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Given the numbers some of these players put up in 2015, it will be difficult to top last season. But in no particular order, here the top quarterback-wide receiver duos entering the 2016 college football season.
We start with a quarterback who very nearly won it all last season — even without his top threat.
Deshaun Watson and Mike Williams, Clemson
The skinny: Watson was a Heisman Trophy finalist a year ago and led the Tigers to the national championship game. Watson, who threw for 4,104 yards and 35 touchdowns, is a consensus preseason All-American and listed as the No. 1 quarterback in the nation on several preseason rankings.
Williams was the team’s best deep threat before an injury derailed him last season. He’s started 15 of 27 games and has 79 catches for 1,366 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Chad Kelly and Quincy Adeboyejo, Ole Miss
The skinny: Kelly has already been mentioned as the SEC’s preseason Offensive Player of the Year and an All-SEC selection. But it will be difficult to top 2015 when he passed for 4,042 yards and became the first Ole Miss player to win Sugar Bowl MVP honors since Archie Manning in 1970 and first QB to lead Ole Miss to wins over Alabama, Auburn and LSU in the same season.
Kelly had the most passing yards in the SEC last season by nearly 300 yards and piloted an offense that set 14 school records.
Adeboyejo is the top returning receiver from that prolific offense after he finished second on the team with 38 catches, seven TD catches and 604 receiving yards.
Luke Falk and Gabe Marks, Washington State
The skinny: Falk threw for 4,561 yards and 38 touchdowns — finishing top-5 nationally in both categories — and the former walk-on is already mentioned in the same conversation as some of the Cougars best quarterbacks like Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf. Falk is the FBS active career leader in career passing yards per game (356.9) and second in total offense per game (346.7). Falk had help with those numbers from Marks, who had 104 receptions for 1,192 yards and 15 touchdowns, which were second and first, respectively, all-time for a season at WSU.
Brad Kaaya and Stacy Coley, Miami
The skinny: If not for Watson, Kaaya would receive plenty more attention. After all, he was second in the ACC in passing last season with 3,238 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. It was the second straight year he threw for more than 3,000 yards.
Kaaya, 6-4, 215, is mentioned near the top in early mock drafts after he finished last year ranked No. 1 in the ACC in passing yards per game (274.5) and has 6,436 career passing yards.
One of his more consistent targets is Coley, who led the ACC with 634 receiving yards in conference play, averaging 79.2 receiving yards per ACC game. His highlight may have been at Florida State when he made seven receptions for career-high 139 yards including an acrobatic go-ahead 29-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Trevor Knight and Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
The skinny: Kirk is the SEC’s top returning receiver after he had 1,009 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in 2015, averaging more catches and yards per game than Calvin Ridley.
That drew plenty of attention, and he was named first-team all-SEC (all-purpose) by the Associated Press. Knight, meanwhile, steps into the starting role as a graduate transfer from Oklahoma where he started 15 games, including two bowl games. Knight passed for more than 3,000 yards and had 25 TD passes in three seasons.
Lamar Jackson and James Quick, Louisville
The skinny: A dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy, Jackson had 1,840 passing yards last year as a freshman with 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions. With another offseason of coaching from Bobby Petrino, Jackson should take a step forward in the pro-style attack.
Quick is among the most experienced of a veteran receiving corps and the former Kentucky Mr. Football is coming off a season where he had 39 catches for 624 yards and five touchdowns in 11 games as a slot and outside receiver.
Max Browne and JuJu Smith-Schuster, Southern Cal
The skinny: Smith-Schuster is rated Phil Steele’s top draft-eligible wide receiver a season after he has 89 catches for 1,454 yards with 10 TDs, which all led the team bests. He was 11th nationally in receiving yards per game (103.9) which led the Pac-12. Smith-Schuster broke his right hand against California and had surgery two days later to insert a plate with eight screws, but he didn’t miss any playing time. Browne is USC’s most experienced quarterback, and has a bigger frame (6-foot-5) and arm than last year’s starter, Cody Kessler.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
