Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Summer is in full swing and fall camps are opening in in the next few weeks. Football is still weeks away, but at the same time it is only weeks away.
This week the experts at KSL.com will look away from the local schools and focus on their opponents. The specific focus will be the five best opposing players each team will face.
Once again to start the week this article will take a look at the past. BYU and Utah have played a lot of similar opponents in the past, but their non-conference opponents have made these players great, even top picks in the draft.
While this can in no ways be a comprehensive list it is a small sampling of what a season can bring from opponents. For all the great players that aren't on the list put them in the comments and see how much talent these locals teams have faced.
In 2009 the Cougars started the season playing the Oklahoma Sooners and Sam Bradford. The Cougars knocked him out of the game and essentially out for the season, but he was still the top-pick in the NFL Draft. Oh, the Sooners also had the third and fourth pick, Gerald McCoy and Trent Williams, and the 21st pick Jermaine Gresham.
In that same year the Cougars lost to Andy Dalton and the TCU Horned Frogs. Dalton was seen as a bit of a game manager, but is now considered one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL.That same TCU squad had Jerry Hughes and Daryl Washington. All three of those TCU players were taken in the first two rounds.
Florida State had two first-round draft picks at quarterback in the coming years, Christian Ponder and E.J. Manuel. Throw in Jacquizz Rodgers from Oregon State Ryan Lindley and Vincent Jackson from San Diego State and that is a group of great college players, with most of those being taken in the first two rounds of the NFL draft.
In 2010 the Cougars played Jake Locker and Ponder again. They also added Colin Kaepernick to that mix along with a great group of Utes.
Last year the Cougars played Notre Dame and Heisman finalist Manit Te'o. The Utah State Aggies brought in Chuckie Keeton and the Utes brought Star Lotulelei.
The Utes have faced a murderer's row of top picks just from their Sugar Bowl win in 2008 against Alabama. Andre Smith was the sixth-pick that year, of course he didn't play, but Terrence Cody, Jarvier Arenas, Kareem Jackson, James Carpenter, Rolando McClain, Mark Ingram, Julio Jones and Marcell Dareus were all taken in the first two rounds. Actually only Cody and Arenas were taken in the second.
Of course these bowl games aren't predictable before the season, but the Utes 2008 regular season had some great players as well. BYU had Austin Collie, Dennis Pitta, Harvey Unga and Max Hall. TCU had essentially those same players listed above.
Last year the Utes played USC with Matt Barkley, Robert Woods and Marqise Lee — who might show up on this year's list. BYU had Kyle Van Noy and Ziggy Ansah. The Aggies brought Keeton. Those are six great players.
Utah State has had a bit of a different path over the past few years. Their conference hasn't been as strong, but 2009 had a great group of opponents. They played BYU (Unga, Hall, Pitta), Utah (Paul Kruger, Sean Smith, Koa Misi, Zane Beadles etc.), Nevada with Kaepernick and Boise State with Kellen Moore, Doug Martin, Titus Young and Autsin Pettis. They also played Texas A&M who had Von Miller and Ryan Tannehill, who was playing wide receiver at the time.
#poll
In 2010 they played Oklahoma who had DeMarco Murray, Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles. In 2006 they played Arkansas with Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, Peyton Hillis, Jamaal Anderson, Tony Ugoh and Chris Houston.
Last year the Aggies had Wisconsin with Montee Ball to go along with all that Utah and BYU brought.
Some years have been better than others. This year BYU is arguably their toughest schedule ever, Utah is playing the big boys of the Pac-12 — USC, Oregon, Stanford — and the Aggies are stepping into the Mountain West and will face Boise State, USC, BYU and Utah in a group of tough games.
These teams will bring in big names and great players. Which players are the best? Find out by checking back everyday this week. We will start with BYU, Utah and then Utah State, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Find out what players to keep on eye on when the big boys come to town.
