With the first weekend of all college teams playing a game wrapping up, it’s time for the first edition of the weekly College Football Stock Report. Each week, we’ll take a look at two quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends who have raised their draft stock and two at each position who may have dropped their stock. This is just the start of most players’ seasons, so it’s important not to overreact too much with the long season ahead. However, it’s always good to keep track of which players are ascending throughout the season and which may be starting to fizzle out.
Stock Up
Cam Ward
QB - Miami Hurricanes
For anyone who didn’t watch Pac-12 (rest in peace) or Washington State games last year, welcome to the Cam Ward experience. Ward showed why he has a lot of fans by playing strong in the pocket, making big plays off script, and showing off all the physical gifts he has with diverse arm angles and speed while completing 26 of 35 passes for 385 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception while adding 33 yards on the ground.
Now, we saw Ward start off on fire last year but heavily declined as the season went on, which ultimately led to him returning to college for another year. So, I’ll be interested to see if he can keep his momentum up for the entire season this year.
Drew Allar
QB - Penn State Nittany Lions
Drew Allar must really hate West Virginia. Last season, Allar came out looking great against West Virginia and did the same this year at West Virginia, completing 11 of 17 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns while adding 44 yards on the ground. Allar looked great, but as I mentioned, he did the same last year, and then he seemed completely lost as a passer by the end of the year. Allar has all the tools to be a starting quarterback, so I want to see him overcome his inconsistencies and continue to look this strong on the road and throughout the entire season.
Before it was the trendy choice, I felt I was one of the few individuals who had Ashton Jeanty as their top back for next year’s draft in my summer scouting. So, it felt good to see the wide coverage of Jeanty’s elite traits with the show he put on this weekend, rushing for 267 yards and six touchdowns on just 20 carries before exiting with what looked to be a cramp.
Take it with a grain of salt, as it was against Georgia Southern, but Jeanty looked like a custom-made player from NCAA/Madden with 99 in all stats at times with the ridiculous moves he made on defenders. Jeanty did a great job planting his flag as the top back for next year’s draft class in the opener and can continue to cement this status by being more involved in the passing game going forward.
Just as Ashton Jeanty looked like a man amongst boys, Omarion Hampton did as well, even against better competition. Hampton’s final stat line of 129 yards on 30 carries and 17 yards on five catches doesn’t sound that impressive, but a lot of that came after the injury to Max Johnson when Minnesota knew the team would be feeding Hampton. Also, Hampton did most of his damage while breaking through contact, with 17 missed tackles forced and 114 yards after contact. It’s going to be tough on Hampton as he’ll continue to need to be the workhorse with Max Johnson out for the season, but Hampton looks ready to carry the team if needed.
Like Ashton Jeanty, this was probably one of the most obvious entries as Tetairoa McMillan set the school record for single-game receiving yards by finishing with ten catches for 304 yards and four touchdowns. It was against lower, undisciplined competition, but McMillan looked electric in the open space despite his taller build. In the summer, I mentioned that McMillan was closer to Luther Burden III than a lot of early rankings suggested, and his performance this weekend showed why. With McMillan likely taking the top spot of most peoples’ receiver rankings, I’ll be excited to see how he plays against better competition throughout the season.
How can I make this list and not include Travis Hunter after putting up 132 yards and three touchdowns on seven receptions? Now, Hunter did get away with a lot of push-offs that he shouldn’t need to rely on against lower competition, but his elite ball skills were on display at every opportunity. I would still like to see Hunter run a diverse route tree to prove his versatility, but I still don’t think we will get to see that in college while he plays on both sides. So, for the time being, he will need to continue to show off his ball skills and continue to prove he is a great cornerback and receiver prospect.
Colston Loveland
TE - Michigan Wolverines
While Michigan struggled to get a flow to their offense, Colston Loveland was one of the guiding forces for the team, going for 87 yards on eight receptions and a touchdown while continuing to be a strong blocker. There’s still a lot of time this season, but it seems like the team will need to continue to rely on Loveland in the passing game after losing a lot of receiver talent to the NFL. So, I’ll be interested to see if Loveland can continue to be the focal point of the passing game when teams adjust their coverage to him. He already is most peoples’ top tight end for next year’s draft, but Loveland showing that he can produce despite the added attention from defenses will secure that top spot and almost certainly push him into the first round of next year’s draft.
Luke Lachey
TE - Iowa Hawkeyes
For the second straight year, Luke Lachey immediately impressed in week one and proved why he is a sleeper tight end for a lot of people after putting up 63 yards on six receptions. Lachey showed off his strong hands and receiving upside that we’ve come to expect from Iowa’s tight ends these past few years. I still have concerns about Lachey’s separation, especially against better competition, as he still wasn’t always clearing his defender this weekend. However, he should continue to be a riser if he continues to be this productive in the passing game and stays healthy for the season.
