Ranking the Top 15 Players in the Pac-12 for 2014 (Experts Poll)
Marcus Mariota
The SEC is college football’s No. 1 conference, but the Pac-12 isn’t far behind. With playoff contenders in Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and USC, the league has a deep group of teams pushing for a spot among the top 10 this year. And the depth of the Pac-12 is strong, highlighted by Arizona State, Washington, Washington State, Oregon State and Arizona. Strong quarterback play highlights the Pac-12, including Oregon's Marcus Mariota and UCLA's Brett Hundley.
In order to rank the top 15 players in the Pac-12 for 2014, Athlon Sports sought the insight of several experts from the conference. The voting process was simple. Using criteria such as career performance so far, 2014 potential/projection, pro outlook, recruiting ranking, value to team or overall talent, each voter was asked to rank their top 15 players for 2014.
A point system was assigned, giving 15 points for a player with a No. 1 vote, 14 points for a No. 2 vote, 13 points for a No. 3 vote and so on.
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The Voters:
Steven Lassan, AthlonSports.com, (@AthlonSteven)
Tyler Lockman, FoxSportsArizona.com, (@TylerLockman)
Braden Gall,AthlonSports.com, (@BradenGall)
Kyle Kensing,CFBHuddle.com, (@kensing45)
Mitch Light,AthlonSports.com, (@AthlonMitch)
Andrew Greif,The Oregonian, (@AndrewGreif)
Ryan Kartje,OCRegister.com, (@Ryan_Kartje)
Jeremy Mauss,MWCConnection.com, (@JeremyMauss)
Mark Ross, AthlonSports.com, (@AthlonMarkR)
Avinash Kunnath,PacificTakes.com, (@PacificTakes)
Ryan Abraham,USCFootball.com, (@InsideTroy)
Nick Krueger,HouseofSparky.com, (@NickPKrueger)
Jon Woods, RalphieReport.com, (@RalphieReport)
Jeff Nusser,CougCenter.com, (@NussCoug)
Jack Follman, PacificTakes.com, (@JackFollman)
Chris Huston, HeismanPundit.com, (@HeismanPundit)
David Fox, AthlonSports.com, (@DavidFox615)
Ranking Pac-12's Best Players for 2014
Rank | Player | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total |
1 | Marcus Mariota, QB | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 252 | |
2 | Leonard Williams, DE | 1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 222 | |
3 | Brett Hundley, QB | 0 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 214 | |
4 | Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 191 | |
5 | Andrus Peat, OT | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 147 | |
6 | Myles Jack, LB | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 143 | |
7 | Taylor Kelly, QB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 113 | |
8 | Sean Mannion, QB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 98 | |
9 | Hroniss Grasu, C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 97 | |
10 | Jaelen Strong, WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 89 | |
11 | Ty Montgomery, WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 87 | |
12 | Nelson Agholor, WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 80 | |
13 | Shaq Thompson, LB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 77 | |
14 | Henry Anderson, DE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | |
15 | Eric Kendricks, LB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 | |
16 | Byron Marshall, RB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23 | |
17 | Hayes Pullard, LB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | |
18 | Hau'oli Kikaha, DE | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | |
19 | Marcus Peters, CB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | |
20 | A.J. Tarpley, LB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | |
21 | Danny Shelton, DT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
22 | Jordan Richards, S | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |
23 | Su'a Cravens, S | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
24 | D.J. Foster, RB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
25 | Alex Carter, CB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
26 | Darryl Monroe, LB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
27 | Thomas Tyner, RB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
28 | Jamil Douglas, OL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
29 | Cyler Miles, QB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
30 | Isaac Seumalo, OL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
31 | Bryce Treggs, WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
32 | Buck Allen, RB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
33 | Dres Anderson, WR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
34 | Connor Halliday, QB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
35 | Greg Henderson, CB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
36 | Addison Gillam, LB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
37 | Fabian Moreau, CB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
A Few Observations:
* Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota recorded 14 of the 17 first-place votes. Mariota did not rank lower than second on any ballot.
* Three of the top nine players in this experts poll are from Oregon: Mariota, cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and center Hroniss Grasu.
* The top 10 players in this experts poll are split evenly: Five from the North, five from the South.
* Arizona is the only team to not have a player represented in this poll.
* Four of the top 10 players are quarterbacks: Mariota, Mannion, Kelly and Hundley.
