Washington State Football: Top 5 Impact Players in 2014

Oct 5, 2013; Berkeley, CA, USA; Washington State Cougars receiver

(1) scores on a 73-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter against the California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium. Washington State defeated California 44-22. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

3: Vince Mayle

The Cougs and their quarterback (whom we may or may not mention on this… oh screw it, he’s coming up), are simply blessed to have Vince Mayle returning for his senior season in 2014. After a stellar senior season (ultimately junior season thanks to the NCAA’s ruling), Mayle will come into this season as someone to keep an eye on.

He dropped around 20 lbs and now looks like the second coming of Michael Crabtree, whom Mike Leach just had a little bit of success with at Texas Tech (NCAA’s all-time leading single-season receiver). In fact Mayle has about five pounds and two to three inches on the Crab, even now.

A couple of months ago I talked about this here on ACU, don’t be surprised if Mayle’s NFL draft stock explodes by week 5 or 6. He has everything you want in a college receiver and the best part is, he’s still learning the game. Deceptive speed and a massive catch radius are going to make him nearly impossible to deal with down the field without a safety over the top and many times, as Cal’s poor safeties found out last season, not even that is enough.

As with the other receiver on our list, Gabe Marks, Mayle will eventually find himself matched up on the outside in a one-on-one situation because there are just too many reliable weapons on this offense to cover everybody. What it means is that big plays will be there for the taking at some point and you can bet that this guy will deliver.