CFB Player Rank - the top 25 players at midseason - ESPN

Back in August, we attempted to compile a ranking of the 100 best players in college football. It was an arduous task, but one that ended with a list we felt good about.

Seven weeks into the 2024 season, however, some of it looks pretty silly.

There were things we probably could've foreseen. Expectations were bound to exceed production for a few superstars, like Ollie Gordon II or Luther Burden III.

There were the inevitable setbacks a college football season presents, like injuries to Harold Perkins Jr. or Quinn Ewers.

And then there were the things we couldn't have seen coming even if we had employed top AI software, a fortune teller and a Magic 8 Ball. Two of the best receivers in the nation play at Bowling Green and San José State. Iowa's run game is dominant. The most efficient QB in the country is an Ohio transfer now playing at Indiana. These things just don't make sense.

And yet, in 2024, they're nevertheless true.

So, it only made sense for us to take a mulligan on that preseason list and get to work on a revised midseason edition. We compiled our top 25 players at the halfway mark of the season, considering their impact on the field, their potential for the second half, and their overall talent and ability to change the game.

Narrowing a list down to 25 was nearly impossible, with a few particularly painful cuts (sorry, Bryson Daily and Blake Horvath). It also meant leaving off some big names (Carson Beck, Jaxson Dart and Tetairoa McMillan). But in the end, these 25 players have defined the first seven weeks of the season and can help tell the story of how 2024 will ultimately look when we get to the playoff.

WR, San José State, Senior
Notable 2024 stats: 62 rec, 806 yards, 10 TD
Preseason ranking: NR

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