Kendall was named to Sports Illustrated's Mid-Season All-American team after he was unjustly excluded from ESPN's. There were also 25 other players on the first team list, but none of them are a Fuller and Kendall could only be named to one spot. He's steadily working his way towards a Thorpe award in his career.
http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/10/15/college-football-midseason...
He was also listed on the CBS Sports Mid-Season All-American team. Again, the only Fuller, but this time there are 26 other non-Fullers.
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The title of this post is truly hilarious
It sounded better than "Kendall Fuller on SI & CBS Sports Mid-Season All-American Team." I mean, saying that is kinda like saying Bucky Hodges is tall.
Two Fullers are racking honors in the NFL; one Fuller is grabbing INTs in the NCAA. The Fullers are taking over football in general.
I am thoroughly disgusted that Kendall is not on SECPN's list.
Paul Chryst thinks that Kendall should've been flagged for pass interference
Alliteration aside, ESPN seriously should do a Sports Science segment on this
The thing that most impresses me on this is the ball control.
He doesn't swat at it. He catches it by the end and kinda tosses it away from the defender.
And it pisses me off that it wasn't on the TOP Plays of the week that week except on the ACC website.
Agree. I'm also impressed by how he can fluidly launch backwards to the exact point of where the ball is going to be, almost in the same motion of a high jumper. It's almost like the Richard Sherman tip to his teammate for the interception, just Fuller did not have anyone to tip it to close by. Unreal on all fronts.
I'm sure that ESPN had a lackluster FSU, USCw, or OSU play on the TOP Plays instead of this one...
I could stare at that for hours and still be amazed.
Agreed, 25 feels way too high.
This is from ESPNs ACC Mailbag 10 Oct.
David Hale
Kendall Fuller leads all of College football.
This sounds like QBR, a completely made up stat that ESPN can hang their hat on.
That being said it benefits Kendall so I'm all for it (for now).
Actually it doesn't sound like a bad stat to count performance of a CB or LB.
These are all things a CB and Safety will perform.
Kendall has done each of these this year - Sack, INT, and passes defended.
Usually you hear each of these independently but, not together.
I should clarify, I think it sounds good, but I'm automatically cautious about anything coming out of the mothership. When QBR was launched I thought it sounded good too but when they don't reveal how they come up with the ratings then it's tough for me to buy in.
I do like that there is an effort to measure something like this though.
I would put him on Boyd all night. Give him some help on obvious passing downs, but go into this game with Kendall on Boyd and everyone else on Conner and Voytik.
1. 10 of these on SI list are from the SEC
2. 8 of these on CBS list are from the SEC
3. I can't find the ESPN list, so I can't check this, I am very curious.
I couldn't find it either and my googlefu isn't bad.
Glad to know it isn't just me.
Here you go.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11696912/dak-prescott-nic...
It's slow loading on my computer so I can't get a count.
Yup, just found it too. I didn't alter my search so I don't know.
By my count, ESPN has 9 SEC players and 3 FSU players.
Reading through their descriptions of the CBs they did include, it seems like their selection method was based on who generated the highest ratings during their coverage of headline games. (Oregon CB 30 tackles, 3 passes defended lolkay, and OMG A HUGE PICK-SIX AGAINST A DEBILITATED MSU TEAM THAT WE COULD PLAY ON LOOP DURING CFB LIVE FOR ONE WEEK).
Sorry, this isn't the Heisman memorial trophy where those plays exemplify players for selection. The All-American team is supposed to include, demonstrably, the best position players in the nation. ESPN needs to take BLAM GREEN EGGS AND HAM out of their allegedly serious journalistic selections.
But I digress.
They posted that link on the College GameDay page on Facebook, asking who they left out.
Even though I typically am never a commenter on large sponsored pages, I had to comment that Kendall was left off. Way more passes defended than any of the corners they listed.
So ESPN has the suspended Gurley on the list.
So does Sports Illustrated and I think that is the right decision. Suspended or not, he's still by far one of if not the best RB in CFB right now
I think that since it's a midseason and doesn't really mean anything, they should keep him off the list until something gets decided.
But, I also see your point too.
Because its midseason, I'd put him on. If he doesn't play the rest of the year, he won't make any end of the season lists. But thus far, he's been one of the two best RB's in the country.
The other guy kept his nose clean.
That counts for a bunch in my book.
He is the best RB in college football right now. Even to someone like me, that pays attention more than the "average" football fan but doesn't go over the top, the breaking of an outdated and ridiculous (IMO) NCAA rule does not diminish his skills, or my opinion of said skills, as a player.
I don't think the rule is antiquated.
I understand that it seems ok for a kid to get some cash for his signature.
But the point of the rule is to prevent circumventing pay for play.
Let's say a booster wants a kid to play for his team. What's to say the booster doesn't set a fair market value for his signature at $5000 each. Hey kid sign these 10 helmets and I'll pay fair market for your signature, but only if the helmets are from XYZ team and let's set a date for just after you sign the commitment letter.
Oh, and we'll do this on the anniversary for each year you are on the field.
See, pay for play if you drop the rule.