This should go well, shouldn’t it…?
While we are entrenched in the offseason and waiting for the summer months to pass by and bring football to our doorsteps, the previews for everyone’s respective years have been coming in hot. While we’ve looked at which teams in the Pac-12 have the best quarterbacks or the best running backs, we wanted to take a bigger scope of things now and determine who the overall best players in the conference are.
What could go wrong?
Of course, this is a subjective list based on past stats with a touch of future expectations thrown on as well. These are the 12 players who I think are the best in the Pac-12 heading into the 2022 season, with a few honorable mentions thrown in there for good measure.
Honorable Mention: RB Tavion Thomas (Utah)
Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
Career Stats: 337 carries | 2,797 yards, 28 TD
A lot of people look at QB Cameron Rising when talking about the Utah Utes offense, and rightfully so. But RB Tavion Thomas has been impressive as of late, with an impressive 21 TD in 2021, tying Myles Gaskin and Tyler Gaffney for the most by a Pac-12 runner in a single season. If he can continue this dominance in 2022, there’s a real case that he sees himself ranked on this list.
Honorable Mention: DE Ron Stone Jr. (Washington State)
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Career Stats: 108 tackles | 16.5 TFL | 9.0 sacks | 2 FF
When looking at the Cougars’ defense, it’s impossible to see past Ron Stone Jr., who is the conference’s leading returning tackler for loss, with 11.5 last season. He had a couple of slow years ahead of 2021 but proved last season that he can be a force on the edge and brings some disruption to Pullman.
Honorable Mention: OT Jaxson Kirkland (Washington)
Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports
Quantifying how good an offensive lineman is does not come easily, because there aren’t any…
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