2018 College Football Previews: Independents

We start with the Independents because they associate with no one (except ND’s weird ACC affiliation). These are the football mercenaries, college football’s A-Team, soldiers of fortune who no long have a home (NMSU, UMASS) or choose not to (ND, Army, BYU, Liberty?).

The average power rating for the Independent squads is 2.55.

Note: Glosssary and P.L.U.M.P. Page

Team	Adj. 2017 W/L	% Yards Ret.	% Touches Ret.	% Line Starts Ret.	% Tackles Ret.	% Passes Def. Ret.	247 Sports Score	Total Points
Notre Dame	19.71	61.58%	61.34%	49.67%	76.03%	77.19%	256.57	23.43
Army	5.45	58.36%	62.77%	26.87%	76.37%	84.21%	112.02	7.28
Liberty	0	84.91%	78.60%	78.22%	72.17%	70.97%	56.65	2.84
BYU	-4.47	90.28%	89.49%	34.55%	67.21%	73.17%	167.06	-2.3
New Mexico State	-5.07	31.80%	30.94%	69.16%	78.50%	83.33%	96.22	-6.95
UMASS	-12.73	91.62%	92.32%	100.00%	58.02%	71.43%	122.34	-9.01

Notre Dame buoys the average rating, but Army and Liberty hold up well to scrutiny, although the latter is in year 2 of it’s transition to the FBS level. BYU is in a rut P.B. (Post Bronco) but returns quite a bit on offense and should continue to provide a stout defense. NMSU lost everyone on offense but should be a solid unit in year one in no-mans-land. UMASS is a poor team that at least looks intriguing on offense but soon may make the pilgrimage back to FCS sooner than later.

Top Returning Offensive Producers (Above average production)

Quarterbacks (Minimum 120 Pass Attempts)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	AY/A	AY/R	Comp%	Sack%
Andrew Ford	4	MASS	75	210	8.98	4.82	63.17%	9.70%
Stephen Calvert	3	LIB	74	180	8.34	5.27	54.11%	3.30%
Brandon Wimbush	4	ND	73	228	6.94	10.18	49.45%	8.30%
Tanner Mangum	4	BYU	75	220	5.02	3.86	57.20%	4.80%

Running Backs (Minimum 12 Touches)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tou.	AY/R	AY/T	RBP>12
Marquis Young	4	MASS	73	215	217	6.31	6.93	16.36
Kell Walker	3	ARMY	69	195	91	8.6	10.09	9.53
Darnell Woolfolk	4	ARMY	69	235	157	6.81	0	9.36
Jason Huntley	3	NMSU	69	175	110	6.26	8.11	8.63

Wide Receivers (Minimum 18 Targets)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tar.	AY/T	Cat%	WRP>18
Antonio Gandy-Golden	3	LIB	76	200	116	10.85	59.48%	13.19
Andy Isabella	4	MASS	70	195	112	10.83	58.04%	12.51
B.J. Farrow	4	LIB	74	190	54	14.15	59.26%	10.21
Cephas Reddick	4	LIB	68	175	64	10.66	59.38%	8.55
OJ Clark	3	NMSU	67	163	65	8.58	72.31%	8.47
Anthony Muse	3	NMSU	72	160	58	8.8	72.41%	8.11
Damian King	4	LIB	71	175	111	6.72	59.46%	7.9

Tight Ends (Minimum 12 Targets)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tar.	AY/T	Cat%	TEP>12
Matt Bushman	2	BYU	77	230	78	7.41	62.82%	29.77

Liberty and their merry band of party crashers (and unfortunately Baylor mess alumnus) should be fun on offense and enter their first full FBS campaign with and intriguing JR QB and four receivers that with at least 50 targets last season. Army of course pulls rank with 50% of the above average RBs, and BYU brings back 17^th year senior Tanner Mangum and sophomore TE Matt Bushman who may be the only other functioning offensive skill player on the roster from last season in Provo.

