It took an untimely injury for Mike Bercovici to finally get his shot last season, and the longtime backup didn’t waste the chance. Now that he’s ascended to Arizona State’s starting quarterback position, he’s fully prepared to take his game to the next level.

As a junior, he started three games midway through 2014 after starter Taylor Kelly broke his leg. Bercovici went 2-1 in his place, throwing for 1,243 yards and nine touchdowns and orchestrating a comeback win at USC that included a Hail Mary pass on the game’s final play. He also was one of the few passers to solve Stanford’s stout defense, throwing for 245 yards and a touchdown on 23-of-33 passing.

But when Kelly was healthy again, Bercovici resumed his role as a reserve until being called on to relieve Kelly during the second half of the regular-season finale at rival Arizona. He threw for 143 yards and two TDs in that appearance, nearly leading the Sun Devils to the comeback win.

Bercovici has some reliable weapons to work with this season, most notably senior D.J. Foster, who was a 1,000-yard rusher last season but has shifted to receiver to maximize his pass-catching skills in the slot. That duo could become one of the best tandems in the country, with the 6’1″, 200-pound Bercovici spearheading that movement.

If nothing else, at least Connor Brewer has had a chance to see the world during his otherwise dormant college career. But now that he’s landed someplace where he has a legitimate shot to play, we might finally see what he’s capable of.

Brewer is set to suit up this fall for Virginia, which would be his third FBS program (and fourth at the Division I level) since 2012. He signed with Texas out of high school, but after redshirting the 2013 season he transferred to Arizona and sat out another year.

Last season Brewer made his collegiate debut in the final moments of the Wildcats’ 58-13 win over UNLV, scoring on a three-yard run, and he also saw mop-up time in Arizona’s blowout loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 title game. That was it.

Brewer transferred to FCS Northern Arizona in April, but then in June he made another move over to Virginia not long after the Cavaliers lost Greyson Lambert to a transfer (to Georgia). Now a junior, he’ll be competing with Matt Johns, who started three games last season, for the starting job.

The 6’2″, 206-pound Brewer was rated by 247Sports as the No. 4 pro-style passer in the 2012 recruiting class.

Corey Clement owns the distinction of being arguably the best backup running back in the country, and his numbers last year showed that. But no matter how productive he was, it was impossible for him to be fully appreciated when the guy in front of him was running for 2,500 yards.

Clement has rushed for 1,496 yards and 16 touchdowns in his two years with Wisconsin, including 949 yards with nine TDs last season. Those numbers were better than the starting running back for six other teams in the Big Ten, but it came almost entirely in relief of Melvin Gordon, who challenged the FBS single-season rushing record by going for 2,587 yards.

That performance had as much to do with Wisconsin’s great offensive line as it did with Clement, but now the 5’11”, 216-pound junior is moving into the featured role and will be doing so behind a retooled front that graduated three starters.

“My goal now is not to let anybody down, especially myself,” Clement told ESPN.com’s Mitch Sherman. “So I’m going to keep working to make the Badger fanbase proud.”

Clement faces high expectations, as he’ll be trying to give Wisconsin a fifth straight 1,500-yard rusher.

Russell Hansbrough has amassed some good numbers in his Missouri career, but to this point it’s always been as part of a group. For his senior year, the 5’9″, 195-pound running back has the stage all to himself and is poised to make a huge leap.

Hansbrough led the Tigers in rushing last season with 1,084 yards and 10 touchdowns, with Marcus Murphy adding 924 yards as the two split carries. In 2013 Hansbrough was part of a three-headed run attack with Murphy and Henry Josey, and he gained more than 600 yards.

According to Brad Crawford of SaturdayDownSouth.com, Missouri is 13-2 in games when Hansbrough gets at least 10 carries.

Texas Tech is perennially one of the most prolific passing teams in the country thanks to its Air Raid style, but the production tends to be spread out among a wealth of receivers. Only occasionally does one player stand out above the others. That was the case with Jace Amaro in 2013 and during Michael Crabtree’s big years in 2007-08.

Last season saw seven Red Raiders catch at least 20 passes, but what made Devin Lauderdale stand out from the crowd was the types of receptions he made. In particular, the ones that went for big yards.

The 5’10”, 180-pound Lauderdale averaged 19 yards on his 31 catches, the highest per-catch average by a Texas Tech player since 1998, per his online bio. Seven of those receptions went for touchdowns, with all but one going for at least 34 yards.

