Louisville Cardinals

Louisville Football: ESPN ranks top 50 college football players

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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ESPN released a new top 50 player ranking through the first four games of the season. See which Louisville football players made the cut.

Louisville football is getting ready for one of the biggest games in program history on Saturday. A win against the Clemson Tigers would all but solidify the Cardinals a spot in the ACC Championship game at the end of the season.

The Cardinals have been rolling through every opponent they have faced this year on their way to an impressive 4-0 start. The nation has taken notice of how talented sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson has become and has labeled Jackson the front-runner for college football’s most coveted award: the Heisman Trophy.

However, it hasn’t been all Lamar Jackson for the Louisville football team this year. There have been a multiple of other players that have played key roles in their undefeated start.

ESPN released a new top-50 college football players ranking earlier today. Here was the criteria that they used for the list:

“We asked 10 writers to grade players from across the country on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best early season performance possible. We ended up with a clear No. 1 player, a guy who has scored 25 touchdowns in four games and netted 10 perfect 10 scores from our panel.”

With that being said, here are the Louisville football players that made the list:

Lamar Jackson

Quarterback, Louisville Cardinals

Preseason rank: 51

“Jackson has scored 25 total touchdowns this year (13 passing, 12 rushing), emerging as a top Heisman candidate through four games. He has more touchdowns than 123 FBS teams.” — Andrea Adelson

DeVonte Fields

Linebacker, Louisville Cardinals

Preseason rank: 45

“Fields has been a big reason the Louisville defense has been so dominant in the early part of the season. So far, he has 20 tackles, two sacks and a team-high three pass breakups”. — Andrea Adelson

Ultimately, these were the only two players from the Louisville football team that ended up making the list. However, the good news is that the Cardinals have the best player in the entire country. The bad news is that a few key players were left off the list.

I would make the argument that James Hearns, James Quick, and Brandon Radcliff have all had good enough performances to have made this list. It’s okay though, it’s not like every team in the country can blow everyone out and only play their starters for three quarters.

All kidding aside, kudos to Lamar Jackson and DeVonte Fields for skyrocketing up this list by ESPN.