Is this the most underrated player in college football? Crazy Mike Harman doesn't think so.
It’s our latest installment of [pick a weekday] Debate, and this one’s a good one. Every year, some virtual unknown steps forward and shows us all why we should have taken notice last year. We saw Troy Smith come out of “nowhere” to lead his team to the national title, but what about the guys with incredible numbers that get no love?
It’s a matchup that sounds a little like an Italian pasta dish, but the Vittatoe-Kaepernick showdown is anything but limp. One’s got a great eye for open targets with an awful defense, and one’s got the best set of dual-threat tools this side of Tim Tebow and… an awful defense. So who’s got more to prove? Which one can win their conference and still go unnoticed? Who really is the most underrated player in college football? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not Sam Bradford. Or Cody Hawkins. But, honestly, did you really think it would be Hawkins. Anyway…
Hunter
I’ve taken a few things into consideration here. There are loads of players in college football. And that means that there are loads of underrated guys. I mean there are only so many sites dedicated to covering the sport, and somebody is bound to slip through the cracks.
So the guy I’ve chosen may not be the best player that doesn’t get top billing, but he’s definitely too good to have such low publicity. Trevor Vittatoe will be a junior this fall, and he’ll also be entering his third season of starting at QB for the UTEP Miners. But until recently, I had no idea what this guy had done during his college career.
As a freshman, Vittatoe tossed 25 TDs against only 7 INTs. He also broke the 3000 yard barrier. Then, last season, he threw for 3274 yards, 33 TDs and only 9 INTs. That’s ridiculous. Over a two year career, the guy has 58 TD passes. And those were his first two years playing college football.
The only guy I can think of with better stats at that point in his career is Sam Bradford, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone with two more impressive first years than Bradford.
He finished in the top 20 of passing efficiency in 2009. He also averaged 7.8 yards per attempt. That’s not perfect, but it ain’t too shabby either. And oh yeah, all those stats last year came in only 11 games. He missed 95% of an easy one against New Mexico State that could have boosted his numbers even further. I know he plays for UTEP, and I’ll get into that more with my next response, but those kind of accomplishments shouldn’t be going so unnoticed. The guy’s legit.
Mike
Hmm, the most underrated player in college brings so many options to the table. Austen Arnaud, QB could become the next Big-12 QB that everyone talks about. I also think that a player like Jake Locker, the QB in Washington could be in for a good year, but I think Locker already gets some good attention. Morgan Burnett the safety from Georgia Tech is like a poor mans Eric Berry, but once again, not underrated. My pick originally was going to be Malcolm Sheppard, the DT from Arkansas. Sheppard dropped 7.5 sacks, 16 TFL, and a forced fumble last year. I think that Arkansas will have more talent on the field, and that Sheppard could have a great year. But my pick is Colin Kaepernick, the junior QB from Nevada.
Kaepernick, like Vittatoe started in his rookie season and helped lead the team to some great stats. The key difference is that Kaepernick came in for former QB Nick Graziano when he went down in the 5th game of the season. Kaepernick would go into the game in the middle of the second quarter, and he would throw for 384 yards and 4TD’s in the game. Another memorable game from the season was the 4 OT game against Boise State two years ago, where he threw for 240 yards and 3TD’s with 175 yards rushing and 2 TD’s. Overall in his freshman year, Kaepernick threw for 2,175 yards, 19 TD’s and 3 picks. If you multiply that out for the 4 1/3 games he sat on the bench, he theoretically would have thrown 3,000 yards, 26 TD’s and 5 Picks. And that’s assuming the four games he didn’t play weren’t against below average out of conference teams.
Last year Kaepernick became the 5th player ever to throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season. Oh, and he didn’t just throw for 2,000, he threw for nearly 2,900 yards. He threw for 22 TD’s and ran for 17. That’s 39 TD’s that the kid created for the team! He has lost by a total of 9 points to Boise State the last two years, and might be primed to be a BCS Buster’s Buster this year.
Hunter
I like the Kaepernick pick. Not a bad draw.
Another point I want to bring up about Vittatoe is the unfortunate circumstance he faces of playing for a team with absolutely no defense. It has absolutely contributed to his obscurity.
