Breakout first-time starters

LSU, Clemson, Stanford and Texas lead the way with new faces

Updated: June 25, 2012, 11:51 AM ET

By KC Joyner | ESPN Insider

One of the common themes in previewing an upcoming college football season is to favor rosters that have a lot of returning starters. The idea is that it takes time to develop talent, and when a team has veterans coming back, it will likely get the benefit of having players with better-developed skill sets.

That may be true in a general sense, but there are many cases where a team will actually get equal or better performance out of a talented backup player who is now getting a chance to be a full-time starter.

So who are some players who could go from second string to star in a single season who aren't a running back or quarterback (the most obvious options)?

To read the full story about potential stars who could emerge in 2012, you must be an ESPN Insider.