Kirk Herbstreit Names NC State’s Ryan Finley as one of his 2018 ‘Herbies’

ESPN College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has released his ‘Herbies’ for the 2018 season, which are a composition of his “favorites for the 2018 season, from superstars to coaches, hotels and restaurants, plus predictions for conference champions and the College Football Playoff”, and NC State quarterback Ryan Finley was on the list.

He listed Finley as one of 5 players under the description “Rodney Dangerfield (‘no respect’)”, who aren’t getting the respect they deserve. Here are the players Finley was listed with:

Brian Lewerke, Michigan State
Myles Gaskin, Washington
Aeris Williams, Mississippi State
AJ Dillon, Boston College
Ryan Finley, NC State

Herbstreit’s ESPN colleague Todd McShay surely has shown Finley the respect he deserves, ranking him as the #1 NFL Quarterback prospect for next years 2019 Draft. Somehow the rest of the crew at ESPN missed the memo, and didn’t rank Finley as one of the Top-50 players in college football headed into the 2018 season.

Here are just a few reasons Finley deserves the nations respect with Saturday’s game looming.

• Only 2 returning Power 5 quarterbacks passed for more yards in 2017
  • Drew Lock – Missouri – 3,964
  • Trace McSorley – Penn St – 3,570
  • Ryan Finley – NC State – 3,518
• Finley is the only returning quarterback who compiled 3,500+ yards in the air, accumulated 20+ total touchdowns, had less than 8 turnovers, and boasted a completion percentage over 65%.
  • The only other QB to do that in 2017 was Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, and he took home the Heisman Trophy, and was the #1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.