COLLEGE FOOTBALL MAKES ME SAD

I am a horrible blogger. But I'm better as a blogger than I am at other writing because, as little as I do it, I'm still more proficient as a blogger than as any other type of writer. But if there is one thing I'm good at, it's watching TV. I can watch the hell out of some TV. Especially if it's football on TV. The emerging theme of this season in college football (and to some extent the NFL) is that football in the state of Florida is no longer even able to pretend that it's the best. This is an untenable situation for my football viewing habits. I can't stand to have football in Florida be so bad for much longer and continue watching.



Well, there are some things I like in college football and there are some guys on the fringe/all the way outside of the Heisman race (as evidenced by the poll at heismanpundit.com) that I want to try my best to hype up. First, my new favorite name:

Whitney Mercilus, DE, Illinois
One of the ways I look for what games I want to watch is to peruse the stat leaders and look for players that are way up in certain categories. This guy plays for Illinois and their record is good but it's still Illinois and they're still coached by Zooker. It's a tough situation but what a great fucking name, am I right? He's got decent size and had a good 40 time on his Rivals page out of high school so Mercilus might have a future in the league. I'll be watching the Ohio State game next week to try and get an honest idea about the guy. Obviously he isn't a Heisman candidate but he's getting lots of sacks and TFLs so he should be up for a little bit of hardware in December.

Tyrann Mathieu, CB, LSU
Everybody who watches college football knows this guy by now but every week he makes some huge play or another and he looks like the annual defense/anti-Heisman favorite (it's usually the same guy but sometimes there's a defensive player that gets throwaway votes that is separate from the small school "rebel" candidate). He's probably more like a smaller Jairus Byrd than anyone else in the NFL but he'll end up in the first two rounds because of his production. Also, Jairus Byrd is really good so that isn't meant as an insult. He's only a sophomore and LSU is really good so you don't need much from me to hype him up. But he probably deserves legit Heisman consideration and he won't get it.

Lamar Miller, RB, Miami
I'm cheating a little bit here, also, because Lamar is a hype-machine just waiting for some wins. If the Canes had pulled out wins against Virginia Tech and Kansas State (they really should have, btw) Miller would be in the national discussion for the Heisman. He's a redshirt sophomore so he will probably be gone next year. Miami could have some trouble replacing him. I'm sticking with my Clinton Portis comparison for him. I really kind of hate Storm Johnson for fucking up the Hurricanes RB depth like he did. I'm expecting a 2,000 yard season from Storm next year.

Seantrel Henderson, T, Miami
Now is the time for front running. Art Kehoe and a healthy Seantrel should be enough for 9-10 wins next year in Coral Gables. Seantrel had one dumb penalty yesterday but was otherwise a fucking monster every play he was on the field. He reminds me of Orlando Pace a lot. He needs to lose some weight, though. Seantrel will be a top 5 draft pick if he stays healthy from here til he leaves school.

Robert Woods, WR, USC
He's pretty good. I've seen him play and I think he's a good pro prospect. So many underperforming Trojans in the league lately have made me weary of hyping any of them but Woods looks like a future Pro Bowler to me.

Bernard Pierce, RB, Temple/ Case Keenum, QB Houston
He's still out there. My feelings have faded but other people still haven't watched him play at all. His numbers will make people notice at the end of the year. This goes for both of these guys. Both will be gone after this season. Keenum will finally be forced to leave, Pierce will jump a year too early. Neither one will be much of a star in the NFL unless absolutely everything aligns perfectly. I'm not banking on it for either of them anymore.

OK, this is all pretty underwhelming but I wanted to start the process of following Mercilus. It's just too good of a name.