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Former Texas A&M star Von Miller is making headlines this offseason as he feuds with Denver team executives over whether or not he’ll play this year while saddled with the Broncos’ franchise tag.
An NFL franchise tag — handily described here by ESPN — essentially allows a team to retain a player that’s about to hit the free agent market by granting them a year to negotiate a new deal. In layman’s terms, a franchised player is the one guy a team doesn’t want to see ride off into the sunset.
What if the franchise tag existed on the college level? Here’s a theoretical look at the player from each SEC team in 2016 that would likely garner such a distinction from their respective programs.
ALABAMA, Reuben Foster, LB — After Reuben Foster, the Alabama inside linebacker positon gets a little murky. Foster returns to the Crimson Tide for his senior year after tallying 73 tackles in 2015, second only to fellow linebacker Reggie Ragland. Now that Ragland is off to the NFL, Foster takes over at the MIKE linebacker role. With a little better athleticism and a better acumen in pass coverage, Foster could exceed Ragland’s impressive senior campaign.
Foster — along with pass-rushers Jonathan Allen and Tim Williams, as well as safety Eddie Jackson — lead a quartet of Crimson Tide players recently named to the Chuck Bednarik Award watch list for the nation’s best defensive player honors.
Who starts alongside Foster is the question. Rashaan Evans made significant strides this spring and wowed coaches by leading the team in tackles during the A-Day game. However, the junior from Auburn, Ala., will be making the adjustment this fall from the outside linebacker role that he was accustomed to his first two seasons in Tuscaloosa, registering 5 sacks as an underclassman. Competing with Evans at the WILL spot will be Shaun Dion Hamilton, who made 27 tackles as a base-package starter in 2015.
ARKANSAS, Frank Ragnow, C — Arkansas is deep along its defensive line and at wide receiver, making the potential loss of star players such as DE’s Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jeremiah Ledbetter, as well as WRs Drew Morgan and Dominique Reed, not necessarily a season-breaker. Team leader Brooks Ellis has fellow Fayetteville High School alum Dre Greenlaw playing alongside him at a stacked linebacker position as well for the Hogs.
Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Dan Enos will be tasked with transitioning a new quarterback and running game this year. That makes protecting an inexperienced backfield and allowing first-year starter Austin Allen time to get the ball to his dynamic receivers imperative.
The Razorbacks lost three starting offensive linemen after last year from a unit that was as brawny — heaviest in all of America — as it was skilled at opening holes for running back Alex Collins. Frank Ragnow is among those linemen returning. The junior was picked by the coaches as an All-SEC Freshman Team center before moving to right guard in 2015, where he started all 13 Arkansas contests. Simply put, not much gets passed him. Ragnow is back at center this season and should provide the stability the Razorbacks offense needs as it adjusts to life without Collins and quarterback Brandon Allen.
AUBURN, Carl Lawson, DE — Carl Lawson was nearly halfway toward equaling his 7.5 tackles for loss as a freshman through the first five games of the 2015 season before the injury bug bit the Auburn pass-rusher once again. Lawson was a Freshman All-American in 2013, but a knee injury forced him to miss 2014, while an ailing hip cost him all but those six contests last year. And while the Tigers have functioned without him for much of that time, Auburn finished the 2014 and 2015 campaigns ranked No. 11 and 13 in the SEC, respectively, when it comes to team sacks. As a freshman, Lawson helped the Tigers to a No. 3 ranking in the conference. When healthy, Lawson is considered among the best edge-rushers in the nation while possessing the ability to play defensive end or outside linebacker.
FLORIDA, Jalen Tabor, CB — With cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III and safety Keanu Neal off to test their mettle in the NFL, Florida will rely on Jalen Tabor as the anchor of its last line of defense. Which is a great thing for the Gators. Some will argue that Tabor is the superior talent at the cornerback slot to Hargreaves III, who was drafted No. 11 overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this spring’s NFL Draft after a stellar career in The Swamp. Tabor scored more touchdowns (two) on pick-sixes than he allowed all season (one, versus Florida State). Jim McElwain’s defense would be hard-pressed to find a replacement of equal talent.
