College Football Week One Kicks off With a Bang

Watching the top 25 games from the 2011 season on ESPNU has been nothing short of fantastic for me. As an Iowa Hawkeye fan and due to the fact that many of my Saturday afternoons were occupied by film work for my school’s football program, I was unable to see many of these excellent games. I got to re-live TCU vs. Baylor earlier on Sunday evening, and as I type this, a classic between Michigan and Notre Dame is playing with both teams wearing throwback uniforms right in the heart of fall.

This type of atmosphere gets my juices flowing, so I decided to check ESPN.com for the opening night of college football schedule, which officially kicks off on August 30th, a Thursday night. The headliner is an SEC battle between South Carolina and Vanderbilt, hopefully featuring top ranked running back Marcus Lattimore.

While last season, the South Carolina offense was the headliner with guys like Lattimore and Alshon Jeffery, this year, the attention will be on the defense which features two of the best pass rushers in the entire country. Jadeveon Clowney (not draft eligible yet) and Devin Taylor (All-SEC performer) are the key players on the Gamecock defense going into 2012, and they will take on one of the SEC’s best running backs from a year ago, Vanderbilt’s Zac Stacy.

Stacy rushed for 1,193 yards and 14 touchdowns last year, good for the best single-season marks in Vanderbilt history. Not only that, but he is the returning leading rusher in the entire SEC from last season. He is also the first Vanderbilt player to be put on the pre-season Maxwell Award watch list since Jay Cutler in 2005.

Another prospect I am looking forward to seeing play a little bit this year is Vanderbilt’s returning interceptions leader, cornerback Trey Wilson, who takes over as the top cornerback for the departed Casey Hayward, who recently signed a four-year deal with the Green Bay Packers.

Last season, Wilson had three interceptions, two of which he took back for touchdowns. The playmaker also had 30 tackles and eight passes broken up on the season. He has excellent closing speed and is one of the most improved players on the team.

This promises to be an exciting star to the college football season. I’m pumped, are you?