Stock Down
Conner Weigman’s 2024 debut has to be one of the most disappointing entries on this list. After a summer of hype, including being in the top 3 of many peoples’ quarterback rankings, Weigman had one of the worst performances of the week, completing just 12 of 30 passes for 100 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.
I saw a lot of people say it was due to the lack of help at receiver as well as the strong Notre Dame secondary, and while there is truth to that, Weigman just really struggled to see the whole field, which was a major concern of mine after watching him for my summer scouting. Weigman is going to have to take a week to go back to the film, focus on missed opportunities, and work to prove that he is worthy of the summer hype he received since he didn’t look like a player ready to be an NFL starter this weekend.
Graham Mertz
QB - Florida Gators
Like Conner Weigman, Graham Mertz had a really disappointing 2024 debut after a promising 2023 season, completing 11 of 20 passes for just 91 yards with no touchdowns and one interception before being benched for the fourth quarter. After looking like a more composed player last season, Mertz seemed to revert to a lot of the bad tendencies he had at Wisconsin with poor decisions under pressure and staring down his receivers.
After being viewed as one of the safer and more technically sound quarterback prospects during the summer, he looked more like a backup-level player. Similar to Weigman, he’ll need to focus on rebounding next week against an easier Samford team and get ready for the redemption bowl in two weeks against Weigman and the Texas A&M Aggies.
Donovan Edwards
RB - Michigan Wolverines
This was about as uninspiring of a start as Donovan Edwards could have had to his 2024 season. After going into the season with high expectations and the likelihood that he would be a workhorse after Blake Corum left the team for the NFL, Edwards disappointed by rushing for just 27 yards on 11 carries and adding very little in the receiving game. The worst revelation, though, was that Edwards may have found himself stuck in another committee and was again outplayed by his committee mate. I’ve always been concerned that Edwards didn’t have the makings of a lead back, and he’s going to need to prove he can retake the top spot of the team to prove he has what it takes.
With a matchup against UC Davis and Jaydn Ott having the elite athleticism he has, I expected an Ashton Jeanty-type performance. Unfortunately, Ott had a pretty lackluster performance, rushing for 49 yards on 14 carries and adding 34 yards on 4 receptions. Now, it wasn’t a terrible performance, and Ott seemed to be a bit hobbled during the game, which likely impacted his performance, but again, I was just expecting a more explosive performance. However, there is plenty of time for him to rebound and show off his athleticism throughout the rest of the season.
Evan Stewart
WR - Oregon Ducks
Another disappointing debut, especially after the expectation of how well he would fit with his new team, was Evan Stewart, who only managed to put up 15 yards on three catches despite the team passing for 380 yards. Stewart entered the season in a lot of people’s top-five receiver rankings, but I was personally lower on him since he seemed to have more potential than his current ability. Based on the early returns, I’m concerned this could still be the case. However, there is still time for Stewart to have more of an impact as he gets more comfortable in Oregon’s offense, and hopefully, he can rebound and show why some people ranked him so high.
J. Michael Sturdivant
WR - UCLA Bruins
Speaking of having more potential than current ability, it was kind of the same old story with J. Michael Sturdivant. Sturdivant continued to look athletic and exuded potential but continued to be rather unproductive, finishing with just three receptions for 36 yards. Now, quarterback play and Sturdivant likely being the next victim of Eric Bieniemy’s offense had a part to play with this lack of production. However, at some point, Sturdivant is going to need to prove he can demand targets and win targets like other top prospects have with poor offenses and quarterback play.
Oscar Delp/Benjamin Yurosek
TEs - Georgia Bulldogs
This one is one of the most disappointing entries for me personally, as I was really excited to see how Oscar Delp and Benjamin Yurosek are used in the receiving game. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much, with each only earning a single target and neither recording a reception. With Georgia having a close game early on, I expected the team to lean into their tight ends more, but that never happened. So, I’ll be curious if the game plans shift in the future to involve the tight ends more or if they will continue to have difficulties establishing themselves as receiving threats in the SEC.
Jack Velling
TE - Michigan State Spartans
Similar to Oscar Delp and Benjamin Yurosek, after an offseason of a fair amount of hype for Jack Velling, the early returns were a bit rough. Velling was unproductive with just 3 targets with one reception for 15 yards as well as one drop and didn’t look great as a blocker with a fair amount of whiffs including blowing a block that allowed a big hit to force a fumble in the red zone.
The team did move him all over the field as a receiver, which was encouraging, but he just wasn’t able to get himself open enough and didn’t get schemed looks to get targets. Michigan State’s offense as a whole seemed to be in a bit of a flux as many players are adjusting to the change of scenery but I would have liked to see Velling come out stronger in week one after playing with Aidan Chiles last year.
