The nation's most overrated players

Why Lattimore, Jones, Mathieu rank among the most overhyped

Originally Published: July 25, 2012

By KC Joyner | ESPN Insider

This is the time of year when college football hype is in full effect via the release of the 15 preseason award watch lists that include a staggering total of 482 separate players.

As enjoyable as basking in the potential glory of an exciting season can be, for many of those players the level of hype they are receiving isn't entirely warranted.

Nine players who fit this description as overrated players are:

Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina Gamecocks

This analysis needs to start by making one point crystal clear -- Lattimore's inclusion on this list is not an indictment of his talent level, as his elite physical skills are undisputed.

What is in dispute is Lattimore's track record. He ranked fifth out of six SEC "bell cow" running backs in an Insider analysis I did in July 2011 that reviewed the 2010 performance of each of those ball carriers in a wide variety of metrics.

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