College Football: 25 breakout players to watch in 2016
By John Buhler
The Baylor Bears will have themselves a very peculiar 2016 NCAA season. They have the on-field talent to be a top 15 team in the country, but how will the campus-wide sexual assault scandal that cost head coach Art Briles his job effect this Big 12 contender?
Regardless of what interim head coach Jim Grobe has in store for this 2016 football team, one thing is certain with the 2016 Bears: they are going to throw the football a ton like they did under Briles. Quarterback Seth Russell should be fine after season-ending neck surgery and running back Shock Linwood should add balance to the Baylor offensive attack on the ground.
What will really set Baylor apart in the Big 12 this fall is its ability to reload at wide receiver. Corey Coleman was a first-round pick by the Cleveland Browns, but a strong trio of wideouts headlined by junior K.D. Cannon will make Russell and Grobe’s lives all the more easier.
In two years as an underclassman at Baylor, Cannon has corralled 108 catches for 1,898 yards and 14 touchdowns in 26 career college games. If the Baylor Air Raid is as good as it was when Briles was calling the shots, there is little doubt that Cannon will have himself a monster year as a junior in 2016.
Should he catch 75 passes for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns, Cannon might end up being a first-round draft selection by an NFL team in this upcoming spring’s draft. Baylor wideouts might benefit from the Air Raid system in place, but Cannon feels like the next star wide receiver to come out of Waco.
Next: 22. Rashan Gary.