Let The Debate Begin
As much as we all love Justyn Ross out of Clemson and believe he’s a top-2 wide out in this class, it’s nearly impossible to compete with the 2018 season that Rondale Moore posted. Even the Breakout Finder sees this as a landslide — and the Breakout Finder is a computer program — it doesn’t even know how to be biased. So let’s break down these receiver’s 2018 seasons and see how they stacked up inside the database after one collegiate season.
For starters there is a significant difference in how these two players produced on the field which cannot be ignored. You see, while Ross was posting 46 receptions for 1,000 yards as a freshman, Moore was doing nearly the same thing… except better. Moore went on to close out the 2018 season with 114 receptions and 1,258 receiving yards — in one less game played than Ross (let that sink in). However, this discrepancy doesn’t even reveal the real kick in the shorts. That comes next.
You’ve got to be dynamic
The Breakout Finder is like this lovable family robot that doesn’t care if you are playing hooky from work today, or didn’t wash your hands after using the bathroom. All it cares about are numbers and Ross’ were M.I.A.
As you can see from the image below, Ross had zero contributions as a rusher, kick returner or punt returner while Moore was a major player as a rusher in 2018 with 213 yards on the the ground and 662 more as a kick returner. The dynamic score won’t make or break a prospect, but it absolutely helps identify how elusive a player likely is in space and how much a team values their touches. Bear in mind that Moore’s 27.9 dynamic score may not look massive compared to Antonio Brown‘s career 87.4 but since the metric is additive he’s got years of production ahead of him to add to it.
“WHO’S YOUR COMPETITION AND WHAT DOES HE DO?”
If your brain naturally read this in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice then we should hang out some time, because you’re likely a pretty cool dude. Anyways… projecting teammate score can be a difficult thing, because oftentimes it requires us at the Breakout Finder to make an assumption about numerous factors — most notably draft position.
Looking at both rosters (Clemson and Purdue) it’s pretty safe to say that Tee Higgins and possibly even Amari Rodgers (suffering an ACL tear) make the league after having seen Hunter Renfrow make the transition last season. Yet we aren’t sure about anyone besides Brycen Hopkins (TE) from Purdue which is another reason why his opportunity has been on the level its been. Very rough Breakout Finder Teammate Score estimates have this at Ross 60.7 and Moore at 7.9.
They’re both high end
Even if you attempted to scrutinize their level of competition inside the database, we only have these two prospects separated by a little over 1.0 (in Moore’s favor again) — so its negligible. As we approach the 2019 college football season, we know everything can change but one thing is a constant: Justyn Ross and Rondale Moore being prolific talents.