GEORGIA, Nick Chubb, RB — The broken arm of Sony Michel due to an ATV-riding accident threw another wrench into the Georgia backfield heading into the fall of 2016. With Michel facing what’s likely a prolonged absence, the impetus for fellow running back Nick Chubb to recover from the devastating knee injury that cost him seven games last year only grows stronger. Chubb has 2,294 career yards in, essentially, 18 games (we won’t count the Tennessee game in which he was badly injured on his first carry of the game). Even with questions lingering over the man who tore his PCL, MCL and LCL, Chubb is still receiving preseason accolades as a member of the Maxwell Award’s (player of the year) watch list. If either Chubb or Michel stumble in their recoveries, we could witness the beginning of the Elijah Holyfield era in Athens with a pairing of freshmen at running back and quarterback in Jacob Eason.
KENTUCKY, Stanley “Boom” Williams, RB — If Kentucky can up the workload for Stanley “Boom” Williams, then the Wildcats could potentially have one of the top running backs in the SEC this fall. Williams rushed for 855 yards in 2015 despite missing two games with an elbow injury and garnering 12.1 carries per game — twice as few as the SEC’s leading rusher Derrick Henry of Alabama. Mark Stoops’ offense has questions at quarterback and wide receiver, leaving Williams as easily the top weapon in the Wildcats’ arsenal. It would behoove the head coach to get the ball in Williams’ hands more often after the junior set a UK single-season record for yards per carry with 7.1 yards per attempt as a sophomore.
LSU, Leonard Fournette, RB — Leonard Fournette would earn the franchise tag on just about any team in the country. The nation’s incumbent leading rusher (162.8 YPG) is among the short list of Heisman contenders this offseason. Despite the gaudy numbers, Fournette still has some proving to do on the gridiron when it comes to stepping up in big games. But his talent, which allowed him to accrue 2,987 yards and 32 touchdowns in his first two seasons in Baton Rouge, cannot be denied. LSU has the talented Derrius Guice (436 yards, 3 TDs in 2015) in the backup role, but the loss of Fournette would have reverberations throughout the entire program in Death Valley for head coach Les Miles and the Tigers.
MISSISSIPPI STATE, Fred Ross, WR — Mississippi State will have a new look on offense this season with the departures of superstar quarterback Dak Prescott and one of his favorite targets in WR De’Runnya Wilson, the sixth-leading pass-catcher in Bulldogs history. However, whoever is under center in 2016 for Mississippi State will have a powerful weapon in the form of wide receiver Fred Ross. The senior developed into one of the SEC’s best wide receivers in 2015, catching 88 passes for a team-high 1,007 yards to go along with 5 touchdowns. Nick Fitzgerald is the presumptive favorite, as of right now, to win the starting quarterback role. The Bulldogs have questions at running back between Brandon Holloway and Aeris Williams, making Ross all that more important of a chess piece for an offense looking to establish a new identity without Prescott, arguably the best player in program history.
MISSOURI, Charles Harris, DE — Missouri is likely to experience some growing pains on the offensive side of the ball as first-year head coach Barry Odom cobbles together a unit with more than its share of holes to fill. Fortunately for the Tigers, defense is Odom’s milieu, having crafted last year’s Mizzou squad, which finished the season ranked No. 6 in the country in total defense and even higher in scoring defense at No. 5 nationally.
The biggest returning force from that defense is without a doubt Charles Harris. A human wrecking ball, the junior finished one tackle for loss (18.5 TFL) behind conference-leader Myles Garrett by virtue that the Aggies played in one more game than the Tigers. In fact, it was Harris and his 1.54 TFL per game that were tops in the SEC over his Texas A&M peer. Without the Second-Team All-SEC member Harris, Missouri would be left with much more than just a 6-foot-3, 255-pound gape along its defensive front.
