College football 2018 preview: 15 freshmen poised to make instant impact

Familiar faces often dominate the landscape in college football, but these 15 freshmen will make their presence known in the 2018 season.

When you’re talking about the primary differences between college football and the professional ranks, one of the biggest that comes to mind is often the impact of first-year players.

If a rookie is highly touted as they come into the NFL, they more than likely are going to be called upon and expected to do big things as soon as they take the field for their new team. However, that’s not always the case when it comes to college football.

Because of the size of rosters and recruiting classes on an annual basis, college football teams oftentimes don’t see quite the same level of contribution from first-year players. The majority of the time, freshmen enter the collegiate ranks with no real expectations of playing right out of the gate. This goes for some of the highest-rated recruits in the country all the way to the guys that are preferred walk-ons or something similar.

While that may be the case most of the time, however, there are exceptions to every rule. Sometimes freshmen are able to come into college football and make their mark felt right away.

After all, we saw a freshman last season, Tua Tagovailoa, wait his turn all year only to come in after halftime of the National Championship Game to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide to a victory over Georgia.

With that in mind, we’re going to look at the newcomers to college football that could leave their mark on the 2018-19 season.

These are the 15 freshmen in the sport that are primed with everything that they need to make an immediate impact for their new teams.

Note: All rankings refer to 247 Sports’ Composite Recruiting rankings.