With the regular season just weeks away, there have been plenty of lists put out about which players will be the best at a certain position. There's been even more about which teams will likely make the College Football Playoff. However, what makes The Athletic's latest list stand out is not who is on it or what team they play for, but that it completely ignores the existence of Notre Dame.
Manny Navarro took a pass at what's become an annual tradition of putting together the 20 players who will impact the College Football Playoff, and for the most part, it's not a bad list. However, the complete absence of any mention of the Fighting Irish seems more like an oversight than a belief by the writer that no Golden Domer will impact the field.Â
Considering that, as Navarro points out, this list includes players who didn't have significant snaps with their current team, it makes sense that Leonard Moore and CJ Carr aren't on the list. Even if it's strange to put this kind of a list together and not find a way to include two of the best players in the sport.Â
The Athletic leaves every Notre Dame football player off CFP impact list
The list in itself isn't a bad one at all it just lacks some interesting names:
- Texas receiver Cam Coleman
- Texas Tech’s new defensive front
- Indiana receiver Nick Marsh
- LSU left tackle Jordan Seaton
- Ohio State defensive tackle James Smith
- Oregon safety Koi Perich
- Michigan edge rusher John Henry Daley
- Alabama’s offensive line
- Texas A&M receiver Isaiah Horton
- Miami offensive lineman Samson Okunlola
- LSU’s Sam Leavitt
- Indiana’s Josh Hoover
- Miami’s Darian Mensah
- Texas Tech’s Will Hammond
- Penn State’s Rocco Becht
- Alabama’s starting quarterback
- Tennessee’s starting quarterback
- Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker
- Virginia’s Beau Pribula
- Baylor’s DJ Lagway
Still, when talking about non-quarterbacks, where is someone like Francis Brewu, who seems to be making a name for himself in the Irish camp? Considering that Navarro included positions, rather than players, shouldn't the new arrivals at wide receiver in South Bend make a pretty big impact in the CFP race?
Brewu even made another list on The Athletic, as one of Bruce Feldman's certified Freaks. So it's not as though the defensive lineman is going under the radar. So why was he left off this list?Â
Does Navarro really think he won't impact Notre Dame and its playoff run? What about defensive back DJ McKinney? Does he think that the Fighting Irish really won't have quite the effect on the Playoff? This looks like just another reason for Marcus Freeman and company to make a statement.
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