College Football

Strike The Pose

Updated Jul. 16, 2021 12:34 p.m. ET

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By RJ Young
FOX Sports college football reporter
 
Evaluating national championship teams and Heisman finalists begins and most often ends with recruiting.

Recruiting is not just one reason a two-loss Georgia team ranks among the Top 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings while undefeated Coastal Carolina and USC rank No. 12 and No. 13, respectively. Recruiting is the primary reason it's a fool's errand to bet against Alabama coach Nick Saban and anyone on his roster.

With the SEC Championship on the line Saturday night, Saban was happy to talk about winning the signature of four high school wide receivers — including a late flip from former LSU commit JoJo Earle to Bama — as one of the reasons he was so excited about his No. 1-ranked 2021 recruiting class.

After putting two wide receivers and a quarterback into the first round of the NFL Draft this year, Saban is facing the prospect of seeing two receivers and a QB drafted in the first round for consecutive years. That’s how good Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones and receivers Jaylen Waddle and Devonta Smith have been.

Watch Alabama's Devonta Smith dominate The Iron Bowl with 171 receiving yards and two TDs

Alabama Crimson Tide WR Devonta Smith had a great Iron Bowl against the Auburn Tigers, racking up 171 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns as Alabama cruised to a 42-13 win. Smith also extended his SEC record for receiving touchdowns to 35.

"I mean everybody knows they're on your roster," Saban said. "So it becomes a little bit difficult, and we’re probably a little bit thin in numbers at receiver. And knowing that there’s the potential where we’ll lose a couple more guys this year. We thought it was really important for us to sign a minimum of three wide receivers. And, you know, we were happy to get four."

Those four wideouts that Alabama signed make up 40 percent of the nation’s top 10 wide receivers. As the kids say, That’s tuff.

Prior to his injury, Waddle was not just the best wideout in the country, but the best player in the country. He’d caught at least five passes and accounted for at least 120 receiving yards in each of the four games he’d played.

Jaylen Waddle’s season-ending broken ankle — Dr. Matt Provencher on reasons for optimism

Alabama Crimson Tide standout wide receiver Jaylen Waddle broke his ankle on the first play of the game against the Tennessee Volunteers Saturday afternoon. Head coach Nick Saban said he will miss the rest of the season. Former New England Patriots head physician Matt Provencher provides reasons why there should be optimism about Waddle's long-term recovery.

There was some discussion about who might fill the enormous void left by Waddle not just in the receiving corps but on special teams as a dynamic returner.

Turns out, Smith, A.K.A.,"Smitty," was just waiting for his opportunity to feature. Smith leads the nation in receiving yards (1,327) and is second receiving touchdowns (15) in 10 games.

Add to this his returning a punt for a touchdown, and you can round out a statistical argument for him to win both the Biletnikoff Award, a trophy given to the nation’s best wide receiver, and the Heisman.

Saban has compared his receiving corps to a basketball team. He believes everything from a power forward (tight end) to a scoring guard (deep-threat) are in his arsenal to win football games.

In Smith and Waddle, he has a veritable Steph Curry and Kevin Durant combination. And, while that duo might not be ready to go in the league championship, it might be full-go by Jan. 1, 2021.

Smith published a video on his Instagram account claiming Waddle was back. When Saban was asked about Waddle’s status, he was nonplussed.

"Well, where’d you get that information?" Saban said.

"He’s not practicing. So, I don’t know where you get your information from. But we haven’t ruled out the fact that as he continues to develop that, you know, I mean, I think he's hopeful that he can come back and play, and we’d love to see him come back and play at some point, but it’s certainly not now."

If he won, Smith would become just the fourth receiver in college football history to win the Heisman. The award hasn’t been given to a wideout since Desmond Howard won it in 1991 at Michigan.

The players most likely to prevent Smith from winning, however, are on his own team.

Jones has the best odds (-200 via FOX Bet) to win the award after a regular season with 3,321 passing yards and 27 touchdowns with just three interceptions, and running back Najee Harris is, for many, the best tailback in the sport.

