Phil Steele Blog • March 11, 2016

 

2015 Top 50 True Freshman DB's and their Impact on the Season.

Today lets talk about my 2015 Top 50 Freshman Defensive Backs and their impact on the season. Two teams have significant presence on this list Alabama with 5 players 3 in the Top 10, and Florida St with 4 players 2 in the Top 10.

Out of the Top 50 freshman on this list 28 (56%) contributed in some way this past season. Of the 28 players with stats 8 were from my Top 10, and my Top 2 freshman were in the Top 3 tacklers this past season.

Pittsburgh’s Jordan Whitehead (PS#26) also on my 2nd team All ACC list led the group with 109 tackles. You can find my 2015 postseason  All Conference Lists <Here>. Derwin James (PS#2) of Florida St was 2nd with 91 and USC’s Iman Marshall (PS#1) came in 3rd with 67. The production then starts to drop off as the next player on the list had 49 tackles Holton Hill (PS#15) from Texas.

Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick (PS#5) had an impressive 11 PBU’s (passes broken up) along with Iman Marshall (9).  Eleven players came away with at least 1 interception led by PS#1 Iman Marshall (3).  PS#5 Minkah Fitzpatrick, and PS#39 Ronnie Harrison both from Alabama came in 2nd with 2 each. PS#23 John Reid from Penn St and PS#34 Deshon Elliot from Texas also with 2 int's.

Here is the complete list of my 2015 Top 50 Freshman Defensive Backs. Also listed below in my 2016 Top 50 Defensive Backs.

Top                    
50 RS
NAME
TEAM
 TKL SKS TFL PBU INT QBH OTHER INFO
1     Iman  Marshall USC 67 0 0 9 3 0  
2     Derwin  James Florida St 91 4.5 5 5 0 3  
3     Kevin  Toliver LSU 35 0 2 5 1 0  
4 RS   Kendall  Sheffield Alabama 0 0 0 0 0 0  
5     Minkah  Fitzpatrick Alabama 45 2 1 11 2 1  
6     Tarvarus  Mcfadden Florida St 4 0 0 0 0 0  
7 RS   Deionte  Thompson Alabama 0 0 0 0 0 0  
8     Jamal  Peters Mississippi St 25 1 0.5 2 0 0  
9     Marvell  Tell USC 36 0 1 4 0 0  
10     Isaiah  Langley USC 12 0 0 1 0 0  
11 RS   Dechaun  Holiday Ucla 0 0 0 0 0 0  
12     Rashad  Roundtree Georgia 6 0 0 0 0 0  
13     Mark  Fields Clemson 5 0 0 0 0 0  
14 RS   Ykili  Ross Usc 0 0 0 0 0 0  
15     Holton  Hill Texas 49 0 1 4 1 0  
16     Donte  Jackson LSU 26 0 0.5 2 1 0  
17     Kris Boyd Texas 16 0 0 0 0 0  
18     Shaun  Crawford Notre Dame 0 0 0 0 0 0 OFY (ACL)
19     Tyrek  Cole West Virginia 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dismissed
20     Shawn  Burgess-Becker Alabama 3 0 0 0 0 0  
21 RS   Garrett  Taylor Penn St 0 0 0 0 0 0  
22     Justin  Dunning Texas A&M 20 0 0 0 1 0  
23     John  Reid Penn St 29 0 1 3 2 0  
24     Rico  Mcgraw Georgia 20 0 0.5 4 0 3  
25     Marcus  Lewis Florida St 0 0 0 0 0 0  
26     Jordan  Whitehead Pittsburgh 109 0.5 5.5 6 1 0 Phil Steele's 2nd TM All ACC '15
27     Pj  Mbanasor Oklahoma 7 0 0 1 0 0  
28     Will  Sunderland Oklahoma 3 0 0 0 0 0  
29 RS   Frank  Buncom Stanford 0 0 0 0 0 0  
30 GS   Scrappy  Norman Arizona St 0 0 0 0 0 0  
31 RS   Larry  Pryor Texas A&M 0 0 0 0 0 0  
32 RS   Eric  Lee Nebraska 0 0 0 0 0 0  
33     Jaquan  Johnson Miami, Fl 26 0 0 0 1 0  
34     Deshon  Elliott Texas 13 0 0 0 2 0  
35     Micah  Abernathy Tennessee 9 0 0 2 0 0  
36 RS   Xavier  Lewis LSU 0 0 0 0 0 0  
37 RS   Jordan  Colbert Auburn 0 0 0 0 0 0 Transferred to JC
38     Tyree  Kinnel Michigan 2 0 0 0 0 0  
39     Ronnie  Harrison Alabama 17 1 0 6 2 1  
40 Med RS   Austin  Joyner Washington 0 0 0 0 0 0  
41     Jamel  Dean Ohio St 0 0 0 0 0 0 Med ineligible/Trans to Auburn
42 RS   Kendrell  Mcfadden Miami (Oh) 0 0 0 0 0 0  
43 RS   Roney  Elam Texas A&M 0 0 0 0 0 0  
44     Tim  Irvin Auburn 18 0 0 2 0 2  
45     Jaylon  Lane Unsigned 0 0 0 0 0 0 To JC
46     Calvin  Brewton Florida St 0 0 0 0 0 0  
47     Jw  Ketchum Baylor 0 0 0 0 0 0 Suspended/Transferred
48     Octavis  Johnson South Carolina 0 0 0 0 0 0 Did not qualify/Went to JC
49     Donovan  Sheffield Vanderbilt 5 0 2 2 0 0  
50     Mook  Reynolds Virginia Tech 30 0 4 1 0 1  

Here is the complete list of my 2016 Top 50 Freshman Defensive Backs. LSU dominates this list with 5 players, 3 from my Top 10.

Top    
50 Player Team
1 Levonta Taylor Florida State
2 Mecole Hardman Georgia
3 Saivion Smith LSU
4 Brandon Jones Texas
5 Jack Jones (Jackie) USC
6 Eric Monroe LSU
7 Nigel Warrior Tennessee
8 Kristian Fulton LSU
9 Deontay Anderson Mississippi
10 Trayvon Mullen Clemson
11 Nigel Knott Alabama
12 Chauncey Gardner Florida
13 Shyheim Carter Alabama
14 David Long Michigan
15 Brandon Burton UCLA
16 Lamar Jackson Nebraska
17 Byron Murphy (BJ) Washington
18 Jordan Fuller Ohio State
19 Marquez Callaway Tennessee
20 Tyler Byrd Tennessee
21 Lavert Hill Michigan
22 Damar Hamlin Pittsburgh
23 Marquill Osborne Tennessee
24 John Broussard Auburn
25 Jared Mayden Alabama
26 Shurod Thompson Oregon State
27 Jordan Parker Oklahoma
28 JoeJuan Williams Vanderbilt
29 Travon Fuller Texas A&M
30 Jamel Cook USC
31 Marquel Dismuke Nebraska
32 Christian Wallace Oregon State
33 Donte Vaughn Notre Dame
34 Stephen Davis Jr. Unsigned
35 Dylan Singleton Duke
36 Demetric Vance Michigan State
37 Patrice Rene North Carolina
38 Parrish Cobb Baylor
39 Wayne Davis Ohio State
40 Brady Breeze Oregon
41 Carlos Becker Florida State
42 Isaiah Gilchrist Washington
43 Cameron Lewis LSU
44 Troy Pride Notre Dame
45 CJ Pollard USC
46 Kenney Lyke Michigan State
47 Nygel Edmonds California
48 Andraez Williams LSU
49 Craig Watts (CJ) USF
50 Khalil Ladler Virginia Tech