Overview of The Freaks List: Why Nyck Harbor beat Jeremiah Smith
This bonus episode of The Audible is a deep dive into Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks List for The Athletic—a ranking of the most physically extraordinary college football players, not necessarily the best football players. Feldman and Ralph Russo discuss how the list is built, why it gets harder every year, and why South Carolina receiver Nyck Harbor edged out Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith for the top spot.
What the Freaks List Actually Measures
The Freaks List is about elite athletic traits: speed, explosiveness, strength, and unusual physical gifts shown in workouts and testing.
Not just “best players”
- The list is not a rankings of top football players
- It highlights players who are freakish in measurable athletic tests and workout feats
- NFL scouts and strength coaches are a major source of information
The hardest part of making it
- Feldman says the biggest challenge is getting reliable information from strength coaches
- He often has more candidates than spots, especially from big programs
- Smaller-school players are increasingly part of the list, and some schools worry about being “poached” if their freakish testing numbers get publicized
Why Nyck Harbor Beat Jeremiah Smith
Feldman explains that Harbor’s combination of size and speed is simply too rare to ignore.
Nyck Harbor’s freak profile
- Around 6'6" to 6'6¾"
- About 240 pounds
- Has been the No. 1 Freak three of the last four years
- Ran 10.1 in the 100 meters
- Has been clocked around 23.8 mph
- Reported wingspan: 8'2"
- Bigger and faster than the Calvin Johnson benchmark in Feldman’s view
Why he tops the list
- Harbor is a true track-level sprinter at an enormous size
- He looks like an elite receiver prospect built in a lab
- He’s still relatively raw as a football player, but the athletic ceiling is unmatched
Jeremiah Smith’s Case: The Best Player, Almost as Freaky
Feldman is clear that Jeremiah Smith may already be the best player in college football.
Smith’s athletic profile
- Roughly 6'3" to 6'3½"
- Close to 225 pounds
- Clocked at 23.5 mph
- 40-inch vertical
- 11-foot broad jump
- 1.44-second 10-yard split, which was the fastest at Ohio State
Why he still came in behind Harbor
- Smith is more polished and already more complete as a football player
- Harbor’s size-speed combo remains even more absurd
- In other words: Smith is the better player; Harbor is the freakier athlete
Other Standout Freaks Mentioned
Andrew Miller, Harding
- A standout at one of the top Division II programs
- Ran 4.4
- Scored 28 touchdowns last season
- Bench presses nearly 400 pounds
- The memorable extra detail: he reportedly hunts snakes by wading into snake-infested water
London Humphreys, Georgia
- Former Vanderbilt receiver
- Posted an 11'5" broad jump
- Feldman points to that as an explosive, elite marker
Why the broad jump matters
Feldman says the broad jump is one of the best indicators of true explosiveness:
- It’s a clean, easy-to-interpret test
- It captures lower-body power better than some other measures
- Anything over 11 feet is already exceptional
Big Picture Takeaways
- The Freaks List is a labor-intensive annual project that relies on trusted contacts across college football
- Smaller schools are increasingly producing NFL-level athletic outliers
- Some of the most freakish athletes are not yet the most polished football players
- Nyck Harbor stands out because his combination of mass, speed, and track ability is almost unprecedented
- Jeremiah Smith may be the best pure football player on the list, but Harbor is the rarer physical specimen
Final Note
The episode closes with the usual reminder to read the full Freaks List on The Athletic and with Russo joking that the athletic feats on display make ordinary workouts feel completely inadequate.