Lauderdale thrived once Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback, as the pair combined in the final three games for 11 receptions for 263 yards and four scores. With Mahomes likely to be retaining that job this season, Lauderdale’s junior year is primed to be a huge one.

First-year Florida coach Jim McElwain doesn’t have a lot to work with on the offensive side of the ball, but he does have one player who’s poised to become a superstar.

Demarcus Robinson had a breakout year in 2014, leading the Gators in receptions (53), yards (810) and touchdowns (seven) by a wide margin. However, because Florida’s offense was so hot-and-cold, the 6’2″, 197-pound wideout would have a huge game one week and then disappear the next.

For example, a week after going for 15 receptions, 216 yards and two TDs in a triple-overtime win over Kentucky, he had two catches for 14 yards in a 21-point loss to Alabama. He followed that up with just two catches for 19 yards against Tennessee and then topped 100 yards with a TD against LSU.

Robinson, a junior, is a similar player to what McElwain had the past two seasons at Colorado State, where he turned Rashard Higgins from an unheralded recruit into the nation’s top returning receiver heading into 2015. The Gators figure to target him as often as possible in the passing game, and he showed last year he can step up when targeted regularly.

North Carolina has had a consistent and effective offense the past two seasons, averaging 425 yards per game in 2013 and 429 in 2014. There were plenty of common threads between those two Tar Heels units, including the solid anchor at left guard that Caleb Peterson provided.

A starter at that position in 23 of UNC’s last 26 games, Peterson enters his redshirt junior year as a key part of an offensive line that returns all five starters. His play is particularly key to the Tar Heels offense because he helps open holes for running back T.J. Logan and enables quarterback Marquise Williams to find open receivers or take off up the middle.

Rated by NFL Draft Scout as the third-best offensive guard in the 2017 draft class, the 6’5″, 300-pound Peterson could make for a strong candidate to turn pro after this season if he can continue developing.

Kemoko Turay didn’t make many plays as a redshirt freshman last year, but the ones he did tended to be big ones. Used mostly on third downs and on special teams, Turay logged a team-high 7.5 sacks and blocked three kicks—tied for most in FBS in 2014.

It was hit-and-miss for Turay, though, as he didn’t manage to do much against the run and in many cases was a liability because of his single-minded focus on getting after the quarterback.

“I’m used to just getting the quarterback,” Turay told Ryan Dunleavy of the Asbury Park Press. “Stopping the run is a little difficult. My (adrenaline) keeps generating thinking about the quarterback. I want to take my time and be patient and attack on the dive.”

Turay spent much of the spring focusing on being an every-down player, and that effort should pay off in turning him into a complete player. The 6’6″, 235-pounder has the speed to dominate off the edge but just needs to harness that energy.

UCLA has had linebackers taken in the first two rounds of the NFL draft the last two years, and the Bruins are likely to have another after this season in junior Myles Jack. But a guy who’s been playing alongside those standouts is set to join that elite group if UCLA’s plans for him in 2015 pan out.

Deon Hollins is coming off a solid 2014 when he had nine sacks, leading the team in that category, though Jack and Eric Kendricks (who went on to win the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker) drew the bulk of the notoriety.

Jack is still there, but UCLA will need strong efforts from more than just him in the middle. Hollins has been making strides this offseason to become better at pass coverage while continuing to hone his skill at getting into the backfield.

“Deon, for us, is a guy that’s half a linebacker, half a defensive end,” UCLA defensive coordinator Tom Bradley told Jack Wang of the Los Angeles Daily News. “He’s got a lot of different skill sets that’s different from the other linebackers. He’s up around the ball a lot more. We’re going to ask him to do a lot of different things.”

Tee Shepard has been waiting a long time to display his talents at the highest level, and 2015 looks to finally be his chance.

Originally a Notre Dame signee in 2012, Shepard left that school after only a few months and then spent the 2013 season at a junior college. He signed with Ole Miss in 2014 and was set to be a major contributor last season, but then a torn toe tendon suffered during fall camp knocked him out for the year.

“Ole Miss coaches praised his performances in practice last year,” wrote Riley Blevins of the Clarion-Ledger. “It was more of the same this spring, and it’s easy to see why. He showed time and time again during spring scrimmages that he’s more than capable of handling Ole Miss’ big-bodied wideouts in one-on-one situations.”

The 6’1″, 195-pound Shepard isn’t just stepping into a vacancy in Ole Miss’ secondary—he’s replacing an All-American. Senquez Golson had 10 interceptions in 2014 and was a key to the Rebels’ vaunted “Landsharks” defense that ranked first in the nation in points allowed.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.