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Heading into the 2018 college football season, WalterFootball.com will debut our projections for the nation’s leaders during the fall. The All-American teams always have some surprises, and the next fall’s stars could be the headline players next April for the 2019 NFL Draft. We also will project the winners of the postseason awards that are given out to the best of college football.
The Maxwell Award is given to the best player in college football. Last year, we predicted Sam Darnold, but Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield won the Award.
Maxwell Award Winner:
Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon The Maxwell Award typically goes to a quarterback. Since 2000, only three times has the award not gone to a quarterback: Larry Johnson (2002), Manti Te’o (2012) and Derrick Henry (2015). Thus, I’m going with a signal-caller. Sometimes, the Maxwell Award follows the Heisman but other times goes in another direction. This year, I could see that happening as the top quarterbacks are not playing for the highly ranked teams and top playoff contenders.
Of all the draft-eligible quarterbacks for the 2019 NFL Draft, Justin Herbert has the best skill set. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound signal-caller has NFL ability and could put together a huge year with his arm and legs. Herbert has a combination of good size and a strong arm with the ability to loft in touch passes. He can also loft in passes with nice ball placement, leading his receivers and beating quality coverage with the location of his passes. With his height and size, Herbert is comfortable to stand tall in the pocket and shows the patience to let routes develop. Alongside his arm talent, he is a quality athlete with the ability to pick up yards on the ground and should add a good number of rushing touchdowns to his stat line.
As long as he stays healthy, there is no reason to think that Herbert won’t put up massive numbers in 2018. Even though Oregon plays in one of the best conferences in the nation, Herbert has an easy schedule this coming season. The year starts off with teams that he should pad his stats against, including Bowling Green, Portland State and San Jose State. Stanford, Washington and Utah possess the best defenses that will challenge Herbert during his regular-season schedule. I think that Herbert is going to throw for and run for a lot of touchdowns this season to end up being a heavy favorite for the Maxwell Award.
Maxwell Award Runner-Up:
Will Grier, QB, West Virginia A lot of the same reasons why Mayfield won the Maxwell Award a year ago apply to Grier this year. While other quarterbacks are likely to be higher graded NFL prospects, I think Grier could be the most prolific and deadly quarterback in college football during the 2018 season. The 6-foot-2, 214-pounder has a good arm and is a natural passer of the football. Additionally, Grier has good receiving talent to work with and more experience after starting in 2017. West Virginia has consistently fielded a point machine offense under head coach Dana Holgorsen, and Grier should be more comfortable after starting last year. In 2017, Grier completed 64 percent of his passes for 3,490 yards with 34 touchdowns and 12 interceptions while missing time late in the year with an injury. If he had stayed healthy, he probably would have exceeded 4,000 yards and 40 touchdown passes.
Just like Mayfield, Grier plays in a conference that lacks defensive talent and has shootout games on a weekly basis. Grier’s own team fields a weak defense, so he is going to have to stay aggressive while racking up huge production. During the 2018 season, Grier is going to see a lot of weak defenses and should dominate the weak Big XII secondaries. It wouldn’t surprise me if Grier is the most prolific offensive player in college football this year and earns a lot of postseason honors, including the Maxwell Award.
Maxwell Award Dark Horse:
Nick Fitzgerald, QB, Mississippi State Fitzgerald could put up a huge stat line in 2018 with lots of touchdowns as a passer and runner. Last year, he had 29 combined touchdowns after recording 36 combined touchdowns in the previous year. The senior could easily set a new personal record this coming season. Mississippi State has some good talent on the team to help Fitzgerald, and it would not shock me if he has a big year to earn some postseason honors.
Honorable Mentions: N.C. State QB Ryan Finley, Missouri QB Drew Lock, Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham, Michigan QB Shea Patterson, Northwestern QB Clayton Thorson, Michigan State QB Brian Lewerke, Iowa State QB Kyle Kempt, North Dakota State QB Easton Stick, Duke QB Daniel Jones, Florida State QB Deondre Francois, Washington QB Jake Browning and Penn State QB Trace McSorley.
2018 Preseason All-American Projections:
QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | G | C | DE | DT | OLB | ILB | CB | S | K/P
2018 Preseason Postseason Award Projections:
Thorpe Award | Lombardi Award | Biletnikoff Award | Lott IMPACT Trophy | Outland Trophy | Rimington Trophy | Mackey Award | Maxwell Award | Hendricks Award | O'Brien Award | Doak Walker Award | Bednarik Award | Nagurski Award | Hornung Award | Jet Award | Walter Camp Award | Ray Guy Award | Groza Award | Heisman Trophy |
QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | G | C | DE | DT | OLB | ILB | CB | S | K/P
2018 Preseason Postseason Award Projections:
Thorpe Award | Lombardi Award | Biletnikoff Award | Lott IMPACT Trophy | Outland Trophy | Rimington Trophy | Mackey Award | Maxwell Award | Hendricks Award | O'Brien Award | Doak Walker Award | Bednarik Award | Nagurski Award | Hornung Award | Jet Award | Walter Camp Award | Ray Guy Award | Groza Award | Heisman Trophy |
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