Three-Point Stance: Breakout performers, top freshman, early Heisman race

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with breakout performers from Week 1 some standout true freshmen and his first Heisman pecking order.

MORE: Twitter Tuesday mailbag | Four Florida prospects who could flip

Let’s take a look at some breakout performers from week one. These are guys who may be kickstarting their careers (or final seasons) with a great week.

RB Jeremy Larkin, Northwestern – Larkin rushed for 143 yards and two scores after rushing for 503 all last season so he’s off to a great start as a sophomore.

QB Taylor Cornelius, Oklahoma State – He may be a senior but he’s well on his way to keeping alive the quarterback tradition at Oklahoma State. His 295 yards is more than he threw for his entire career and five touchdowns is impressive.

WR Laviska Shenault Jr., Colorado – The sophomore is looking like a star and living up to his ranking with 211 yards and a score already in the opener.

QB Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State – You can argue that Haskins broke out last year but his 22-30 performance and 313 yards with five touchdowns shows the sophomore is on his way to being a Heisman candidate.

WR Jamal Custis, Syracuse – Another senior on the list, Custis caught six passes for more yards than he had his entire career and added two scores.

WR Eric Kumah, Virginia Tech – Kumah was solid last season but looks to be a bigger threat this year as a junior with four catches for 86 yards and a score in a huge win against Florida State.

RB Nick Brossette, LSU – He may be a senior and he’s certainly waited his turn, but his 124 yards on 22 carries is almost more than he’s had in any one season and he’s scored his first college touchdowns after 141 in high school.

And now to the youngsters, the true freshmen who stood out to me. These aren’t all of them of course so stop complaining, just the few that really impressed me.

WR Rondale Moore, Purdue – Moore stole the show in a loss to Northwestern with 11 catches for 109 yards and a score and 2 rushes for 79 yards and another score. He looks like he could be very special.

WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, USC – Living up to the hype, St. Brown had 7 catches for 98 yards and a score. His quarterback and former high school teammate (below) did pretty well too.

WR Jeshaun Jones, Maryland – He caught a touchdown pass, he ran for another and threw one as well in his college debut. That’s amazing.

WR Sage Surratt, Wake Forest – Surratt had 11 catches for 150 yards in his college debut, not too shabby.

QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson – No one has been more hyped than Lawrence and he responded with 9 completions for 137 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a nice debut.

QB JT Daniels, USC – 22 of 35 for 282 yards and a score when you should still be in high school is pretty good, no?

QB Justin Fields, Georgia – He was very efficient with 7 of 8 passes completed, 63 yards and a touchdown and he rushed for 33 yards on three carries to boot.

It’s never too early for a Heisman watch right? This is a tough one because what do you do with a guy like Bryce Love who had a horrible first game? Here’s my best effort.

QB Will Grier, West Virginia – He’s off to a great start with a huge game against a Power Five opponent and he should put up monster numbers in this offense.

RB Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin – One of the few running backs who had a chance from the start, Love is off the list for now but Taylor remains very high after his performance.

QB Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State – Haskins wasn’t on many lists heading into the season but he’s on them now after his five-touchdown performance.

QB Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama – I have tried not to buy into the Tua hype but after watching him against Louisville its tough not to. He looks really special so far.

QB McKenzie Milton, UCF – My Group of Five candidate, I think he has another amazing season and leads the team to a huge year. But no, he won’t win the Heisman, but he deserves the mention.

DE Nick Bosa, Ohio State – My main defensive candidate, he has a touchdown already and was all over the field this weekend. He’s outshined a bit by the guy below him here for some reason, but he’s ahead of all defenders for me.

DT Ed Oliver, Houston – He had a monster game and is a special prospect. Could he push up the list despite being a Group of Five guy? The media loves him so he could but he’s behind Bosa for me.