In today’s Fact or Fiction, Rivals National Columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decide whether the statements are indeed FACT or FICTION.
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1. Kayvon Thibodeaux will be the defensive player getting Heisman votes this season.
FICTION. Kayvon Thibodeaux from Oregon is getting a ton of hype as a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and for good reason. But the elite rush end won’t get enough attention at Oregon to get “pity” defensive votes as I call them. I look for Derek Stingley Jr. or perhaps his teammate Elias Ricks to garner those if LSU has a good season or perhaps a Myles Murphy at Clemson or William Anderson at Alabama. The Pac-12 doesn’t get enough love and Oregon would have to be perfect for Thibodeaux to get those accolades.
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2. Major Burns gives LSU the best secondary in the country.
FACT. Major Burns is a valued add from the transfer portal for LSU from Georgia and will jump into a secondary that already boasts Stingley Jr. and Ricks. He helps fill a huge need at safety while freshmen Sage Ryan and Derrick Davis get their feet wet. Find me a better secondary in college football next season, I dare you.
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3. We will never see a game manager win a national title at quarterback again.
FACT. Remember Jake Coker? He was the quarterback for the 2015 national champion Alabama Crimson Tide when Derrick Henry carried the team to the national title. Keep him in your thoughts because he is the last game-managing quarterback we will ever see win a national title in college football. Ever? Yes, ever.
Since then the following quarterbacks have won national titles — DeShaun Watson, Tua Tagovailoa (sort of), Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow and Mac Jones. Throw in Jalen Hurts if you like but you get the point.
Coker threw for 21 touchdowns that season and went undrafted but since then Watson, Burrow, Tagovaioloa, Lawrence and Jones have all been first-round picks after winning it all. And Hurts was a second-rounder.
The days of the game manager are gone and we will never again see a quarterback win the national title being undrafted the next year and/or putting up pedestrian numbers. It just won’t happen.
