By: Heath Moorman (@Heat1017)
The semis have passed and the championship is upon us. Last week we saw Miami and Texas A&M triumph over foes North Carolina and Alabama. Let’s take a look at how each of our watch list players performed and let’s take a look at a third player from each team that could make a huge impact.
Miami
Bo Yost – Miami RB – X-Factor
Bo Yost again went off for yet another 100-yard rushing game, giving him 6 on the season. In total, he touched the ball 28 times for 190 yards. Bringing his season total all-purpose production to 3094 total yards and 17 touchdowns. One thing to note heading into the Championship, Bo is 225 yards from reaching 5000 career rushing yards. He also recorded his 50th career rushing touchdown against UNC. Will he get the yards to become a 5000-50 rusher?
Jack Jones – Miami CB – Underrated Player
Jack Jones was quiet in the semi-finals recording a 1-1-1 stat line (1 tackle, 1 pass defended, 1 interception). This means he’s playing the lockdown defense that we expected to see out of him in the playoffs. If Miami wants to bring home the trophy, Jones will need to continue this string of success against a set of BIG receivers for A&M.
Dan Hanson – Miami SS – Impact Player
Hanson is a sophomore at Miami that has seen two very consistent years of production for the Hurricanes. He has been known for making big plays at the right moments, just when Miami needs a turnaround. This week against Texas A&M’s monster wideouts, Hanson will need to be quick on his feet and cover a lot of ground to keep the deep balls from connecting. He will also need to keep his shoulders square when tackling 6’8” receiver Stackhouse.
Texas A&M
Buck Stackhouse – Texas A&M WR – X-Factor
Someone finally found out how to slow down Buck Stackhouse. Stackhouse recorded his season low on receptions (2) and yards (32). You have to go back to season 20 when Stackhouse played against Alabama and only hauled in one catch for 6 yards to find a similar performance from him. But it didn’t matter, Stackhouse’s teammates more than made up for the deficit en route to dominating Alabama 38-10. He faces a defensive secondary that has struggled to defend the pass at times this season, allowing the second-most passing yards in the league at 411.6 yards per game. He should see lots of targets and lots of broken tackles.
Marcus Padgett – Texas A&M CB – Underrated Player
Padgett recorded a similar stat line to his opponent Jack Jones last week, recording only 2 tackles and 1 pass defended. This is the sign of a great cornerback as the ball isn’t being thrown their way. It will be interesting to see how Padgett handles himself against Miami’s receiver core and who they decide to line him up against. Padgett needs to be a part of a lockdown secondary to allow the front line to get pressure on Miami QB Leisa Pink and force some mistakes if they want to carry home the trophy.
Rand Rockwell – Texas A&M DE – Impact Player
Rand Rockwell is in his third season at Texas A&M and he has seen a lot of time in opponents backfields. Putting up 52 TFLs and 30 Sacks in his career. He leads the Aggies in TFL and Sacks this season and will be the primary target for Bo Yost to be chipping on his way out of the backfield on passing plays this week. Rockwell failed to bring down a TFL last week against Alabama, but like Stackhouse, we saw teammates rise around him. If Rockwell can get home a time or two this week we could see Leisa Pink making mistakes and giving A&M short fields.
