ESPN’s Top 25 Players Since 2000 - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

By Kyle Golik

The middle of summer as a college football writer is the peak of evergreen content season, everything is game and usually is when lists come about. ESPN is no stranger to this strategy and decided to release its Top 25 players since 2000 . There were things I appreciated, and then I was left scratching my head at times, and then left dumbfounded. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly as I try to do my best Sergio Leone impression.

The Good: Having a defensive player be the best since 2000.

I didn’t think ESPN would have the courage to do this, but the fact they did puts a smile on my face. I am not trying to downplay the importance of quarterbacks, but I honestly feel outside of Joe Burrow and Tim Tebow, they all kind of blend together and nothing really distinguishes them from the next. What Ndamukong Suh accomplished as an interior defensive lineman may have him as the greatest I ever seen.

When it came to measuring defensive linemen, I never thought I would see a sequel to what the “Washington Monument” Steve Emtman did ever, and I feel Suh replaced him as my measuring stick. Anyone who watches the 2009 Big XII Championship Game against Texas, that is the signature for Suh, and really the absolute gold standard performance for any defensive lineman.

The Bad: 2001 Miami Got Overrated

The farther we get from the 2001 Miami Hurricanes, the mythology only grows for that team. There is no denying they have a special place in the history of college football, but do we really believe that two of the Top 10 players were from Miami? I am willing to bet that prior to this article coming out, you would see very few responding having Ed Reed and Bryant McKinnie both in the Top 10. They are rated higher than Joe Burrow, Larry Fitzgerald, Joe Thomas (who I feel is a superior player in every aspect than McKinnie), Aaron Donald, and a few other Heisman Trophy winners.

This is borderline ugly. I feel Reed is worthy for the Top 25, but to be at No. 5? That is overrated by the very definition because there are players with better collegiate resumes than Reed and this isn’t taking anything away from him. If you try to convince me Ed Reed was a greater collegiate football player than Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush, I got some swampland in Florida to sell you.

The Ugly: No Manti?

I don’t know if Bill Connelly was trying to pay homage to Maxim Magazine’s Hot 100 entry for Manti Te’o ’s girlfriend, but to miss Te’o completely out of the Top 25 and even the honorable mentions as ugly as it can get. Te’o’s 2012 season is right there with Suh’s 2009 season. Te’o nearly swept all the hardware he could possibly win and even finished second in the Heisman voting. The fact players like Luke Keuchly and Derrick Johnson get honorable mentions and not Te’o will blow my mind for a very long time.

The Ugly: Baker Mayfield and Cam Newton over Tim Tebow, Vince Young, Joe Burrow

Cam Newton and Joe Burrow had similar arcs, to me I value higher what Burrow did especially in the College Football Playoff era. For how much of a freak Newton was athletically as a dual threat, Burrow was that with his arm. Quarterbacks don’t complete 76% of their passes in practice let alone over the course of a 15-game season. Burrow’s 65 total touchdowns responsible for in 2019 are video game numbers that if I didn’t see it happen in real life, I probably wouldn’t believe it.

Baker Mayfield is a fantastic story, I got the ultimate respect for him going from a walk-on to winning the Heisman Trophy. The work he put in is one that should be a movie one day. But it should not take away from the superstar greatness guys like Vince Young and Tim Tebow had right out of the gate.

You can make the legitimate argument that Tim Tebow is the greatest collegiate football player ever on the flip side of Mayfield’s journey from walk-on to Heisman, Tebow was the prodigy who actually lived up to and in my mind exceeded the prodigy expectations. Both are incredibly hard to do, I can say both on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the utmost difficulty. I would give each a 10, but the pressure Tebow had from the beginning to me is what breaks that tie.

I spoke about the mythology of the 2001 Miami, the same mythology can be said about the 2006 Rose Bowl game, and as the years go by, the mythology of Vince Young only continues to grow. Let’s not kid ourselves, Vince Young accounted for 467 yards of total offense (200 rush 267 pass), completed 75% of his passes with three rushing touchdowns against the team ESPN was promoting as the greatest team of all time.

To me, the supernatural abilities of Young and Newton supersede Mayfield. I would have Mayfield honestly below the four I mentioned and Deshaun Watson. I have Mayfield as the No. 6 quarterback this century.

The Bad: 2015 Heisman Finalists not in the Top 25

Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey had a throwback Heisman campaign back in 2015, where arguably we had a battle of the best running back for the Heisman, an award that seemingly goes to the quarterback of the year.

Henry and McCaffrey had two unique style seasons that to me should have had them in the Top 25.

McCaffrey, who I felt should have won the Heisman, broke Barry Sanders' record for all-purpose yards in a season. McCaffrey finished with 3,864 yards, smashing Sanders' previous mark by 614 yards. That alone should make him Top 25 worthy, the fact he had back-to-back 2,000 all-purpose yard seasons and finished with 6,333 is one of the all-time great careers in the entire history of college football.

Derrick Henry may have been the feature back for only a season for Nick Saban, but he got a careers worth of wear and tear in that season. Henry reminded me of Herschel Walker, just physically impressive and just physically dominated opposing defenses. Saban gave Henry the ball 406 times in 2015 (395 rush attempts, 11 pass receptions), unless the college season expands I don’t see another back getting 400 touches and dominating in the style of Henry, it was that unique he needed to be included.

The Good: Hopefully my Top 10 that will probably get torn apart - it's only fair I produce one:

#10 Terrell Suggs - Arizona State

#9 Aaron Donald - Pitt

#8 Joe Thomas - Wisconsin

#7 Cam Newton - Auburn

#6 Joe Burrow - LSU

#5 Larry Fitzgerald - Pitt

#4 Vince Young - Texas

#3 Tim Tebow - Florida

#2 Reggie Bush - Southern California

#1 Ndamukong Suh - Nebraska