Dr. Saturday’s Midseason All-American Team has a surprise quarterback
Whoa, we're halfway there through the 2013 college football season. Through Friday, we'll be breaking down the first seven weeks of college football so far. To get started, here's Dr. Saturday's Midseason All-Americans. Some of these are pretty straightforward, others aren't. Let's get to it.
OFFENSE:
QB: Sean Mannion, Oregon State: We're going for wackiness right out of the park on this one. Yes, Johnny Manziel and Marcus Mariota are rightfully in the Heisman discussion -- a discussion that we'll get into on Thursday -- but Mannion is having an absurdly ridiculous season. He's 194-289 for 2,511 yards, 25 touchdowns and three interceptions. Imagine if those stats were in another conference that we won't mention?
Mannion will be overshadowed by the other two Ms at the end of the year, so he deserves some recognition now. And besides, college football has a history of conflicting awards anyway, like when Jason White won the 2004 Davey O'Brien and Matt Leinart won the Heisman.
RB: Bishop Sankey, Washington: He's a big reason why the Huskies are in the top four in the Pac-12. 157 carries for 899 yards and nine touchdowns.
RB: Antonio Andrews, Western Kentucky: Did you know he was the leading rusher in the country? Under new head coach Bobby Petrino, Andrews is averaging almost seven yards a carry and is the only running back to break the 1,000 yard barrier this season. Plus, he has crazy strength coaches.
WR: Antwan Goodley, Baylor: He's averaging a ridiculous 26.8 yards per catch in Baylor's absurdly potent offense. The only other receiver in the top 20 in total receiving yards with fewer catches than Goodley is his teammate Tevin Reese, who's at 26.5 yards per catch. Insane.
WR: Jordan Matthews, Vanderbilt: Yes, Mike Evans of Texas A&M would be a good fit given the credentials we touted for Goodley. But Matthews gets it because he's Vanderbilt's offensive weapon and has topped 100 yards receiving in five of his six games, including all three of Vanderbilt's SEC tilts.
TE: Jace Amaro: The big guy has thrived in Texas Tech's attack. Except in the red zone, where strangely he only has one touchdown despite 47 catches for 606 yards. Expect the touchdown total to increase significantly over the second half of the season.
OL: Jake Matthews, Texas A&M: Johnny Manziel can do Johnny Manziel things because of the protection of Matthews.
OL: James Hurst, North Carolina: He held his own against Jadeveon Clowney and has been a stalwart for the disappointing Tar Heels.
OL: David Yankey, Stanford: He missed a game earlier in the year for family reasons but ist one of the best guards in the country.
OL: Cyril Richardson, Baylor: The Bears' skill position guys are good, but don't forget about the line.
OL: Bryan Stork: We needed a center, and Stork has been an important part of Florida State's good offensive line.
DEFENSE:
DL: Michael Sam, Missouri: The Tigers defensive line might be the best in the SEC. No joke. And Sam is the best of the bunch. He has six sacks and returned a fumble for a touchdown last week against Georgia.
DL: Vic Beasley, Clemson: It's a Tiger theme. Beasley leads the nation in sacks with nine and his matchup with the Seminoles' line is the next thing to keep an eye on after Jameis Winston and Tajh Boyd.
DL: Lorenzo Mauldin, Louisville: Mauldin has 6.5 sacks and teams with Marcus Smith on the Cardinals' potent pass rushing duo.
LB: CJ Mosley, Alabama: We needed someone from the top-ranked team in the country on the team, right? Mosley has 48 tackles in the middle of the Crimson Tide defense. That's double any other Alabama defender.
LB: Anthony Barr, UCLA: Barr has been so good this season that discussion has started whether or not he'll go ahead of South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney in the draft.
LB: Kyle Van Noy, BYU: Van Noy has been everywhere on defense for the Cougars this season. Of his 39 tackles, 10 are for loss.
LB: Ryan Shazier, Ohio State: Shazier has 47 tackles and eight of them are for loss. He's the anchor of a stout Buckeye defense along with ...
DB: Bradley Roby, Ohio State: Roby missed the first game of the season but still has six pass breakups and eight passes defensed.
DB: Jason Verrett, TCU: Verrett has 11 passes defensed and his ability to shut down the receiver he's covering is a big reason why TCU has the ability to contend for the top half of the Big 12.
DB: Calvin Pryor, Louisville: Louisville's defensive staff pointed to Pryor as a big reason why they held Rutgers to just 12 rushing yards last week.
DB: Jimmie Ward, Northern Illinois: Ward is tied for the NCAA lead in interceptions with five and leads the Huskies with 50 total tackles.
K: Andy Phillips, Utah: There's a reason that Phillips is the only kicker you'll see on midseason teams. He's the highest scoring kicker who's still perfect on both field goals and extra points. He's 11-11 on three point tries and 27-27 on PATs.
P: Zac Murphy, Miami, Ohio: Murphy leads the country in yards per punt.
KR: Odell Beckham Jr., LSU: Because of this.
- - -
Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you won't see on the blog.
