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Football is not as cut and dry as the highlight shows would have you think. Sure, when you flip on SportsCenter or your local news, you see the guys scoring touchdowns, making interceptions and sacking the quarterback. So those are always the best players on the field, right?
Wrong.
Too often in football, the best players are overlooked by the average observer, as they clear the lanes that create touchdowns, or occupy multiple blockers to create a sack for a teammate.
Who were the best players that went mostly unnoticed in 2014?
- LG Vadal Alexander, LSU: Playing next to All-American left tackle La’el Collins, it’s easy to see how Alexander could fly under the radar. He was just as big of a reason for Leonard Fournette and the rest of the running game’s success running left, however. At 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, Alexander used his size to maul defenders on the inside, but also showed off his nimble feet to get out ahead of LSU’s runners with regularity. He’s so quick on his feet that Les Miles anticipates moving him to tackle next season after Alexander decided to return for his senior year.
- DT Harold Brantley, Missouri: Shane Ray and Markus Golden were nearly unstoppable in 2014, but their prolific numbers overshadowed a lot of other contributions on the defense. Brantley’s might on the inside shouldn’t be forgotten. He led Missouri’s interior lineman in tackles, tackles for loss and sacks and served as a lead-by-example player all year, although his pre-game speech for the Texas A&M game sounds like the stuff of legend.
- LB Beniquez Brown, Mississippi State: Benardrick McKinney got the headlines as the man in the middle of the Bulldogs defense, but Brown was just as vital to their success. The sophomore assumed much of the play calling duties by midseason and served as the brain of the defense in his first year as a starter. While he finished the season averaging fewer than 5.0 tackles per game, he was as vital to Mississippi State’s Psycho Defense as any of the stars that dotted the roster.
- LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Tennessee: For the early part of the year, Reeves-Maybin was playing in the shadow of linebacking superstar A.J. Johnson. He was nearly as good as Johnson all year, and stepped up his leadership when Johnson was suspended at the end of the year. Reeves-Maybin finished in the top 10 in the SEC in tackles in his first year as a starter. The rising junior looks poised for stardom, and he should become more of a household name when he gobbles up more and more tackles.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
