Three Cougars among Pro Football Network’s Top 100 College Players

BRISTOL, Conn. — Pro Football Network today announced its top 100 players heading into the 2022 college football season. Three standouts on the BYU football team — Jaren Hall, Clark Barrington and Blake Freeland — were named to the exclusive list.

The rankings, compiled by PFN college football/draft vertical is based on film study, analytics, and conversations with current and former players, coaches and others around college football.

Hall was named Pro Football Network 2021 All-Independent Quarterback of the Year and was selected to the 2021 Phil Steele All-Independent First Team. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior is No. 38 on the PFN top 100 list, ranking seventh among the 18 quarterbacks listed. He was previously named to the 2022 watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award, Maxwell Award, Manning Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and CFPA National Performer of the Year Trophy.  

Freeland started all 13 games for the Cougars in 2021. The 6-8, 305-pound left tackle was named to the Phil Steele All-Independent First Team and Pro Football Network All-Independent First Team in 2021. The junior is No. 51 on the PFN list, coming in at sixth among all lineman and fourth among the tackles. He was recently named a 2022 Preseason All-American by The Athletic. 

Barrington also started all 13 games in 2021 and was named All-American at the conclusion of the season by Action Network and Pro Football Focus. The 6-6, 305-pound left guard is No. 55 in the PFN list, ranking seventh among all lineman and second among the offensive guards. He was previously selected a 2022 preseason All-American by five organizations—Phil Steele, Action Network, The Sporting News, Lindy's Sports and Athlon Sports. 

Freeland and Barrington were an integral part of the PFN 2021 Offensive Line of the Year, helping the BYU offense produce an average of 33 points and 452 yards per game. Both BYU offensive linemen were previously named to the 2022 preseason watch list for the Rotary Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy.

To come up with its top 100 list, PFN analyzed each player’s impact on their position group’s strength, the value to the team and ultimately their prowess at the national level among peers at every other FBS institution. A total of 57 different universities were represented in the top 100. 

Information about each of the 100 players can be found on the Pro Football Network website. This is the first year that PFN has ranked the top 100 college football players heading into the upcoming season.

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