The Biggest Night of The Year is Upon Us: Harold Fannin Jr, The Best Tight End in College Football, Plays in Primetime on Tuesday Night MACtion

I know MAC football isn't everybody's cup of tea. But on a sleepy Tuesday night in November where there's nothing else of note going on in the world, I can't think of a single reason why one wouldn't tune into ESPN2 at 7:30 PM EST to watch the best TE (and by some metrics the best player) in college football, Harold Fannin Jr. of the Bowling Green Football Falcons take on the Chippewas of Central Michigan. 

Harold Fannin Jr. plays for my alma mater Bowling Green State University. Bowling Green has had a shockingly low amount of NFL representation in my lifetime. Obviously when you cheer for a MAC school, you're not going to get to see a ton of your guys move on to the next level. But almost every MAC school has someone who they can hang their hat on. 

The Miami Redhawks had Ben Rothlisberger. Northern Illinois had Michael Turner. Western Michigan, Greg Jennings. Akron, Jason Taylor. Central Michigan, Joe Staley.Back when Marshall was in the MAC they had Chad Pennington and Randy Moss. Toledo has Kareem Hunt, and rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell is making a splash on the Eagles this year. Kent State has had a strangely high amount of NFL players come through their school in Antonio Gates, Julian Edelman, James Harrison, and Josh Cribbs. Eastern Michigan had Charlie Batch. Ball State had David Letterman and the guy who wrote the Garfield comics. I'm running out of steam here but you get my point.

Bowling Green, however, has hardly had anyone. And we've had some solid MAC teams. Overall, Bowling Green is an above average team in the conference. But for the longest time, the most household name we had in the NFL was Steelers' kicker Sean Suisham. Recently we did have a couple receivers catch a Super Bowl ring with Tom Brady & Patrick Mahomes in Scotty Miller (Bucs) and Gehrig Deiter (Chiefs). There's some solid defensive players and linemen who've found a place in the league. But I'm dying for just one superstar. One legitimate household name. And mark my words. Harold Fannin Jr. will be that guy.

Harold Fannin Jr. is as fun of a watch as it gets at Tight End. He's 4th in the nation in receiving yards (receivers included)

The Harold Fannin Jr. haters, who primarily exist in Happy Valley because they refuse to admit that their superstar TE Tyler Warren is in fact not the best TE in college football, will tell you Harold Fannin Jr. is only putting up numbers because of the competition he faces in the MAC. Which is not entirely wrong. Overall he plays far weaker defenses than Penn State. But early in the season when facing the likes Penn State and Texas A&M, Harold Fannin Jr. still managed to be the best player on the field in both games.

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They'll also tell you he's not as good of a blocker. That I'm admittedly not as sure about. But I do know that as of a couple weeks ago, Harold Fannin Jr. was the highest rated run blocking TE in college football by PFF. And he can do it from anywhere on the field. He'll line up anywhere from wide out to full back. He's even taken snaps at QB. He'll contort his body to catch literally any pass thrown within his reach. He's a problem wherever he is on the field. He's the best player I can ever remember playing for Bowling Green. And I don't want to say anything crazy here… I mean no disrespect to Tyler Warren… but if Tyler Warren and Harold Fannin Jr. switched teams, I'm fairly certain nobody would know Tyler Warren's name, and Harold Fannin Jr. would be in the Heisman conversation. 

The highlights speak for themselves. Penn State themselves had no answer for him.

He nearly led Bowling Green to a win over Texas A&M.

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Forcing the Akron Zips to try and tackle him was downright criminal. 

He's so good that Bowling Green's coaches to this day think that calling a TE reverse on crucial 4th & 2 late in game was a reasonable play call.

You get the point. My apologies for the lengthy Bowling Green blog. But I don't get many opportunities for one. I'm unsure where he will end up going in the draft. I've seen people project him anywhere from the 1st to the 5th round. He's only a true junior, so he's still young. I've been operating under the impression that he will in fact declare for the draft after this season, but that's not a guarantee. It's also very possible he transfers to a bigger school next season. Which even as a Bowling Green fan, I would love to see. A guy that good deserves to play for a legitimate college football contender. 

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So if you're looking for something to do tonight. Which again, I can't think of anything better going on . Harold Fannin Jr. and the Bowling Green Falcons will be on ESPN2 vs Central Michigan at 7:30 PM EST. If you enjoy watching freak athlete take on defenses who have no business being on the field with him, you're going to love it.