We're counting down to the beginning of the season with the top 25 players in the Big 12. The official list is locked away in a vault in an undisclosed location, but we'll be revealing players from the bottom of the list all the way to No. 1.
Here's more on my criteria.
Let's move on with the list:
No. 7: John Hubert, RB, Kansas State
2012 numbers: Carried the ball 189 times for 947 yards and 15 touchdowns. Also caught 18 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Most recent ranking: Hubert was unranked in our postseason list of the Big 12's top 25 players.
Making the case for Hubert: Collin Klein's earned all the attention in K-State's backfield the last two seasons, but Hubert's presence and talent get overlooked a) as a fact on its own and b) as part of the reason for Klein's success.
Klein was a truly great player, but defenses had to respect Hubert, and he's logged a pair of 945-yard seasons as K-State has racked up a 21-5 record in the last two seasons. Two years ago, everybody thought Bryce Brown was the future at the position, and if you saw him break out for the Philadelphia Eagles last season, you might think he had left K-State after a stellar career. Hubert was better, and Brown never became a factor in K-State's offense. The 5-foot-7, 191-pound Waco, Texas native is way, way harder to bring down than he looks (just ask defenders across the league) and this year, he's eyeing his first 1,000-yard season. I'd say without a quarterback logging 517 carries over the past two seasons, Hubert would be in perfect position to log a third consecutive 1,000-yard season.
The rest of the list:
No. 8: James Sims, RB, Kansas
No. 9: Ty Zimmerman, S, Kansas State
No. 10: Jackson Jeffcoat, DE, Texas
No. 11: Trey Millard, FB/RB/TE, Oklahoma
No. 12: Kerry Hyder, DL, Texas Tech
No. 13: Josh Stewart, WR, Oklahoma State
No. 14: BJ Finney, C, Kansas State
No. 15: Eric Ward, WR, Texas Tech
No. 17: Tevin Reese, WR, Baylor
No. 19: Jalen Saunders, WR/PR, Oklahoma
No. 20: Quandre Diggs, CB/PR, Texas
No. 23: Le'Raven Clark, OG, Texas Tech
No. 24: Shaun Lewis, LB, Oklahoma State
No. 25: Damien Williams, RB, Oklahoma
