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Top 5 College Football Breakout Superstars to Watch in 2024
By Pete Fiutak,
21 hours ago
Ollie Gordon was a little used freshman in 2022, and then the Oklahoma State running back ripped off over 1,700 yards and 21 scores on his way to the Doak Walker Award in 2023.
Jayden Daniels was 72nd in the nation in passing in 2022, and last season he took his game up several notches and won the Heisman.
Jalen Milroe, Jay Higgins, Cody Schrader, Omarion Hampton - all of them were great players who went from promising to national superstars.
Who’s about to breakout and blow up this season? Here are five terrific players who’ll be college football household names in 2024?
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) during Tennessee's Orange & White spring football game at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Colorado State struggled a bit last season, but the groundwork was set with several good players cranking up the passing game - the Rams were ninth in the nation in yards per game.
The star for the attack was Horton, a good-sized volume catcher who started his career at Nevada before becoming a Ram, making 167 grabs for 2,267 yards and 16 scores in two years in Fort Collins.
He cranked up 16 catches for 133 yards and a score in the tough loss to Colorado, but if he rocks at Texas in the season opener, the national attention will kick in.
Okay, okay, he’s already a star, but it’s sometimes hard to get too much attention from the Mountain West. The same goes for …
Like Horton, Jeanty made a whole lot of noise in the Mountain West over the last few seasons, but now he’s about to break out and become one of college football’s signature star.
He’s only about 5-8 and just over 200 pounds, but the Florida native runs with power, can catch, and he can carry the workload - he ran 31 times for 212 yards and three scores in the loss to Horton’s Rams last season.
Get ready for the hype to be off the charts if he does anything big against Oregon in Week 2.
The 6-5, 210-pound Hawaiian has a killer all-around combination of deep speed, size, and quickness considering his body type. McMillan - first time pronounced tet-ah-row-ah - averaged 18 yards per catch as a freshman, and last year he turned into one of the best players in the Pac-12.
He caught 90 passes for 1,402 yards and ten touchdowns, hitting Oklahoma for ten grabs in the Alamo Bowl win, and scoring in each of the last five regular season games.
Still around Tucson under the new coaching staff, he’s about to bother the Big 12 before pushing for a possible first round draft slot in 2025.
A good recruit for Tennessee, Iamaleava - pronounced Eee-MAH-lay-ah-vay - saw a little work last season behind Joe Milton. It was his car to drive in the 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl last season, running for three scores and hitting 63% of his throws for 151 yards and a score.
Very tall, very quick, and very smooth, he has an interesting combination of skills, a loaded group of skill guys around him, and the Josh Heupel offense to make him shine.
He’ll get in a preseason-type of game against Chattanooga to kick things off before the showdown against NC State. After that, and a tune-up against Kent State, he should be one of the SEC’s featured stars the rest of the way.
Notre Dame, good luck dealing with the nation’s best pass rusher in the season opener.
Scourton was a problem for the Big Ten last season, coming up with ten sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and 50 tackles as a Purdue sophomore.
Texas A&M got the 6-4, 280-pound all-around force, he looked the part this offseason in practices, and now one of the steadiest defensive wrecking balls in college football will be a national superstar as part of an amazing line.
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