A big game for Smith necessitates a big game by Jones.

Meanwhile, Harris leads the nation with 22 rushing TDs and needs just one more to break Alabama's all-time record of 42 rushing TDs. Currently, he’s tied with Heisman winners Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry for the all-time lead in rushing TDs in Alabama history.

With 130 rushing yards in the SEC title game or a bowl game, Harris also will take over the school record for rushing yards in a career (3,591) held by Henry. He’s so good, Alabama offensive lineman Landon Dickerson said blocking for Harris is a reward in itself.

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask might’ve been the favorite to win the Heisman if he and Florida hadn’t lost to a three-win LSU at home in the Shoe Game last Saturday. Now the man who backed up Miami quarterback D’Eriq King in high school will have to put together the best game of his life, alongside an upset of the No. 1 Tide, to take home the award.

Among the six players in the sport most likely to win the Heisman Memorial Trophy, five will play in conference championships with or against each other.

Only Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields will, for the sake of the coveted stiff-armed award, be playing against himself. Through five games this season, Fields has averaged 281.4 passing yards per game and put together a 5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

However, after throwing all three of those interceptions against the only ranked opponent the Buckeyes faced in the regular season, his odds of winning the Heisman are the longest (+5000) among any considered in the running.

Without an effort dwarfing those of his competitors and awful gaffes from those competitors, Fields will miss an invitation to the Heisman ceremony after being among the five finalists a year ago.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence faces Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book in a pitchers' duel for the second time in three years and for the first time in a conference championship setting Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.

Lawrence missed the regular season tilt against ND after testing positive for COVID-19 in the lead-up to Clemson’s game against Boston College. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney opted for the true freshman, D.J. Uiagalelei, in Lawrence’s stead.

Uiagalelei responded with a 439-yard passing performance in a double-overtime loss to ND. Book was equally impressive, completing 22 of 39 passes for 310 yards with one TD in the win against the then-No. 1 ranked team in the country in South Bend, Indiana.

Book took advantage of a Clemson defense missing three starters in its front seven, but has led one of just three teams this season to reach double-digit wins without a loss going into this conference championship weekend.

In his last four games, Book has passed for at least 275 yards and rushed for at least 40. He’s the first FBS player to accomplish that feat since Texas Christian University quarterback Trevone Boykin (seven straight games) and Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson (six straight games) in 2015.

With a victory in the ACC title game (and a sweep of Clemson), Book could challenge for the Heisman and will likely earn an invitation as a finalist to the ceremony.

Lawrence walks into Bank of America Stadium with the third-best all-time touchdown-to-interception ratio of all-time (5.73) among QBs with at least 80 TD passes. In the eight games he has played, Lawrence has performed like the No. 1 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft many believe he will be.

This season he has averaged 303.9 passing yards per game with 20 TDs and just three interceptions. Against the only ranked opponent he faced, Lawrence completed 29 of 41 pass attempts for 292 yards with four total TDs in a 42-17 dismantling of then-No. 7 Miami.

Urban Meyer on Trevor Lawrence: 'If he goes on to win the [CFP] and he doesn't win the Heisman, it's a travesty'

The Big Noon Kickoff guys discuss whether or not Trevor Lawrence can get back into the running for the Heisman trophy. Urban Meyer says that the rules should change around when the committee votes for a winner, and says that Trevor Lawrence should win it if his team wins the College Football Playoff.

With an outstanding performance against an ND defense giving up just more than five yards per play and fewer than 315 yards per game, Lawrence could see himself holding the Heisman in January.

Conference title games are where Heisman trophies are won (Kyler Murray, 2018) and lost (Tua Tagovailoa, 2018). This weekend there’s more than one trophy to play for.

RJ Young is a national college football reporter for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young. Subscribe to The RJ Young Show Podcast on YouTube. He is not on a step mill.

Enter the College Football Challenge contest on the FOX Super 6 app for free and you can win this week’s $25,000 jackpot! Download now at foxsuper6.com!

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RJ Young