OLE MISS, Chad Kelly, QB — It’d be difficult replacing a guy who enters the 2016 season with 16-1 Bovada Sports Book odds to win the Heisman. Chad Kelly led the SEC in passing last year with 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns via the air. Now that key cogs from the Rebels’ 2015 offense have wrapped up their collegiate careers — such as wide receivers Laquon Treadwell and Cody Core, as well as LT Laremy Tunsil — Kelly will be asked to do even more as a senior in Oxford. That’s not to say the quarterback won’t be without any options, but players such as wide receivers Damore’ea Stringfellow and Quincy Adeboyejo will need to elevate their games. So, too, will Ole Miss’ running game, which returns Kelly as the team’s leading rusher (500 rushing yards, 10 TDs) after the graduation of Jaylen Walton.
SOUTH CAROLINA, T.J. Holloman, LB — This spot was initially reserved for Skai Moore, who led South Carolina in 2015 with 111 tackles and was the Gamecocks’ emotional leader in an otherwise lost year. But a neck injury this spring that required surgery put the kibosh on the 2016 season for the linebacker, who had eschewed the NFL Draft and returned to Columbia for his senior campaign.
That means an increased importance placed on T.J. Holloman, the man who will be asked to step up in Moore’s absence during Will Muschamp’s inaugural season at South Carolina. Holloman is known for stepping up. Last year, it was Holloman taking over at middle linebacker after two pedestrian games, bumping Moore to the weakside. The move was a boon for Holloman, who closed out the year with 63 tackles, including a two-interception performance against Central Florida. If Muschamp’s defense is going to contend in 2016, the Gamecocks will likely need to lean on Holloway to provide the anchor.
TENNESSEE, Joshua Dobbs, QB — Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara form arguably the best backfield tandem in the SEC, combining for 1,986 yards and 19 touchdowns last year. The silver lining is that if one of them should go down, Tennessee can lean on the other to pick up the slack. However, the Volunteers don’t have that same luxury under center with the versatile Joshua Dobbs returning for his senior year. Between aerospace engineering classes, Dobbs is a star quarterback who tossed for 2,291 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2015.
He also rushed for 671 yards and added another 11 scores on the ground. Dobbs is a smart player and leader that the veteran Vols need as presumed early-season favorites to win the SEC East for the first time since the 2007 campaign.
TEXAS A&M, Myles Garrett, DE — Myles Garrett isn’t just the best defensive player at Texas A&M. The defensive end might be the best in the SEC and beyond. Garrett led the conference in sacks (12.5) and tackles for loss (19.5) and generally terrorized every offensive line he faced. The rising junior is already being dubbed a first-round draft pick in the 2017 NFL Draft thanks to his 24 career sacks. Garrett teams up nicely with an aggressive Aggies pass-rush, highlighted on the other end by fellow defensive end Daeshon Hall, who registered 7 sacks of his own in 2015. However, without Garrett, the entire A&M defense just isn’t the same.
VANDERBILT, Ralph Webb, RB — Zach Cunningham gets serious consideration here as the leader of the Vanderbilt defense. The redshirt junior led the Commodores with 103 take-downs as a sophomore on the SEC’s No. 6 defense. But the anemic Vandy offense travels an even shorter distance without Ralph Webb. The running back needs 1,080 yards and, perhaps, one less season to eclipse Zac Stacy atop the Commodores’ all-time rushing leaderboard. That shouldn’t be a problem, considering that Webb rushed for 1,152 yards last year and missed the 1,000-yard plateau by 93 yards as a frosh. His touchdown totals (5 in 2015) could stand a shot in the arm, but you can hardly blame Webb if the rest of his offense struggles mightily in the red zone. Vanderbilt finished No. 126 in the nation in 2015 when it came to red zone offense efficiency (scoring just 63.6 percent of the time), ahead of only Wyoming. Take away Webb, and the Cowboys likely climb out of the nation’s basement.
Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.
