Kirk Herbstreit ranks top players of college football Week 12

Week 12’s college football slate brought no shortage of highlight reel plays and big-time performances from across the country as the regular season winds down.

Following another eventful week across the country, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit ran through his picks and ranked the top seven performing players in his eyes after another exciting list of games.

Carson Beck – Georgia Bulldogs

Carson Beck completed 25 of his 40 passing attempts for 347 yards and three total touchdowns during a 31-17 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers during Week 12.

More importantly — the Georgia quarterback didn’t throw an interception during the blockbuster matchup. His turnover issues have been a major point of criticism over the past few weeks, and was able to silence his critics with his performance over the weekend.

Jordyn Tyson – Arizona State

Jordyn Tyson logged a career-high 12 receptions for 176 yards and two touchdowns during Arizona State’s 24-14 upset win over Kansas State. His third 100+ yard receiving performance of the season, Tyson now has five touchdowns across the past three games

The former Colorado trasfer continues to have a breakout season in 2024. He has a team-high 58 catches for 833 yards and nine touchdowns on the season.

Devon Dampier – New Mexico

Devon Dampier is one of the most productive dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, and continued his reputation during Saturday’s 38-35 upset win over No. 18 Washington State. Passing for 174 yards and a touchdown, he added an additional 193 yards and three scores on the ground to give the Lobos its fifth win of the season.

Dampier’s performance puts him at over 1,000 rushing yards on the season. He’s added over 2,500 yards through the air as well.

Emmett Mosley V – Stanford

True freshman wide receiver Emmett Mosley V turned in the best performance of his college career against No. 19 Louisville on Saturday. Upsetting the Cardinals 38-35 in dramatic fashion, Mosley logged 13 catches for 168 yards and three touchdowns en route to victory.

Before Saturday, Mosley had never logged more than 50 yards receiving in a single game. The former three-star recruit may have set himself up for a strong sophomore campaign after the breakout performance.

Jamaal Pritchett – South Alabama

Jamaal Pritchett is closing in on 1,000 yards receiving on the season, and was helped in a big way during Saturday’s 24-22 win over Louisiana. Logging 11 catches for 170 yards, Pritchett was unable to find the endzone despite leading South Alabama in receiving touchdowns this season.

The victory sets South Alabama up with its fifth win of the season, just in time to take on 1-9 Southern Miss in Week 13 with the goal of becoming bowl eligible by this time next week.

Omarion Hampton – North Carolina

Omarion Hampton’s 1,422 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns lead the ACC through 12 weeks of the regular season. Against Wake Forest in Week 12, he had his best performance yet.

Logging a 35-carry workload, Hampton totaled 244 yards while averaging 7.0 yards per carry. While he did fumble the ball once during the contest, he managed to cancel that out with a touchdown during the 31-24 victory.

Shemar James – Florida

The only defender to make Kirk Herbstreit’s list this week, Florida linebacker Shemar James was dominant against the LSU Tigers during Week 12. Logging 11 total tackles (five solo), he added two pass breakups and a pair of sacks to the stat sheet before the end of the night. The two sacks were James’ first two of the season.

Florida ultimately defeated LSU 27-16 to improve to 5-5 on the season. The Gators came become bowl eligible with a victory in one of its next two games against Ole Miss and Florida State, respectively.