Back in the day, a college football coach had a stock answer ready when asked to evaluate his latest recruiting class. He’d say to check back in two or three years, after those players had chances to show what they can do. There’s no need to wait anymore. This season has shown lots of freshmen are ready, willing and able to play – and often start. ”For us, we’re going to play the best players, the guys who give us the best chance to win, and right now that’s some freshmen,” UCLA coach Jim Mora said. ”So we’re playing a bunch of them.” The 12th-ranked Bruins and No. 14 Texas A&M each have played 17 true freshmen this season. In fact, 13 are listed among the top 22 players on each team’s depth chart. An Associated Press analysis of the 72 teams in automatic-qualifying BCS conferences and Notre Dame showed that 359 freshmen were listed as first- or second-stringers on this week’s depth charts, not including special teams. That represented almost 12 percent of 3,212 players. Of those 359, 72 were starters. No. 8 Stanford was the only program that did not list a freshman on its two-deep. The rapid emergence of youngsters is no surprise to football people. The consensus, from interviews with high school and college coaches, pointed to several factors. Strength-and-conditioning training has become more sophisticated and closed the physical gap between freshmen and older players. There are more opportunities for year-round, football-specific training through camps, seven-on-seven leagues and personal coaches. The growing emphasis on video study at the high-school level has made players smarter. The up-tempo spread offenses are more common, allowing quarterbacks and receivers to make quick transitions to the college game. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said the reliance on freshmen has naturally increased since the scholarship limit dropped to 85 in 1994. A run of injuries can force a team to go young. But so can a need for talent. ”You don’t necessarily change but you adapt your offense and defense to make it user-friendly for a young player to play,” said Meyer, who noted that the Buckeyes adapt their offense when speedy running back Dontre Wilson enters a game. Receiver was the offensive position that had the most freshmen on the two-deeps, with 66. There were 84 defensive backs…
Continue Reading: 17 freshmen have hit field for both UCLA, Aggies
