Breaking down some good players on college football teams that are likely to be bad
Isaac Smith knows what drew him to Mississippi State and why he has remained there.
“There’s no distractions in Starkville,” the junior safety told reporters during Southeastern Conference media days. “Small town. Real pretty community. The people are awesome. I fell in love with it and I’m still in love with it and will forever always be in love with it.”
Smith’s 127 tackles last season led the Southeastern Conference and tied him for seventh place among all Football Bowl Subdivision players, production that hasn’t translated to team success. Mississippi State has gone 7-17 overall and 1-15 in SEC competition during Smith’s two seasons.
That makes Smith a natural candidate to head our list of good players on teams that figure to struggle this season, even though he believes Mississippi State has what it takes to turn things around. He considers Mississippi State a blue-collar program that values hard work.
“I love the fact that’s Mississippi State’s been all about that, just working hard and going to prove something that maybe people don’t think you can do,” Smith said.
Mississippi State’s chances of being more competitive this season depend on whether Smith can help upgrade a defense that allowed 34.1 points per game last season. Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Purdue were the only Power Four teams to give up more points per game.
“We lacked execution the whole season really – missed tackles, missed assignments,” Smith said. “Quite frankly, that’s why we lost a lot of games. I think we were last at about everything.”
Smith believes that defense will be better this year. In Smith, that unit has an ideal leader.
“To me, there’s no greater spokesperson for our locker room or our defense than Isaac Smith,” Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said. “When you think about the game of football, loving football, that is Isaac. This guy loves to play the game. He’s incredibly physical. He’s been a great leader for us. Proud of him and who he’s been, excited about the year that he has the ability to go have.”
Wake Forest RB Demond Claiborne
Claiborne rushed for 1,049 yards and 11 touchdowns last year for a Wake Forest team that finished 4-8 for a second straight season. He rushed for at least 113 yards against North Carolina A&T, NC State, Stanford and Cal. Claiborne also had 23 catches for 254 yards and two more scores. The ACC preseason media poll forecasts Wake Forest to finish 16th out of 17 teams, ahead of only Stanford.
New Mexico RB Scottre Humphrey
After helping Montana State reach the Football Championship Subdivision title game last year, Humphrey makes the move to the FBS ranks while trying to help New Mexico produce its first winning season since 2016. Humphrey rushed for 1,386 yards last year, which include 140 yards and the winning touchdown in Montana State’s 35-31 victory over New Mexico. The Lobos’ 5-7 record last year was their best since a 9-4 finish in 2016.
Purdue RB Devin Mockobee
The small-town, home-stater started at Purdue as a walk-on but earned a scholarship by helping Purdue win the 2022 Big Ten West Division crown. Purdue has struggled since – going 4-8 in 2023 and 1-11 in 2024 – but Mockobee has remained productive. His 2,466 yards rushing rank him seventh on Purdue’s all-time list. He’s aiming to become the fourth 3,000-yard rusher in school history. A big season could enable him to threaten Mike Alstott’s school record of 3,635 career yards rushing
Southern Mississippi CB Josh Moten
Moten transferred to Southern Miss after intercepting five passes for Marshall last season to tie for fourth place among all Bowl Subdivision players. Southern Miss went 1-11 last year and has won more than three games just once over the past five seasons. He intercepted a pass in four of his final five games last season.
Northwestern OT Caleb Tiernan
Northwestern went 4-8 in 2024 for its third losing season in the last four years, but the Wildcats have a quality left tackle in Tiernan. He has started 30 games over the last three seasons. Pro Football Focus gave him an 88.9 pass block grade last season, ranking him sixth among all tackles. He allowed just one sack over Northwestern’s final six games last year.
Cal LB Cade Uluave
After being named the Pac-12’s freshman defensive player of the year by the league’s coaches in 2023, Uluave collected 71 tackles while playing nine games for the Golden Bears last season. He made at least eight stops in six different games, including a 15-tackle performance against Miami. Cal went 5-7 last year for its fifth straight losing season, and it’s picked to finish 15th in the ACC this year.
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AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed to this report.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
By STEVE MEGARGEE
AP Sports Writer
