College Preview: 8/28

The college football season kicks off Thursday night with two big national games on ESPN: North Carolina State at South Carolina and then a Pac-10 matchup between Oregon State and Stanford.

During the college season, we’ll try to take the national games and point out some players to keep your eye on that the NFL is keeping their eye on. Here are a few for Thursday night.

South Carolina

LT Jamon Meredith – 6-5, 304 pounds, SR. Meredith has started the last 13 games at LT for the Gamecocks, but he won’t play against North Carolina State or William & Mary to open the season. This absence traces back to his freshman year when he played a few plays and then took a red-shirt season. The NCAA ruled he could have the extra year, but he had to give up two games. The ticket is due and he’ll be on the sidelines. When he comes back, Meredith may move inside to guard. He’s considered one of the top 40 prospects in the country by some NFL teams.

CB Captain Munnerlyn – 5-9, 185 pounds, JR. Don’t you just love that name! NFL teams don’t have juniors ranked yet, but by the end of the college season there’s a good chance the Captain will be on the radar screen. He’s played 23 games with 15 starts and last year the SEC coaches voted him all-conference. This guy is a hard-nosed player, despite not being very big and he’s got legit 4.3 to 4.4 speed. He also returns punts and has done kickoffs as well. He suffered a broken bone in his left foot at the end of last year and that kept him out of spring ball.

WR Kenny McKinley – 6-0, 187 pounds, SR. McKinley led the SEC in receiving last year with 77 catches for 968 yards and nine TD catches. If he comes back and has any kind of season, he’ll leave school with all the Gamecocks receiving records. He had off-season toe surgery.

TE Jared Cook – 6-5, 242 pounds, JR-Redshirt. Cook h ad a right foot injury in the pre-season drills, so his status may be in doubt. Cook came into South Carolina playing wide receiver and grew into tight end role. He still has very good speed (sub 4.5 in the 40-yard dash.)

North Carolina State

TE Anthony Hill – 6-5, 265 pounds, SR-Redshirt. Hill missed the entire ‘07 season because of a knee injury (ACL) and surgery. He’s big, loves to block and he can also catch the ball. He led the Wolfpack in receiving with 45 catches in ‘06.

DE Willie Young – 6-5, 243 pounds, JR-Redshirt. In the last two seasons, Young has played in 24 games with 13 starts. His numbers are comparable to those of Mario Williams when he was at a similar point with the Wolfpack.

DT Alan-Michael Cash – 6-1, 286 pounds, JR-Redshirt. Plays right defensive tackle and has gotten on the field for all but one game during his time at NC State. Last year he started every game and led the defensive line in tackles.

Oregon State

CB Keenan Lewis – 6-1, 198 pounds, SR-Redshirt. Long, lanky frame serves him well in pass happy Pac-10. He’s started 34 games over the last three years and in ‘07 he had three interceptions.

WR Sammie Stroughter – 5-9, 186 pounds, SR-Redshirt. He’s coming off a lost season in ‘07 when a kidney problem knocked him out of the season after two games. But in ‘06 he caught 74 passes for 1,293 yards. He also averaged 15.7 yards on punt returns.

Stanford

DE Pannel Egboh – 6-6, 272 pounds, SR-Redshirt. Has started the last 24 games for Stanford and contributed 94 total tackles in that time. He has 8.5 career sacks. He played just one year of high school football.

OLB Clinton Snyder – 6-4, 235 pounds, JR-Redshirt. Big-play maker in Stanford defense, especially last year when he had 96 tackles, 14.5 tackles for minus yardage, 8 sacks and 4 forced fumbles.

SS Bo McNally – 6-0, 208 pounds, JR-Redshirt. The grandson of former Baltimore pitcher Dave McNally, he was the leader of the Stanford defense last year, with 144 total tackles and two interceptions while starting 12 games.