Top Returning Defensive Producers (Above average production)

Interior Defensive Linemen (INT) (Minimum 12 Points)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tkls	TFLs	Sacks	PDs	Points
Cedric Wilcots II	3	NMSU	76	260	21	12	8.5	3	206.13
Sione Takitaki	4	BYU	74	245	61	13	5	2	180
Corbin Kaufusi	4	BYU	81	285	51.5	7.5	6	1	132.38
Jerry Tillery	4	ND	78	306	40.5	9	4.5	0	117
Khalid Kareem	3	ND	76	266	15.5	5.5	3	2	97.13
Roy Lopez	3	NMSU	74	310	25	4.5	2	3	96.75
Daelin Hayes	3	ND	75	258	23.5	6.5	3	1	94.13
Khyris Tonga	2	BYU	76	340	14	4	2	3	90
Jake Byczko	2	MASS	75	250	14.5	2	0	3	58.63

Edge Rushers (EDGE) (Minimum 12 Points)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tkls	TFLs	Sacks	PDs	Points
Juwan Wells	4	LIB	74	255	58.5	11	4.5	4	169.84

Off-Ball Linebackers (OBLB) (Minimum 12 Points)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tkls	TFLs	Sacks	PDs	Points
Terrill Hanks	4	NMSU	75	225	79.5	15	7	8	185.55
Te'Von Coney	4	ND	73	240	86	12.5	3	0	116.65
Jarell Addo	4	MASS	73	200	49.5	8	1	6	107.4
James Nachtigal	4	ARMY	72	235	78	8	5	3	94.89
Kenneth Brinson	4	ARMY	74	245	30.5	4.5	4	4	73.98
Cole Christiansen	3	ARMY	74	225	66	5	0	2	64.13
Leon McQuaker	4	NMSU	73	212	34.5	6.5	3	1	56.24
Lui Fa'amasino	4	NMSU	72	230	44.5	4.5	0.5	0	55.48
Butch Pau'u	4	BYU	72	230	55.5	3	0	2	49.41

Cornerbacks (CB) (Minimum 12 Points)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tkls	TFLs	Sacks	PDs	Points
Julian Love	3	ND	71	193	57	1	0	23	112
Isaiah Rodgers	3	MASS	70	175	43	3	0	17	97
Lee Moses	4	MASS	71	200	32	1	0	10	76
Ron LaForce	4	NMSU	73	187	80	1	0	8	59.5
Shaun Crawford	4	ND	69	176	26	1.5	1.5	7	51.38
Jeremy Peters	4	LIB	70	190	32	4	0	3	51

Free Safeties (FS) (Minimum 12 Points)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tkls	TFLs	Sacks	PDs	Points
Shamad Lomax	3	NMSU	70	200	59.5	3.5	1	11	196.56
Malik Demby	4	NMSU	74	230	35.5	11	6.5	1	127.72
Zayne Anderson	4	BYU	74	200	51	0	0	4	106.44
DeMarcus Owens	4	NMSU	70	191	41	1	0	10	81.88
Jaylon McClinton	3	ARMY	70	200	37	1.5	1	1	75.41

Strong Safeties (SS) (Minimum 12 Points)
Player	Year	Team	Height	Weight	Tkls	TFLs	Sacks	PDs	Points
Dayan Ghanwoloku	3	BYU	71	195	47.5	1	0	8	87.49
Tyler Hayes	4	MASS	72	215	41.5	3	0	5	80.96
Max Regan	4	ARMY	74	200	27	0.5	0	5	64.46

Both Notre Dame and BYU play 3-4 defenses and so it’s not surprising that both squads put four players in the top producers for the three front-seven positions groups. There isn’t much edge talent here, but that generally goes for all mid-majors as we’ll see as we move forward. NMSU brings back a penetrating 5-tech in Wilcots and a stout nose tackle in 310-pound junior Roy Lopez. In fact, NMSU is secretly talented on defense Hanks probably reclassifies as an Edge player for the draft at his size, but combo of tackles/TFLs/sacks would be good in any conference. Add in a couple more productive seniors at LB, LaForce at CB, and a Trio of productive safeties and you have a defense that should allow an offense that lost long time producers to find their identity. ND and BYU will have solid defenses and recruit well enough to fill holes that appear, and UMASS joins Notre Dame with a pair of productive corners.