Boom or bust: SEC players who will boom and bust in Week 8

Football returns in the SEC on Saturday with a Week 8 slate of games that will go a long way toward settling the postseason races. As always, where some players will rise to the occasion, others will falter.

Here is a look at a few of the players with favorable matchups that will potentially boom in Week 8 and a few of them that will bust.

BOOMS

1. LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin – Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin has emerged as a vocal and statistical leader on the Vols defense. Reeves-Maybin’s team-leading 56 tackles are 22 more than the junior’s next closest teammate Brian Randolph. The Clarksville, Tenn., native has 8 tackles-for-loss this season, fifth-best in the SEC. Surprisingly, Reeves-Maybin and Tennessee get a somewhat-favorable matchup in Week 8 against Alabama. The Crimson Tide are solid on both sides of the ball, but are vulnerable to giving up tackles-for-loss, yielding an SEC-worst average of 7.71 TFL per game. Only three teams in the nation (Connecticut, Fresno State and Kent State) have given up more tackles-for-loss than Alabama.
2. DE Charles Harris – Missouri defensive end Charles Harris will face a Vanderbilt offensive line that relents a little more than five tackles-for-loss per game, good enough to rank the Commodore defenders a highly-respectable sixth in the SEC and No. 41 in the nation. As good as Vandy is at limiting tackles-for-loss, it might not matter. The redshirt sophomore abused the No. 5-nationally ranked Georgia offensive line and left tackle John Theus for a career-high 9 tackles and a sack in Week 7. Harris is a proverbial beast and Vanderbilt and Commodores left tackle Will Holden will have his work cut out for him on Saturday.
3. DE Marquis Haynes – Robert Nkemdiche gets all the accolades, but teammate Marquis Haynes should strike just as much, if not more, fear into opposing offensive lines. Haynes, Ole Miss’ leader in sacks (3.5), squares off against a porous Texas A&M line that coughs up an SEC-worst 3.17 sacks per game. The sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., has 20 tackles and 5.0 tackles-for-loss, to go along with a forced fumble and 4 quarterback hurries. Expect to see those numbers rise after the Rebel’s Week 8 tilt against the Aggies in Oxford.

BUSTS

1. FS Jalen Mills – Jalen Mills is back in the LSU secondary, just in time to face one of the most prolific passers in college football this season in Brandon Doughty. The Western Kentucky quarterback is the NCAA’s incumbent passing leader, picking up where he left off last year with 2,709 yards, second-best in the nation. Mills made his 2015 debut last week after suffering a fractured ankle in August. The senior with six career interceptions played limited snaps against Florida and failed to crack the stat sheet. Doughty is among the best in the business these days and the Tigers’ secondary has been shaky of late, giving up several big passing plays.
2. QB Brandon Allen – Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen is coming off a 176-yard performance last week against Alabama, his lowest passing total since throwing for 175 yards last season against Auburn, the Hogs’ Week 8 opponent. The Razorbacks face a Tigers defense that has held opponents to just five passing touchdowns all year. Throw in a weather forecast that’s calling for a 90 percent chance of rain on Saturday in Fayetteville and the likelihood of the Arkansas-Auburn game being an all-out passing affair appears rather slim.
3. QB Dak Prescott – As great as Dak Prescott has been this season (1,700 yards, 11 TDs), the Mississippi State quarterback runs into a Kentucky defense in Week 8 that’s deceptively good. The Wildcats, led by linebacker Josh Forrest, give up an average of 212.2 yards per game in the air and haven’t yielded more than 255 yards to an opposing quarterback (Auburn’s Sean White). Mark Stoops’ defense is particularly tough in the red zone, holding opponents to just three touchdowns in opponent’s 24 attempts. Prescott can still burn you with his legs, however, and a home-field advantage should be enough to allow the Bulldogs to survive an upstart Kentucky squad.

Chris Wuensch

Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.