Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s Three-Point Stance is here with his reaction to Christian McCaffrey's decision to skip the Sun Bowl, grades for Pac-12 coaches and comparisons between the 2017 and 2018 classes.
MORE: Farrell Freshman All-American Team: Offense | Farrell Postseason 50
1. FOURNETTE, MCCAFFREY WON'T BE LAST TO SKIP BOWLS
I predicted in January after Jaylon Smith suffered a major knee injury in Notre Dame's bowl game that college football stars would start skipping meaningless bowl games to avoid injury. And while Leonard Fournette is resting an injury and Christian McCaffrey came out and said he was prepping for the NFL Draft, let’s be real: both players are skipping bowl games to avoid the possibility of suffering an injury that would impact their draft stock.
Fournette and McCaffrey are performing a disservice to their teammates. These moves reek of selfishness, but can I truly condemn them? What if I was that player? Would I risk millions of dollars of future earnings to play in the Sun Bowl or the Citrus Bowl? Those are nice bowl games, but they are ultimately meaningless in the big picture of the college football landscape.
Everyone knows I love to get on my high horse, but I see both sides of this.
These kinds of moves will become more prevalent as time passes. And NFL scouts don’t care as they will draft players based on their ability and not on whether they missed a worthless bowl game.
It’s the teammates and coaches that get the short end of the stick here, but what would they do if they were as talented as Fournette and McCaffrey? I know people want me to slam their decisions - and I would be shouting from the rooftops if they were sitting out playoff games - but who really cares about these bowl games?
The bottom line is that this sucks for college football, but I’d love to hear someone’s solution because I’m not sure there is one.
2. PAC-12 COACHING GRADES
Professor Farrell is back and it’s time to grade the job the Power Five coaches did this season. We’ve done the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten, and we'll finish with a look at the Pac-12.
NORTH DIVISION
Washington – A+: Chris Petersen did a great job keeping his team focused and guiding the Huskies into the playoffs. The schedule wasn’t great, but Washington pounded the teams it needed to pound.
Washington State – A: The Cougars were expected to finish in the middle of the North and Mike Leach led his team to eight wins and a 7-2 mark in conference after a bad start.
Stanford – B: The Cardinal were expected to win the division and the conference and fell short of both. But nine wins isn’t shabby for David Shaw, especially with his star player missing some key time.
Oregon State – C: There’s a big drop down here from Shaw to Gary Anderson, whose team was expected to finish last and beat a bad Oregon team to avoid that spot.
Cal – C-: Sonny Dykes' Cal team was projected to finish near the bottom of the division and it did. Aside from the win over Utah, the Bears had zero quality wins and the defense stunk.
Oregon – D-: Mark Helfrich got fired after leading the Ducks to the cellar. There are not failing grades from Professor Farrell, but this is as close as you can get.
SOUTH DIVISION
Colorado – A+: Mike MacIntyre did the best job of any coach in the country. Enough said.
USC – B+: After a horrific start, USC was one of the hottest teams in the nation down the stretch for Clay Helton.
Utah – B-: The Utes were projected to finish third in the division, but 5-4 in conference is a little worse than expected for Kyle Wittingham.
Arizona State – C-: Todd Graham’s offense can be fun to watch but the defense is just horrible.
Arizona – D: The Wildcats were expected to finish near the middle of the division, but this season went into the toilet from the start for Rich Rodriguez and stayed there.
UCLA – D-: Jim Mora’s team was picked to finish first in the division. Yes, losing QB Josh Rosen hurt, but this team played horribly and below expectations all season.
3. COMPARING TOP 2017 RECRUITS TO 2018
Last week I compared the top prospects at each offensive position from the class of 2017 and 2018 so I’ll do the defense now…
Defensive Tackle – Marvin Wilson vs. Taron Vincent: This is a good matchup between two five-stars but Wilson is more of a gap shooter and more athletic at the same stage.
Weakside DE – Josh Kaindoh vs. Micah Parsons: Two future Penn State Nittany Lions? Both are super talented, but Parsons plays the run better and is more versatile.
Strongside DE – AJ Epenesa vs. Xavier Thomas: Epenesa is well-rounded and will have a great career at Iowa, but Thomas could be one of the elite in this class not to mention 2018.
Inside LB – Jordan Anthony vs. Solomon Tuliaupupu: Anthony was a linebacker playing running back as a junior but even then he had more upside to me than Tuliaupupu.
Outside LB – Baron Browning vs. Palaie Gaoteote: Gaoteote is a great player, but Browning is one of the best linebackers in recent years.
Cornerback – Lamont Wade vs. Patrick Surtain: The 2018 cornerback class is loaded and deeper, but Wade is the Tasmanian Devil of corners and has the edge.
Safety – Jeffrey Okudah vs. Tyreke Johnson: This is a close call as both are elite five-star prospects but Okudah has better natural instincts in coverage.
Athlete – Brendon White vs. L’Christian Smith: Ohio vs. Ohio here with Smith getting the slight edge.
