Three-point stance: The nation's most improved players

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with a look at a few of the most improved players in the country at big-time programs, five former three-stars who are killing it as true freshmen and a recruiting boost for five teams based on this year’s performances.

RELATED: Three-point stance on Patterson, Smart, Clemson

Player improvement from season to season is something every coach strives for from season to season. Here are a few players I feel have taken a massive step from 2015 to 2016 and have made a major impact on programs that have made national news.

Without Foreman, how many games does Texas win this season? Is there even a question about whether or not Charlie Strong keeps his job without the big running back? Last season, Foreman ran off yardage in chunks for a 7.1-yards-per-carry, but he didn’t earn the workhorse load he wanted, carrying the ball less than Johnathan Gray and earning only 20 more carries than quarterback Tyrone Swoopes. This season? How does 241 carries and 1,613 yards and some Heisman buzz sound? Foreman is quicker, more decisive and has shown more top end speed this season than last year. Texas has never sniffed the playoff picture like some other teams listed below, but he can’t be ignored. Foreman was a two-star out of high school.

Wilkins was a very good player for Clemson last season as a freshman, but he has taken things to the next level this year. Most impressively, he has made the move to defensive end without any issue and Clemson hasn’t lost a beat from the outside despite the loss of Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd. He’s an amazingly versatile lineman who took the next step in his development.

Sterling Shepard leaves and Westbrook becomes a star. Last year he was a solid No. 2 option with 46 catches and he started off this season a little slow, but now he has 68 catches for 1,254 yards and 14 touchdowns and is ready to surpass Shepard’s best year at OU in a big way. He’s been a major reason the Sooners have looked like last year’s team on offense after a rough start.

Playing opposite of Jourdan Lewis means you’re going to be targeted quite a bit and Stribling has stepped up his game. He’s doubled his interception total from last year, is nearing double digits in passes defended and he’s been more consistent near the line of scrimmage as well, a weakness last season at times. He’s one of many reasons the Michigan defense has taken the next step. Stribling was a two-star who moved up to three.

You can’t talk about improvement at Michigan without nothing the improvement, or actually the emergence, of Hooker at Ohio State. An exceptional athlete with elite ball skills, Hooker still takes too many chances diving at bodies in the run game, but you can’t deny his impact against the passing game after barely playing each of his first two seasons.

Okay, is this about improvement or more about a comeback? Ross missed last season with an injury, but even before that he was not a big factor in the Huskies offense totaling 33 catches his first two seasons. This year he has a Power Five-leading 15 touchdown catches and is closing in on 1,000 yards receiving despite a few pedestrian games. Will Fuller with better hands? That’s what many say, but he’s even more difficult to cover one-on-one.

While improvement from year to year is important, the transition to college football from the high school ranks is more difficult. So as we watch 2016 five-stars like Dexter Lawrence, Ed Oliver, Nick Bosa, Jonah Williams, Rashan Gary, Marlon Davidson, Jacob Eason and most recently Shea Patterson make things look easy, what about some three-stars that are stunning us so far? Here are my top five.

I mentioned big Benny in one of our Rival Views from last week as the biggest true freshman surprise for me. The former low three-star has 854 yards on the ground, is averaging 5.5 yards-per-carry and didn’t even play the first two games of the season. Next season will be tougher with a target on his back, but he’s earned that target with his play.

He was also mentioned last week and even as a high three-star all-purpose back, he has been a huge surprise. I didn’t think he would impact so quickly as a situational back, but he has gotten the most out of his 88 carries and has been a huge surprise.

Taylor was slow-footed and overweight for much of his high school career, so we labeled him as a project and a low three-star. No way did we see him as a starting right tackle for the Gators in year one.

Hill was a mid three-star for us last year who committed early and didn’t get a ton of love from programs aside from the Cowboys, Houston, Kansas and Louisville. He’s rushed for 789 yards and five scores while averaging more than five yards-per-carry in a pass-happy offense.

Herbert has completed 63 percent of his passes and thrown 15 touchdowns against only four picks since taking over as the starter.

Finally, a quick-hitter here as I see five teams that have had surprising seasons could see an uptick in recruiting (if it hasn’t started already) next year and beyond.

Penn State – James Franklin can recruit. We’ve seen that at Maryland, Vanderbilt and to some extent at Penn State, so imagine how well he can do selling a season like this to the 2018 and 2019 kids?

Louisville – Florida kids will continue to want to head to Louisville especially if overlooked by the big three in state and they should start to do more damage in ACC country as well thanks to a certain quarterback.

Washington – Oregon is down, Washington is hot and they will start to steal away some of those California kids who want to get away.

West Virginia – with a weak home recruiting ground, West Virginia has relied on places like the DMV, Florida and the Midwest to add players. But how about more success in Western Pennsylvania? That could happen.

Colorado – The Buffs are already seeing more success in Texas and I would bet California follows.