Illinois Football: ESPN contradicting itself in regards to Jer’Zhan Newton

The greatness of Illinois football defensive lineman Jer’Zhan Newton has been rehashed many times.

Newton had a great 2022 campaign for the Illini, finishing with 62.0 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 3.0 pass deflections, and 2.0 fumble recoveries. These numbers, and the great success he caused the Illinois defense to have last season, are why Newton earned numerous accolades in 2022.

By season’s end, Newton easily made the first-team All-Big Ten. He was then voted onto nearly every All-American second-team list, except for Phill Steele, who felt like he was just a third-team All-American. And the only reason Newton didn’t make the first team for all of these outlets was due to the fact Calijah Kancey and Jalen Carter were ahead of him. They both ended up being top-20 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Coming into the 2023 campaign, Newton is looked at as one of the top players in the country. Athlon has him as a first-team All-American and Phill Steele, for some reason, thinks Newton is just a second-team player.

Less than two weeks ago, Pro Football Focus released a list of the top 50 players in college football. Newton landed on this list at No. 8 overall. This tends to be where Newton lands with most people, but for some reason, not with ESPN.

ESPN is contradicting itself when it comes to Illinois football star Jer’Zhan Newton

ESPN is the biggest sports media company in the world. They even dub themselves The Worldwide Leader in Sports. But that four-letter acronym can’t help but contradict itself when it comes to Newton and where he stands in the college game today.

Literally, within the last 24 hours, ESPN released its preseason All-American team. The ESPN first-team All-American squad features a 3-4 defense, which means it has one defensive tackle. Who is the lone defensive tackle? Newton, of course. He is the best defensive tackle in the country and ESPN even published a first-team All-American squad that agrees with that sentiment.

Just one day later, ESPN published another article. This article is laying out the top 100 players in college football. With Newton making the ESPN All-American first-team, he would, obviously, be near the top of the top 100 players in the game today. I mean, he is the best defensive tackle, according to ESPN.

Well, that isn’t exactly the case. ESPN might have put Newton as the best defensive tackle in the country, but for some reason, they drop him on the top 100 players list. Newton checks in at No. 35 on ESPN’s top 100 players in college football.

Honestly, this blows my mind and shows me that the “experts” at ESPN watch zero Illinois football. When I look up and down the list, it seems that the ESPN staff just went off big names and stat sheets.

Another case of ESPN thinking highly of Newton was back in July. They produced a 2024 NFL mock draft. In this draft, they had Newton going to the Seattle Seahawks with the No. 19 overall pick.

So, you have two cases where ESPN thinks highly of Newton. He is on the All-American first-team, and he is a top 20 NFL Draft pick for 2024. But then ESPN puts out a top 100 list that has Newton as the No. 35 player in college football. Something doesn’t add up here.

ESPN, do better. Newton is obviously a top-20 player in college football. This recent top 100 list is a travesty. Whoever put this list together needs to actually watch the games.