HERO Sports is counting down the days until the kickoff of the 2018 college football season on Saturday, Aug. 25, by featuring the best player in the FBS at each jersey number, from 99-1. Each day, from May 18 through Aug. 24, we'll publish one article showcasing the best player whose jersey number matches the number of days remaining.
No. 53 T.J. Edwards
Wisconsin – LB
T.J. Edwards was darn good as a redshirt freshman in 2015. The former two-star recruit — who played quarterback, safety and defensive line in high school accepted his lone Power Five offer — had 89 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss in earning Freshman All-America honors.
But by Edwards' own admission, he wasn't that good and knew he could be a lot better. The solution: Stop thinking.
"My first couple of years, I would think so much on the field," Edwards said before last season. " I'd worry about so many different things I can't control. Now, just reacting instead of thinking. Instead of sitting there and waiting for things to happen, I just react. There's no second-guessing myself. That's something I had to work on the first year I started."
Entering his final year in Madison, Edwards, the best No. 53 in college football, has more than 250 career tackles and an AP First-Team All-America honor. He's the sixth Wisconsin player to appear in our countdown, joining Michael Deiter, Quintez Cephus and others — and he won't be the last.