Look at some of last season’s single game point totals for the Miners:
New Mexico State — 33 points
@ Tulsa — 35 points
Rice — 44 points
@ Houston — 37 points
All four of those games were losses. And Vittatoe‘s numbers in those four? 69 of 123 for 966 yards 11 TDs and 1 INT. That’s good enough for a 149.5 QB Rating. And he missed most of the New Mexico State game.
This guy would be a dark horse Heisman contender in the Colt Brennan mold if his defense would show up once every two weeks. They finished 115 in total defense and 112 in scoring defense (37 ppg).
Meanwhile, Vittatoe quarterbacked the 14th best passing offense. I just hate to see him get thrown into the scrap head because his team underchieves on the otherside of the ball.
Mike
Want to know a cool trick? Take 5-dollars out of your wallet, go to the bookstore and buy a dictionary, you will learn a brand new word. Underrated.
Ok, so maybe it’s less a trick and more a waste of 5-dollars and some trees, but if you were to look up that work, it would go into some crazy explanation about having worth more than your true value. It would then have a second meaning listed that goes as follows:
“A football player that does not get the recognition he deserves because of other essences on the team, despite making the team so much better.”
Unfortunately for this debate, both Vittatoe and Kaepernick are defined under this definition. I do however think that the success of Nevada’s team is more dependent to Kaepernicus than it is for Vittatoe. This opinion might be a little lessened because UTEP hasn’t been going to any bowl games, but more because UTEP has had some underrated QB’s this decade(Palmer being the best). Nevada however does have one of the better defenses for smaller schools, and the rush attack is nasty. Not only did they have the rushing champ in the WAC last year, but also the 2007 rush champ (who happens to be a different player. With two former rush champs, the numbers that Kaepernick puts up look a lot lessened due to success. If Kaepernick puts up 3,000 yards passing (like he almost did last year), and 1,500 yards rushing, it will go unnoted to the success of the other backs.
Kaepernick is also trapped in a WAC league that focuses only on the Boise State Broncos. The only way that Kaepernick will get his name known is if he beats the broncos at the end of this season, which is more than possible. But until then, Kaepernick will remain a blip in the college world.
Hunter
I like your points, but I think you made one thing clear: Kaepernick has at least a puncher’s chance of being a known player by the end of the season. He’s already a very lofty prospect in college fantasy rankings. And, like you said, he’s got a shot to become a known guy this season by knocking off Boise State.
Vittatoe, on the other hand, could realistically throw for 40 TDs and still be less known than my latest Twitter post. I just think Vittatoe has a deeper publicity hole.
UTEP could make a bowl this year, but who on their schedule could they realistically beat that would garner national attention for him? No one. The Miners aren’t going to beat ECU even if they make it to the conference championship game. And the CUSA title tilt has to be the least watched of all the games that day. So even if he does manage a huge upset, who’s going to notice?
And teams like Texas and Kansas will most likely hang around 100 points on El Paso. I just think, when you look at underrated guys, Vittatoe fits the bill. A guy that can win his conference championship game and still fly under the radar is a guy who has to hope some NFL team is watching, because it’s clear that no fans are.
Mike
I think that Vittatoe might be a bigger name than you believe in comparison. There is no doubt that Nevada is a better team that is closer to a big bowl(or a bowl in general) than UTEP, but the UTEP location and conference more than triumphs the WAC.
I’d be willing to bet that the name Vittatoe is relatively known in the state of Texas, especially after UTEP plays them this year. Games all over Texas, in the Liberty Bowl, and in the Superdome will create more fan buzz than games in Reno, Utah, Idaho and Colorado.
Vittatoe likely will get a bit less TV coverage than Kaperernick does, but I think Vittatoe might be a bigger name in the fan world. Neither gets the respect that they deserve though.
When you compare the skills of Kaepernick and Vittatoe, they are both great players in the country. But if you ask the common fans of the college world who they are, you will likely get blank faces and bad guesses. It’s unfortunate that these guys go unknown and under the table, but unfortunately someone has to be the underdogs…
