Story by
Bruce Feldman on his annual college football Freaks List and his criticism of Michael Lombardi
- Story by
- Bruce Feldman on his annual college football Freaks List and his criticism of Michael Lombardi
Credit: NFL
What began as light summertime reading is now among the things Bruce Feldman is best known for.
The longtime college football writer's annual Freaks List is something most sports fans look forward to. Since 2005, he has highlighted premier athletes. It's not necessarily the best pro prospects, though many do make the list; rather, it's the freakiest. Players come from all levels, not just FBS schools. He gets input from coaches, trainers, sports information directors, NFL scouts, among others.
Advertisement
We recently caught up with Feldman, the national college football insider for The Athletic, to discuss his Freaks List and other topics.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
What prompted you to start the college football Freaks List?
Bruce Feldman:"I was a writer at ESPN The Magazine, and they had me write a college football blog on ESPN.com. It was the dead of the offseason, and I was always looking for things to do. I had this idea. I figured you always hear about these freak guys in a bunch of programs; almost every program had their guy, right? It could be a 300-pound defensive lineman who does backflips; it could be the wide receiver who's 180 pounds but bench-presses more than twice his body weight—just those kinds of guys. So I started making some calls and got 10. Then it picked up. People were really interested. It kept growing and growing. At some point, we went to 40. At some point, we went to 100."
Advertisement
And this isn't a list of the top NFL prospects?
"This isn't the 101 best players in college football. There are a bunch of guys who deserve to be on both lists, but some of them wouldn't. I've got guys who are decent players. They're rotational players. One of the guys from LSU was a top 10 guy last year and is now in the top 15. Dominick McKinley, a former five-star, is big and really athletic, but there are like three freshmen defensive linemen right now who may play more than he will this year. And they're all pretty freaky."
Who is No. 1 on the Freaks List?
"My No. 1 guy is Nyck Harbor. I've never had a No. 1 guy back-to-back years. He's been No. 1 in three of the four years he's been at South Carolina, and he is a good player. The guy who's No. 2, who was No. 1 last year, Jeremiah Smith, is a much better receiver. But Nyck Harbor is, for comparison's sake, like Megatron, Calvin Johnson , arguably one of the best players who's ever played in football, and certainly one of the best receivers, 6-5, 235 pounds, and at the combine ran an insane 4.35 in the 40. Well, here comes Nyck Harbor, who was a 10.1 legit track guy in high school and at South Carolina is a 10.0 100-meter guy. He's even taller, 6-6, so he's an inch taller, similar arm length. He's just as long. And he's even faster. He's almost running 24 miles per hour."
Advertisement
What makes Jeremiah Smith so special?
"I would argue that Jeremiah Smith is the best receiving prospect since I've been covering college football, and that's going back 30 years. The closest comparison I can make to him is Andre Johnson , who came out of Miami and obviously went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was an incredibly strong, powerful guy, good size, blazing fast. The difference is that Andre Johnson wasn't like that in terms of talent or playmaking when he got to Miami or early in his career. Jeremiah Smith was. He came out of probably the best receiving background anywhere in the country in South Florida, which cranks out elite receivers.
"Larry Blustein, who's like the dean of high school recruiting down there, said this is the best one, like the best one ever, which is a huge mouthful. You're talking about a guy who's 225 pounds, broad jumps 11 feet, has a crazy burst, and is super strong. Also, I think the thing that really separates him from everybody else, on top of those things, is the drive."
Why is a Division II fullback on your list?
Advertisement
"Andrew Miller is a really good player at Harding University. If you're a huge football nerd, you've probably seen this school. It's a Division II school in Arkansas. They won a national title a few years ago and almost won one last year. He's probably the best Division II player in the country. A bunch of guys play DII and end up in the NFL. He scored 28 touchdowns last year. He runs the 40 in the 4.4s. He bench-presses almost 400 pounds. All his testing numbers are high-level.
"When I was talking to someone at the school this summer, they said he's also pretty freaky off the field. They started telling me how he and his cousins would wade into snake-infested water and hunt snakes with their bare hands. It's just crazy. I was like, no way. Then they sent me a photo of him coming out of what looked like a swamp, with two hands full of serpents."
Is there a kicker or a punter on this list?
Advertisement
"There is. The guy who's No. 101 (Ball State kicker) is Brody Boehm in the MAC. He's a high-level athlete who jumps like you would think a high-level receiver would. A good player. He's also got a great story. His older brother ( Ben Boehm ) is nicknamed 'Ironman,' has won a gold medal in Special Olympics, and is super strong. He trains with him. The motivational bond between the two is really cool. Boehm is an eye-popping athlete, especially for a specialist."
Could you give an example of someone from your previous lists who wasn't well-known but later became an NFL player?
"Probably one of my favorite examples is Tariq Woolen . Tariq Woolen was a guy at UTSA that I hardly knew anything about. Then I talked to Jeff Traylor, the head coach. This was kind of a pivot point for the Freaks List. I was usually running it in the dead of summer. He said, 'Hey, when's this thing going to run?' I said, 'Early July or whatever. Why?' He said, 'I think the worry was that that player was going to get poached.' Tariq Woolen's numbers were like, I had to do a triple take when I heard them. They're crazy numbers. So we ended up bumping the Freaks List back to August. So not only does he have a really good year, then he goes to the combine and lights it up, then he goes to the Seahawks and kind of blows up."
Who is going to play in the national championship game?
Advertisement
"It would go to two of these three teams. These are the three teams I feel the most confident in. They each have quarterbacks who now have seasoning. They didn't last year. And that is Notre Dame, Texas, and Oregon. If you asked me right now who I'd pick to win the national title, I think I'd say Notre Dame. I really like CJ Carr. He played well in his first big game at Miami, a tough environment against two werewolf pass rushers coming to rip his head off. He's really good. I like the portal guys they added, and they have a lot of athleticism on defense. I think Marcus Freeman is kind of in a sweet spot. They opted out of the bowls last year. I feel like this could be their year."
What did you think of the response to your comments on Michael Lombardi ?
"So many people came up to me, texted me, or DM'd me—people I want to say came out of the woodwork. They're people I haven't talked to in five years, NFL coaches, or media people I worked with at ESPN, NFL Network, or Fox, each with their own stories. A lot of people in the NFL, agents.
Advertisement
"He's left quite a trail. And I can't remember ever writing or speaking about somebody who was that polarizing, and not just that polarizing, because polarizing makes it seem like it's 50-50, but everybody has strong opinions. This was, like, I don't even know if it was 99-to-1 in terms of negativity versus positivity. It was kind of remarkable to hear from so many people. I cannot remember ever writing or talking about anyone that people were so strongly kind of disgusted by."
With Michael Lombardi on administrative leave , is there any chance he will return to North Carolina?
"I'd be very surprised if he did when it gets to this point in the process. Maybe there'll be some kind of settlement down the road to move along for North Carolina. But it just feels like, as I said on the podcast, they have become this laughingstock. With all the drama around being inept on the field and in roster management. I'm fascinated to see the next couple of steps of this, though."
The post Bruce Feldman on his annual college football Freaks List and his criticism of Michael Lombardi appeared first on Awful Announcing .
