PFF Names College Football's Top 50 Players, And the Ducks Have Work To Do

Pro Football Focus unveiled its list of the Top 50 players in college football Wednesday, and their rankings suggest the Ducks face a daunting challenge in the Big Ten: They're good, but their chief rivals in the new league have more star power.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel is Oregon's highest-ranked player on the list at #16. Meanwhile, Michigan has two elite athletes in the top ten in #3 Mason Graham, a big defensive tackle and #4 cornerback Will Johnson.

Ohio State places two also at #8 and #10, safety Caleb Downs and running back Quinshon Judkins. Judkins is a 6-0, 219 power back, a transfer from Ole Miss who ran for 1,476 yards and 16 touchdowns as a freshman in the SEC, 1,052 and 15 as a sophomore. He's a load-- Jordan James and Noah Whittington are good, but not this good.

Buckeye edge rusher Jack Sawyer cracks the list at 21. Ashton Jeanty, the superb running back from the upset-minded Boise State Broncos (Oregon's Week Two opponent on September 7th) checks in at #23. Jeanty ran for 1,347 yards and 6.1 a carry last season while terrorizing the Mountain West. He also caught 39 passes for 552 yards and 5 touchdowns, giving him 21 in all. The 5-9, 215-pound junior led the nation in missed tackles forced, according to PFF.

He'll be a supreme matchup test for the Oregon linebackers, ahead of the gauntlet they'll face in the Big Ten, particularly the OSU combo of Judkins and Treveyon Henderson.

Michigan tight end Colson Loveland is #24, 6-5, 245, 649 receiving yards last year.

Tez Johnson at #30 is the second Duck on the PFF tally. He led all Power Five receivers with 727 yards after the catch and ranked fifth in receiving yards after contact (278).

The list starts to look a little better when Ajani Cornelius graces it at #32, but the only Oregon defensive player to make this cruel cut is Jabbar Muhammad at number 44. PFF's team writes, "The junior led all cornerbacks in 2023 with 19 forced incompletions, 17 of them coming in single coverage."

Duck standouts like Evan Stewart, Terrance Ferguson, Marcus Harper, Josh Cornelius, Iapani Laloulu, Jeffry Bassa, Jordan Burch, Jamaree Caldwell and Kobe Savage were passed over by PFF. Maybe that's extra motivation when they square off against the Top 50.