Top Freshman To Watch This CFB Season

Who are the top freshmen to watch in college football this season?

Transcript

00:00With the 2022 college football season right around the corner, it's time to take a look

00:04at which freshmen could make immediate impacts on the field. I'm Claudette Montana-Pattison with

00:10SI right now and joining me is our Sports Illustrated recruiting analyst, John Garcia Jr.

00:15John, let's talk about the first guy on our list, Travis Hunter. He's a cornerback at Jackson State,

00:20also was the number one overall player for his recruiting class. Expectations are high for him,

00:26right, going into the season? 100%. I think the shock of him picking Jackson State was so

00:32buzzworthy, but let's not forget why it was such a big deal. Travis Hunter can do it at corner,

00:37wide receiver, like his mentor, Deion Sanders, now his head coach. He'll probably do it in the

00:42return game as well. Few players at any position as electric and dynamic as he is line him up

00:49anywhere and he will make a huge impact for Jackson State right out of the gate. There

00:54really is no other expectation. All right, let's talk about a guy on offense, wide receiver at

00:59Missouri, Luther Burden. He's a dual athlete, played basketball and football in high school.

01:05He's about six feet tall, 200 pounds. He can play on the outside, in the slot. How can he impact

01:12Missouri's offense this season? Well, I think you said it, you know, he's got this basketball

01:17background so he tracks the ball so very well and plays a lot bigger than his frame might suggest,

01:22which could allow him to move around that Eli Drinkwits offense that wants to push the ball

01:27down the field and that's really where Luther specializes. Contested catches, he's very good

01:32after the catch as well. We also saw him excel in the return game as one of the top receivers

01:37in the country in the SI99 rankings last year and look, you're in the SEC now, a lot of points need

01:44to be scored. It's not 2009, you've got to light it up to compete in that league and if Missouri's

01:50going to do so, Luther Burden is going to have to help out right out of the gate. Let's talk about

01:55Will Johnson, a cornerback out of Michigan. He will be playing for the Wolverines this season.

02:01How can he impact their secondary? Well, they've had some turnover there over the last couple of

02:06years and they need big long corners to contend with some of the more explosive offenses in the

02:12country. When you think of explosive passing games, a lot of people go immediately to the

02:17Ohio State Buckeyes. So naturally, if you're Michigan, if you're Penn State, if you're these

02:21schools, you've got to bring in great secondary players and Johnson not only has great experience

02:26as a receiver and defensive back, but great size. Six foot two, 200 pounds, runs incredibly well

02:32and has great ball skills. A lot of the traits that you need to make an immediate impact

02:37in the secondary trying to slow down those Buckeye wideouts.