5 best college football duos for the 2020 season
By John Buhler
When you have one star offensive player, that’s great, but when you have two, that’s even better. Here are the five best duos in college football for 2020.
Two is always better than one.
One of the greatest things about college football is stars are born every fall. Sure, we heard about them as recruits or underclassmen fighting for playing time, but we never get to see them star on a big stage until it happens. Fortunately for us, not every top talent in the game goes pro only weeks after their star potential presents itself. Then again, many would if they could.
In the heart of the offseason, seemingly every Power 5 team of note can look at one established star player on offense and say, “yeah, that’s our guy!” If the season goes well, there will be a strong supporting cast around him. But what if there are two proven commodities at the peak of their powers already? How can you not be ecstatic when already have two star offensive players?
Looking around the Power 5, there are a handful of teams who are in great situations offensively because they have more than one playmaker they can lean on. Some weeks, it’ll be the quarterback. In others, maybe the receiver carries his signal-caller. And what about the bell-cow back toting the rock? Though all duos aren’t created equally, they are fun to talk about.
Here are the five best offensive duos in college football heading into the 2020 NCAA season.
5. Georgia Bulldogs: QB Jamie Newman, WR George Pickens
A lot will be made of this pair, probably because they’ve never played together before. However, their one-year connection will go a long way in seeing if the Georgia Bulldogs win their first national title in 40 years. Of course, we’re talking about Wake Forest graduate transfer quarterback Jamie Newman and sensational sophomore wide receiver George Pickens.
In three seasons at Wake Forest, Newman completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,959 yards, 35 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He also carried the ball 245 times for 826 yards and 10 touchdowns. Though it was against mostly weak ACC competition, Newman showed enough in his junior year at Wake Forest to be the top graduate transfer quarterback on the market this winter.
Newman’s dual-threat playmaking ability will be a boost to a Georgia offense that has relied on prototypical pro-style passers for over a decade-plus. If he can build a strong rapport with Pickens right out of the gate in Todd Monken’s offense, Georgia will be the favorite to win the SEC East again and play for a College Football Playoff spot in Atlanta.
Though Newman may end up being a first-round pick if it all hits for him, Pickens might be the second-best receiving talent in the SEC this season outside of the LSU Tigers’ Ja’Marr Chase. Pickens had a monster receiving day in the Dawgs’ Sugar Bowl win over the Baylor Bears. As the best receiving talent Georgia has had since A.J. Green, Pickens can become special with Newman.