2024 NFL Draft: College Football Recap, Week 1

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Clemson v Georgia
Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images

A new crop of prospects takes form in Week 1

It was an eventful and quite interesting weekend of college football with plenty of sloppy offensive performances in some of the marquee contests of the week. Georgia outclassed Clemson in a game that felt like the Bulldogs controlled all afternoon despite just a 6-0 lead at half. They eventually went on to score 28 in the second half en route to a 34-3 beatdown in Atlanta.

Notre Dame pulled away from an inept Texas A&M offense to win 23-13. The game of the week was on Sunday with USC and LSU meeting in Las Vegas where both teams jostled back and forth, with the Trojans showing a much-improved defense. USC went on to win 27-20 despite plenty of offensive fireworks from both teams.

Some of the nation’s perceived best draft prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft came to play this past weekend, including some monstrous performances by potential first round-picks. Below we’ll highlight three players who stood out in a big way from Week 1 around the college football landscape.

Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty wills Broncos to victory in epic fashion

Jeanty is one of the best 2025 running back prospects in the country, and his home is on the blue turf in Boise. Jeanty had an epic performance in a tight win over Georgia Southern. The Broncos star put up 267 yards rushing and six touchdowns on just 20 carries — including a 75-yarder to put his team up in the early fourth quarter.

He’s coming off a 1,300 yard season in 2023 accompanied with 14 touchdowns on the ground. Jeanty has a special knack for breaking off tackles, and his creativity as a runner makes him so fun to watch on a play-by-play basis. The top-end gear may not quite be there from a speed standpoint, but he shows an easy ability to turn five yards into 20 with stepping through arm tackles, spinning off others, and just continuously maximizing his reps. It would be shocking if Jeanty isn’t a priority selection in the 2025 NFL Draft should he decide to declare. This performance only cements those feelings.

Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan lights up New Mexico on way to school record

McMillan is one of the best receivers in college football, and he reinforced that on Saturday with a monstrous performance in the late hours to begin a Heisman-hopeful campaign and the potential top wide receiver in the 2025 NFL Draft. McMillan put up video-game numbers breaking the school record for receiving yards in a game — tipping the scales for 304 of them. He put up 10 catches and four touchdowns on the night in addition to that yardage.

He and his high school teammate Noah Fifita have an awesome chemistry built up over years and that could propel McMillan to even greater heights. The junior receiver is on a clear track to become a first-round draft pick next April. Similar to Jeanty, he’s well on his way to Heisman talk in weeks to come.

Georgia LB/EDGE Jalon Walker shows elite versatility against Clemson

The Georgia Bulldogs are spoiled with athletic phenoms and talent all over both sides of the football. Jalon Walker is one of the more polarizing prospects coming into the year because his role in the NFL is a big question. Even so, his role at Georgia was also a curiosity heading into 2024. Is he a pass rusher? Is he an off ball linebacker? That remains to be seen. His most impressive plays on Saturday afternoon against Clemson came working as a standup rusher off the edge, which included 1.5 sacks and an impactful run stop while being held badly (No. 11 in red in the video clip below).

Walker is a physical specimen who put together some moments of dominance against a quality offensive line of Clemson. He was a player who looked primed to take another ascending step going into his junior season. We’ll see where he goes and how his projection shapes itself as his full-time role in the Bulldogs’ defense continues forward.

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