Week 1 College Football Shoutouts

Inspired by Jalen Rose from the immortal Jalen and Jacoby podcast on Grantland.com, it's time for some shoutouts! Instead of joyously reaching for his Blackberry while saying "Much love to you" to random Twitter handles while podcast co-host David Jacoby expresses his disdain for Jalen's favorite segment by either pretending to fall asleep or doubting aloud the validity of YouTube commenters' locations, I plan on starting a weekly tradition in which I simply give credit where credit is due to college football's standout performers. Week 1 was filled with explosive plays, monstrous stat lines, and, well, this. Oops, it seems like I just inadvertently gave my first shoutout right there. Here are my top five from the opening weekend's bevy of games, enjoy:

• Obligatory/Begrudged Shoutout to Kenny Hill, who dropped 511 yards and 3 touchdowns on the 'Ol Ball Coach's swiss cheese defense. There were questions all offseason over whether or not he could handle the pressure of being Johnny Football's successor. I'd say he basically took a page from the Marshawn Lynch playbook in quelling those concerns.
• Shoutout to Sam Ficken, senior kicker for Penn State, for burying four field goals, including a game-winning, 36-yarder against UCF in the Nittany Lions opener in Dublin, Ireland. Ficken has been known to shank a clutch kick or two before, so seeing Ficken rise to the occasion in the first game of the season is an encouraging sign for a promising Penn State team. Plus, it all but guaranteed he will be swimming in pussy for at least the next 6 days.
• Shoutout to Georgia RB/Most Dangerous Man in the World with a Football Todd Gurley, who galloped his way to nearly 300 yards and 3 TD's on the ground, while also adding a 100-yard kickoff return score, you know, just 'cause he can. Gurley has placed himself squarely at the front of any early Heisman talks, and is looking like the safest bet to finally be the running back to buck the recent trend and actually get taken in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
• Shoutout to top junior college transfers D'haquille Williams and Tyreek Hill. Williams and Hill, the #1 and 4 players, respectively, in the 2014 ESPN JUCO 50, both made their case for superstardom very early with their debuts on Saturday. Williams, a 6-3, 215-pound, Cordarrelle Patterson clone, caught 9 passes for 154 yards and a TD for Auburn in their 45-21 rout of Arkansas. Williams was highly sought after by plenty of the top programs in the country, and Auburn must be even more glad they managed to reel him in. Hill elicits comparisons to De'Anthony Thomas and Darren Sproles as an undersized, dynamic RB/WR, and I might even go as far as saying his talent level surpasses that of those two guys. Hill was everywhere for Oklahoma State last night in their surprisingly close defeat at the hands of Florida State. Hill accounted for 278 all-purpose yards (44 rushing, 62 receiving, 172 return) and generally made Seminole defenders look like they were moving in slow motion. I mean, just look at that. If I'm seeing it correctly, that is the vaunted Florida State defense that averaged less PPG against than any other team in college football a season ago that Hill is leaving in the dust. Hill was essentially the Michael Cera to Florida State's Seth Rogen. Bottom line, they may be two years older than the other first-year phenoms out there, but that does not mean we should be any less excited about the havoc they are prepared to wreak on their opponents this season.
• Finally, Shoutout to the entire USC offense, for being ridiculously entertaining en route to a 52-13 win over Fresno State. QB Cody Kessler appears to have taken a huge step forward from last year after amassing 422 total yards and 5 combined TD's passing and rushing. Running back Javorius Allen picked up where he left off at the end of last season with 133 yards and a touchdown. The wide receiver group for the Trojans looked downright scary, as six different receivers caught at least 3 passes. Darreus Rogers and Nelson Agholor came into the season expected to carry the unit, and they certainly did their part, combining for 117 yards and 2 TD's. It's the contributions from true freshmen, however, that truly put this collection of pass-catchers on a different level. #9 overall recruit Adoree' Jackson, along with Texas A&M receiver Speedy Noil, entered college football with the reputation for being an extremely explosive play-maker in all facets of the game. Jackson's future might end up being at cornerback, but he could certainly fool me into thinking he was exclusively an offensive player after 3 catches for 36 yards and a touchdown. #1 TE Bryce Dixon even caught a 22-yard touchdown. The star of the diaper dandies, however, was #3 athlete John "Juju" Smith. Juju, as he will be forever referred to in this blog, caught 4 balls for 123 yards, an average of 30.8 YPC! For the good of the world, I sincerely hope stat lines like this keep appearing throughout the season so that the sight of the name "Juju" can continue to bless us on box scores everywhere. Much love to YOU, Juju Smith.