College football's most athletic big man, plus six Coaches Poll takeaways

New York Times

7 hours ago

Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic's college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.
Today in college football news, it's hoodie season somewhere.
You know that special moment each year when you step outside and smell football? Not a football, which you can smell at any time, if you own one. But football itself, the spiritual thing. It smells like whatever kind of grass is smelliest in your area each fall.
This week, the internet got a whiff of your area's football grass when Bruce Feldman's 21st annual Freaks List arrived, showcasing college football's 101 current most farfetched athletes.
Ohio State's 19-year-old Jeremiah Smith (yes, we're going to keep mentioning his age until he turns 20 on the day the Buckeyes play Michigan) takes the top spot, unseating South Carolina's literal track star, Nyck Harbor, who last year became the list's first-ever repeat No. 1. I asked Bruce how close Harbor came to pulling off a three-peat:
'The top three were pretty close in my mind. Harbor's obviously blazing fast, and 20 pounds heavier and a little taller than Smith (who is stronger, doing 20 reps of 225 and the most dominant player in the country).
'Then there's Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor, who I had a hard time not putting at No. 2. Being that enormous at 6-7, 366 and having super strength is one thing, but to vertical jump 32 inches, which is as high or higher than a bunch of wide receivers at the NFL combine this year, and he broad jumped 9-3. When Chad Johnson was at the combine, he only did 9-0.
'I think I could've had the top three in any order and felt pretty good about it.'
Whenever I read these lists, I always focus on the feats accomplished by the hugest individuals, the Dontari Poes and Jordan Davises. And yeah, the 366-pound Proctor's reported 32-inch vert would tie that of 2022 first-rounder Chris Olave (187 pounds), and his 111-inch broad jump would beat that of 2018 first-rounder Calvin Ridley (190 pounds). This man is Thor! Imagine outjumping people half your size! Sure, that's not hard to imagine for me, because people half my size are middle schoolers. But you know what I mean. Actually, now I'm unsure how many middle schoolers I can outjump. Time to line up against some nephews.
So much more in the 101-player Freaks List, including the Columbus-based Smith leveling up by surrendering meals at the Columbus-based Wendy's.
🏆 Speaking of annual staples, it's Heisman Draft time. Chris Vannini, last year's selector of Travis Hunter, defends his title against seven of our co-workers. Based only on BetMGM's Heisman odds, Bruce's all-QB group is the favorite, while Stewart Mandel is taking the boldest swings. Full rules, plus rationale for each pick.
💰 One of the many rootin'/tootin' quotes in Sam Khan Jr.'s definitive story on big-spending Texas Tech, which ended up grabbing about twice as many transfers (21) as initially planned:
'After Tech lost to Colorado and mega booster Cody Campbell posted to complain about officiating, a fan replied with an expletive directed at Campbell and ordered him to 'buy us an oline (sic).'
'Campbell's reply: 'I will.''
📺 Netflix's 'Any Given Saturday' series was up close for some of last season's pivotal SEC moments, such as affirmations by Diego Pavia: 'I know it's Alabama and they got six first-rounders. Well, I'm a first-rounder in my mind. You've gotta be a little psychotic.'
🏀 March Madness won't expand … yet.
Yesterday, the 2025 Coaches Poll debuted with No. 1 Texas among the nation-leading nine SEC teams in the full 25.
1. Fun fact! This is Texas' first-ever preseason No. 1 in either the AP or Coaches. Wait, first ever? That's kinda funny, considering all those years of everyone worrying about the media supposedly overrating the Longhorns each season, right? (Texas has started at No. 2 in each poll a bunch of times, most recently 2009.)
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2. As far as the Coaches Poll is concerned, the season's first full Saturday (Aug. 30) will feature No. 1 Texas at No. 2 Ohio State in a CFP semifinal rematch. We'll wait to see if the more prestigious and authoritative AP Top 25 follows suit next week before we dial up the scoreboard tickers, but this game could be the first-ever Week 1 meeting between the AP's No. 1 and No. 2, though a few have happened in Week 2 before … and Week 1 is kinda Week 2 these days, now that Week 0 exists. 💫
Speaking of Week 0, it'll have an all-ranked matchup (per the Coaches, at least) for the first time since 1983's Nebraska win over Penn State: No. 20 Kansas State vs. No. 21 Iowa State in Dublin's O'Farmageddon. Eighteen days.
3. While we're at it, let's keep treating the Coaches as a preview of the AP. If both polls end up matching, we'd see (per Sports Reference's AP database):
4. The main surprise for me: Oklahoma in the Coaches' unofficial No. 26 spot, down in the Others Receiving Votes shadow realm. Lots of computer ratings project the remodeled Sooners about 10 spots higher, and they're in our list of 11 unranked teams that could make the CFP.
5. Side notes regarding every August's discussions about the existence of preseason rankings:
6. Most importantly, someone gave Buffalo a No. 25 vote. Hey, the reigning Bahamas Bowl champs mostly weathered the portal! This vote might or might not have come from the office of Pete Lembo, Buffalo head coach.
Full Coaches Poll here, ICYMI.
OK, that's all for today. Email me at [e-mail] to tell me your pick for this year's top-10 team that will finish unranked.
Last week's most-clicked: How often do top players transfer in this era? Here's the latest data.
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