Projecting The Three Most Important Backup Football Players in 2018

Fall training camp is still quite a long ways from now, so trying to predict each position’s starter and stand-in would be a lot like Tom Hanks trying to crack the mystery of Sangreal in Da Vinci Code.

Nevertheless, spring training camp taught us a few things about how things could shake out this fall. Even if the most important takeaway was that there may not be any major takeaway, we can still project ahead and get an idea for who may be fringe starters that play roles as important backups in 2018.

So with the caveat that this list is as concrete as a Furby, let’s look at some of the players who I think will potentially play big roles as backups in 2018.

1. J.D. King

There might be a “J.D. King or Chuba Hubbard” depth chart situation behind Justice Hill as OSU’s RB2 in 2018, but for the sake of simplicity I’ll roll 2017’s RB2 ahead to be 2018’s RB2. That makes King’s value extremely high; he’ll need to be able to provide serviceable backup reps to Hill, who is lowkey getting Heisman buzz.

I’m all the way here for that as the founder of the Hei5man campaign, so King’s worth as a backup will be key to giving that crusade some serious life deep into November.

2. Amen Ogbongbemiga

In Jim Knowles’ new 4-2-5 system, the linebacker holds a ton of value — even if there’s one less on the field at any given time compared to Glenn Spencer’s system.

I expect Calvin Bundage and Justin Phillips to take spots as starters at the two positions, which leaves Ogbongbemiga — who played some backup minutes last season — as a key backup piece again in 2018.

Devin Harper, Kevin Henry and Patrick Macon will also be key to OSU’s success in the second layer of the revamped defense as backup players. But Ogbongbemiga’s versatility and range could make him one of the more invaluable backups at the position.

3. Whoever is QB2

Taylor Cornelius? Dru Brown? Spencer Sanders? Keondre Wudtee?

Whoever finishes runner-up in the QB1 battle this fall will hold a ton of value for Oklahoma State. Mason Rudolph was a rare breed in that he rarely required backup assistance and was supremely durable, but that’s hardly a given for OSU in 2018 — especially with most of the options at QB coming with a level of mobility Rudolph could only dream of.

With more injury risk comes more chance that OSU may need to, at some point, bring in a backup QB. That’s why whoever is QB2 going into the season will be extremely valuable.