconsin. It’s clear he is the Crimson Tide’s top receiver, and I don’t think he should be far behind Jeremiah Smith in overall prospect and devy rankings. He caught four balls for 78 yards and one touchdown this weekend. He will be a top-2 devy wide receiver to begin the season in 2025 and a near sure thing to be a first-round NFL draft pick.
- Luther Burden was excellent this weekend when Missouri needed him most. He hauled in 6 catches for 117 yards and one touchdown. I still have concerns that he can play on the outside in the NFL, but I feel he is as locked in as possible to be one of the first three receivers off the board in the 2025 NFL draft.
- Micah Hudson got on the board this weekend for Texas Tech. He was a top two-to-three wide receiver in the 2024 freshman class, for which many had high expectations. He is still returning from an injury that occurred during his senior season in high school, but he gave us a small glimpse of who we thought he could be. I am excited to watch him for the rest of this season.
- It just feels like Kaleb Johnson is going to be a member of a committee in the NFL. He doesn’t have the athletic ability to own a backfield to himself, but he is a physical back that many NFL teams would love to have on their team. Per PFF, he already has 308 yards after contact on the season. He rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns in Week 3. I expect him to continue to be featured in the Iowa offense, and the more he flourishes, the more I see him being many analysts’ favorite sleeper in the upcoming pre-draft process.
- Jaxson Dart casually threw for another 375+ yards this week and continues to lead the nation in passing yards. Lane Kiffin is probably making a point to get him Heisman votes, but if Dart finds himself at the Heisman ceremony, it could mean good things for his NFL draft stock. Compared to his draft-mates, he doesn’t do anything exceptional but doesn’t do anything poorly either. He feels like a safe, dual-threat quarterback who is going to be in late first-round conversations.
What I am looking for heading into Week 4
- In his first Big Ten matchup, Dylan Raiola draws a ranked opponent with Illinois. Can he continue to take the college football world by storm?
- CJ Bailey gets a stingy Clemson team in his first official start. I don’t need him to look anywhere close to great, but he needs to look like he belongs on the same football field with them.
- Kansas and West Virginia both find themselves starting 1-2 and on the brink of disaster to start the season. Devin Neal and Garrett Greene need stellar performances to carry their team back to .500. Which one will step up?
- Miller Moss, Zachariah Branch, and the USC offense go on the road to face Michigan. The last ranked opponent that came into Ann Arbor embarrassed the Wolverines. They will want to put up a better fight, and I want to see which stars will shine for USC.
- LSU hosts UCLA in Baton Rouge. While UCLA isn’t a great team, I’m interested to see if Caden Durham can retain the lead role in the offense.
- Virginia Tech and Rutgers are going to be in a low-scoring affair, but I am interested to see if any of Kyron Drones, Bhayshul Tuten, or Kyle Monangai can jump off the screen.
- Cam Ward goes on the road to face an underrated USF team that gave Alabama some fits two weeks ago. I believe he dominates yet again, but I want to see how it plays out.
- Nico Iamaleava faces Oklahoma on the road in a challenging environment. I want to see him continue to build the hype.
Thank you for reading the third 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
