Three weeks into the 2023 college football season, I decided it was time to give an overview of the landscape and list my top players in the nation right now, going through each position. Generally I tried to stick with five or six names – if there was a tie for number five – but for some of these I felt the need to quickly outline one other player, who I struggled with ranking due to different circumstances, but looked at as worthy of bringing up in this discussion.
Please bear in my mind that I look at this through the lens of where these guys are right now at the college level, rather than evaluating them as NFL Draft prospects – there’ll be plenty of time for late from February until the end of April and beyond – although I may mention certain qualities/question marks that will ultimately be discussed further. So look at this as “If I had to play a college game today, who would I pick for my team?”. I went a little further in depth about the quarterbacks, while trying to give more of a general understanding of the other positions.
And just a quick note – some players that were in the running for me when I started putting together this list before the season kicked off, but haven’t yet played at all or have gotten hurt and therefore didn’t qualify – QB Michael Pratt (Tulane), WR Zakhari Franklin (Ole Miss), WR Ladd McConkey (Georgia), TE Brant Kuithe (Utah), LB Jestin Jacobs (Oregon) and SAF Rod Moore (Michigan).
Let’s get into the list: