We continue to roll out, update, tweak, edit and revisit our projections and previews prior to your fantasy draft. And while doing so we're going to occasionally take a more-detailed look at some of the nation's more intriguing stars for 2012.
The players featured over the next month or so may not be the top player at their respective positions, but they'll be ones that caused the most discussion around our roundtable or appear poised for a breakout or letdown campaign.
Breakdowns of college football's top offensive stars can of course be found in the CFFInsider.com 2012 Draft Kit.
2012 Position Rank: 2nd, same spot in BCS-only leagues
2012 Draft Kit Preview:
When you're a talented wide receiver and your football team hires Mike Leach then you become a very happy, talented wide receiver. Marquess Wilson has quietly become one of the nation's top wide receivers, and now he gets to play for a madman with something to prove. We won't see Crabtree numbers as there are questions at quarterback and a talent deficiency throughout the roster; but Wilson will indeed post huge numbers in 2012.
Extended Analysis:
Wilson took "the leap" a season ago, and as mentioned above, the arrival of Mike Leach to town means we could be looking at another jump. During his first two seasons in Pullman we've seen one of the nation's top receivers flourish in relative obscurity, thanks in part to some late-night starts but more because he's been playing for a horrible team. While you'll still have to look to find the Cougars on the tube, this team will show marked improvement in 2012.
The question then becomes what can Wilson do to build upon his outstanding sophomore campaign, one which saw him catch 82 balls for 1388 yards and 12 scores? It's really hard to say; 459 yards and five scores came in two monster outings in games against San Diego State and Arizona. And those will be hard to duplicate. However in the Leach offense, we could see even greater consistency from a wideout who did fail to surpass 100 yards in six contests while being held out of the end zone in only four.
Wilson was good before Leach arrived, and it's reasonable to expect a bump with the Mad Scientist drawing up his stuff. Thus 100-1600-15 doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.