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Dick Weiss

More and More Stars Opt Out of Bowl Games

NCAA College Football
  • The calbre of non-playoff bowl games continues to slip as more and more star power disappears from the teams involved. Players who are high NFL prospects are opting to take a pass to protect their health as they prepare for combines, senior bowl and pro day workouts.
  • Among the missing:
  • Florida QB Anthony Richardson
  • Kentucky QB Will Levis
  • Notre Dame TE Michael Mayer
  • Ohio State WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba
  • Oklahoma DL Jalen Redmond
  • Oklahoma OT Anton Harrison
  • Oklahoma OT Wanya Morris
  • Oklahoma RB Eric Gray
  • Oregon CB Christian Gonzalez
  • Penn State CB Joey Porter Jr.
  • Pitt DT Calijah Kancey
  • Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt
  • Utah RB Tavion Thomas
  • Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina
  • Bijan Robinson, RB Texas
  • Myles Murphy, de, Clemson
  • BJ Ojulari, de, LSU
  • Isiah Foskey, Notre Dame
  • Rick Stromberg, c, Arkansas
  • O’Cyrus Torrence, g, Florida
  • Emmanuel Forbes, Mississippi State
  • Drew Sanders, lb, Arkansas
  • Cam Smith, cb, South Carolina
  • Dalton Kincaid, te, Utah
  • Malik Cunningham, qb, Louisville
  • Clark Phillips III, cb, Utah
  • Murphy, the high rated prospect among the group, had 117 tackles and 36.5 behind the line and 17.5 sacks overall, is expected to go top five Robinson, who rushed for 1,580 yards and caught 19 passes for 314 yards while scoring 20 total touchdowns this season, should go top 10 along with Levis. Gonzeles, Porter, Meyer, Smith-Njigba Smith, Hyatt, Richardson, Torrence, Phillips III and Foskey are all potential first round selections.    .
  • Robinson was supposed to play against Washington in the Sun Bowl. Porter, Thomas, Kincaid and Phillips III were supposed to play in the Rose Bowl. Haytt and Murphy were supposed to play in the Orange Bowl. Richardsonand Torrence was supposed to play against Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl.  Meyer, Foskey and Smith passed on the Gator Bowl. Levis was supposed to play against Iowa in the Music City Bowl. Redmond, Harrison, Morris and Gray were supoosed to play against Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who missed most of the season, was suppposed to play against Georgia in the CFP semi-finals in Atlanta. Gonzalez and Downs were supposed to play in the Holiday Bowl.  Kancey was suppoosed to play against UCLA in the Sun Bowl. Cunningham was suppoosed to play against Cincinnati in the Fenway Bowl. Sanders and Stromberg were supposed to play against Kansas in the Liberty Bowl. Ojulari was supposed to play against Purdue in the Citrus Bowl. Forbes was supposed to play against.llinois in the Reluaquest Bowl.
  • College coaches are powerless to control what players do once they declare for the draft. The traditonal bowls sadly are losing some of their luster. With that in mind, expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 can’t come soon enough.  ,

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Dick Weiss is a sportswriter and columnist who has covered college football and college and professional basketball for the Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Daily News. He has received the Curt Gowdy Award from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and is a member of the national Sportswriters Hall of Fame. He has also co-written several books with Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Dick Vitale and authored a tribute book on Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

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