Rob's Rankings: Most intriguing freshmen; sparkling water flavors

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position

As fall camp gets started at college campuses all over the country, the class of 2018 is on campus and ready to make a mark on college football. Some freshman will spend the upcoming season in a redshirt role. Others will kick in the door to stardom.

So, this week, Rob’s Rankings takes on the topic of intriguing freshman. It should be noted that the list below isn’t a list of freshmen certain to make an impact or even one of players with the most potential. Instead, they are ranked by intrigue – a collection of players with stories that will be most interesting to follow in the year ahead.

MORE: Five freshman QBs to watch | Most important recent commits

The reasons Lawrence is intriguing go well beyond the fact that he was the No. 1 overall recruit in last year’s class. It would be noteworthy if anyone threatened to unseat a quarterback that led a team to the College Football Playoff a year ago. The fact that Lawrence is doing it as a true freshman makes it nothing short of incredible. Coaches don’t often tinker with things that work, so the fact that Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney seems at least somewhat torn between Lawrence and current starter Kelly Bryant is a story in itself. Should Lawrence win the job in camp or in the early weeks of the season, it will become one of the biggest on-field stories in all of college football.

Whether or not Lawrence, who looked up to the task during the Tigers’ spring game, will actually win the job is impossible to predict. Still, Swinney noted that his true freshman gained ground on Bryant this spring so the program’s fall camp should be interesting to say the least. At this juncture, it seems like a safe bet that Lawrence will see the field in some capacity this season. Just how often is all that’s left to be determined.

Radley-Hiles will likely start at nickel for the Sooners, which adds to the intrigue surrounding the freshman defensive back. Radley-Hiles was one of the most personable and, in turn, marketable prospects in last year’s class. The former five-star is also as brand-aware as any freshman in the country and now finds himself competing for a major role in what should be a high-profile team in 2018.

Oklahoma is coming of a CFP appearance and is once again the favorite to win the Big 12, which will give the freshman a chance to make a name for himself on a national level. Radley-Hiles not only possesses the talent but the presence to become one of the faces of this year’s team, a squad that very well could find itself back in the payoff if things break correctly at the quarterback position.

Radley-Hiles, who goes by the nickname "Bookie," was a major story this spring, as the freshman made an impact from the moment he set foot in Norman. After recording a sack and helping force an interception in the spring game, expectations are sky-high for the California-born freshman, who spurned schools closer to home to play for OU.

Nebraska head coach Scott Frost has a glowing history with quarterbacks in the way that they tend to put up massive numbers under his tutelage. A year ago, UCF’s McKenzie Milton threw for more than 4,000 yards for Frost’s undefeated UCF team, which averaged more than 48 points per game. So, when you consider the fact that Milton and Martinez, who may well win the Huskers' quarterback job as a freshman, have similar makeups, it becomes easy to imagine the best-case scenario.

Martinez will first need to win the job in fall camp, however, and he’ll need to beat out redshirt freshman Tristan Gebbia to do so. But while Gebbia was already on the roster when Frost took over the program this offseason, Martinez was hand selected by the new Husker coach. Whether or not that will matter when it comes time to name a starter is anyone’s guess, but it’s certainly worth noting.

“I didn’t think there was a better fit in the country. Once we took the Nebraska job, we got a hold of him right away,” Frost told the Big Ten Network following last year;s early signing period.

Harris is the highest ranked high school prospect Kansas has signed since Rivals.com’s inception, so expectations for Harris’ time in Lawrence are lofty. Add in the fact that the touted defensive back is from the same Louisiana high school as current Jayhawk star Mike Lee, whose college career is off to a great start, and there’s reason to believe the talent level on the KU defense is quickly improving.

Kansas is 3-33 in the last three seasons, which ensures that Harris will be expected to play and play early for the Jayhawks, a program still in the process building something resembling a competitive Big 12 team. Harris immediately becomes one of the more naturally talented players on KU’s roster, so he’ll be expected to make his presence known quickly.

In the end, what makes Harris intriguing is the fact that KU’s highest ranked recruit of all time passed up offers from powerful programs to go to Lawrence and attempt to right the ship in an era that has produced a 9-51 five-year record. The decision was a bold one that could either pay off in a major way or explode in Harris’ face.

St Brown was one of the more dominant high school wide receivers to even grace the camp circuit, so seeing how his game translates to the college level will be a fun case study. The fact that USC is stacked at wide receiver will work against the true freshman this season, but the Trojans throw the ball plenty, so it’s hard to imagine a situation in which St Brown doesn’t get ample time to shine.

Also working in his favor is the fact that his size-speed combination will allow him to play in the slot as well as on the outside for the Trojans, who could plug him into a number of roles in the offense. That’s all to say that Pac-12 fans will come to know St. Brown early in the season, and there’s a chance he blossoms into a full-fledged national star before his first college campaign comes to a close.

JT Daniels (QB, USC), Brennan Eagles (WR, Texas), Brevin Jordan (TE, Miami)

Flavored sparkling water is for people that love soda but don’t love diabetes. And since I’m very much a member of said group, I’ve become something of a La Croix aficionado. Having sampled all but two flavors listed on the La Croix website (“kiwi watermelon” and “cola”), I’m uniquely qualified to be Rivals.com’s official La Croix critic. It’s why you can find a ranking of the brand’s top four flavors below.

1. Lime

A true classic of the genre. Everything else is derivative of lime in some way. Credit where it’s due.

2. Berry

The flavor in the berry incarnation of the product seems significantly stronger than the others, making it almost like drinking real soda. Berry is the La Croix that makes you double check the can’s nutritional information to make sure the company didn’t release some sort of Canadian-like sugar bomb. There is no higher compliment than this.

3. Pamplemousse

Is it just a snobby, French way to say “grapefruit?” It sure is. But it doesn’t make it any less delicious. Plus, Pamplemousse is, like, the best moose.

4. Key Lime

Water that tastes like pie. Pie water … seriously. If you’re looking for proof that 2018 isn’t all bad, here it is.