The best returning players in college football for the 2019 season are quarterbacks, with stars like Tua Tagovailoa and Trevor Lawrence leading the way. But the other stat-padders coming back are at wide receiver and running back, which bodes well for the season's excitement.

Yes, there are some promising defensive players, but the offensive side of the ball is loaded. Among those studs are plenty of big-play threats as well.

Last year's list had some hits (like Marquise Brown, Darrell Henderson and A.J. Brown) but also some swings-and-misses like Bryce Love and Khalil Tate. One of them was shelved with an injury, and the other was hurt and hamstrung by a new offense.

This year, we're going to stick with the sure things.

While an argument could be made for Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma, there's some pause there because although a dual-threat quarterback can provide a lot of big plays, he's going to be in a new (albeit prolific) offense. So, for this particular exercise, we're going to roll with wide receivers and running backs only.

Still, it would be ridiculous to have a list without a Sooner on it, wouldn't it?

There are plenty more stars as well, and most of them are high-profile guys on teams you know. So let's rank college football's top big-play threats for the 2019 season, using past seasons as a blueprint but also factoring in projections.

As always, share your opinions in the comments.

10. Jonathan Taylor, Running Back, Wisconsin

People don't think of Jonathan Taylor as a game-breaking running back, but they should. 

At 5'11", 221 pounds, the rising junior and top running back in the country (if you deny that, you're not looking at numbers, production or consistency) has proved he can post big stats regardless of whether some of the top coordinators are scheming for him. But he also has a propensity for making magic happen.

You just haven't been paying attention, or you don't get to watch him enough.

Yes, he's piled up 1,977 and 2,194 rushing yards the past two years, but look at his average. Taylor gained 6.6 yards per run as a true freshman a couple of years ago and improved upon that last season with a 7.1 average, scoring 29 total touchdowns on the ground in those two years.

The rushing average last year is a remarkable number considering just how disappointing the Badgers passing offense was. Coach Paul Chryst had to rely on Taylor, defenses loaded the box against him and it simply didn't matter.

If you factor everything in, he likely could have an argument to be even higher on the list.

Taylor led the nation with 61 runs of 10 or more yards, tied for fourth in 20-plus-yard runs, tied for third in 30-plus-yard runs and tied for eighth in 40-plus-yard runs. The big man kicks it up a notch in the open field.

"He puts the team on his back whenever we need him," UW safety D'Cota Dixon told Wisconsin State Journal reporter Jason Galloway. "He's so innocent. I still don't think he knows how good he is. (But) the team, they all know."

The nation knows now, too. You may not think he belongs on this particular list, but you're wrong. He can beat you with a thousand paper cuts or by slicing you with the big play.

9. Greg McCrae, Running Back, Central Florida

Under Scott Frost and later Josh Heupel, the Central Florida Knights have been known for producing prolific offensive weapons.

With quarterback McKenzie Milton likely to be sidelined for a while with a knee injury suffered late last year, they're going to need to make up for the Heisman Trophy candidate's production elsewhere. Quarterback Darriel Mack now probably will take a back seat to Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush.

But the biggest, perhaps underrated, player in that dynamic offense is running back Greg McCrae.

Last year, the sophomore and former walk-on was third nationally behind Louisiana-Lafayette's Raymond Calais and Memphis' Darrell Henderson with 8.89 yards per carry. He also tied for fourth nationally with 16 runs of 20 or more yards.

Though he didn't have a ton of grand-slam runs, he was still a home run hitter for a big-time offense.

As a junior in '19, he could be (probably should be) even better. Also returning is the team's leader in all-purpose yards in backfield mate Adrian Killins, making this duo an impressive one-two punch.

If Wimbush is at the helm, defenses will have to account for his running abilities more than they would with Milton, who had just 307 rushing yards (3.9 yards per carry) a season ago.

Heupel's offense will look a little different as Milton recovers, but one constant that will remain is McCrae's game-breaking ability, and they'll do everything they can to put the ball in his hands. When they do, good things happen.

8. Ke'Shawn Vaughn, Running Back, Vanderbilt

When you think of the Vanderbilt Commodores offense, you don't think of big-play threats.

Coach Derek Mason is known for his hard-nosed defenses, and when VU has won games in the past, it did so in rugged slugfests. That wasn't the case, however, in 2018. With senior quarterback Kyle Shurmur, the Commodores could beat you deep with big passes.

They also had an electrifying runner who basically came from nowhere. 

That would be Ke'Shawn Vaughn, who is a former Nashville prep standout from Pearl-Cohn High School who wasn't highly recruited and went to the University of Illinois out of high school. He couldn't find what he was looking for in the Big Ten, though, and transferred back home.

The Commodores are glad he did.

Vaughn was second nationally with 10 runs of 40 or more yards, behind Memphis' Darrell Henderson. He also tied for first nationally in runs of 60 or more yards. He was eighth nationally, averaging 7.92 yards per carry as well.

The only players ahead of him on the list who had more carries than his 157 were Henderson and Travis Etienne.

That means Mason rode him a lot, and all Vaughn did was produce chunk plays. When he was hurt, the Commodores offense struggled, and with Shurmur gone this year, there will be more of a load on his shoulders. Will defenses be keying on him? 

It depends on what VU gets from its quarterback, but Vaughn is a dependable force.

7. Travis Etienne, Running Back, Clemson

The decision to put an elite running back this high on the list was a toss-up between two of the nation's most dynamic in Clemson's Travis Etienne and Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor.

Either one can turn the game around with one touch. Still, the national champion runner gets the slight nod because a team of the Tigers' caliber gives him a better opportunity to make game-changing plays.

Taylor will get more touches, but Wisconsin doesn't have nearly the set of offensive weapons as coach Dabo Swinney, so defenses will focus on the rising junior runner. That's a luxury defenses don't have against the Tigers with Trevor Lawrence, Tee Higgins, Justyn Ross and others waiting to burn you.

Etienne has been known to put the team on his back and win games virtually by himself (see the Syracuse game last year in which he had 27 carries for 203 yards and three touchdowns with Trevor Lawrence out for the second half), but he also can change the game with a big run. 

He performed in the College Football Playoff, too, breaking off a 62-yard third-quarter touchdown run against Notre Dame in the semifinals to cap off a 30-3 win.

It was a standard run for Etienne, who was second nationally behind Memphis' Darrell Henderson with 23 runs of at least 20 yards. He also tied for fourth nationally with seven 40-yard runs.

There will be plenty of help in the Clemson backfield with guys like Tavien Feaster and Lyn-J Dixon, but this is Etienne's running game, and he'll be the bell cow. He's a big reason why Clemson will be battling again for the title.

6. Rondale Moore, Wide Receiver, Purdue

Everybody should be excited about what Purdue receiver Rondale Moore can do for an encore.

After the Boilermakers and coach Jeff Brohm went into Louisville and pulled one of the nation's most dynamic prospects in the 2018 recruiting class, they went out and used him. Despite an up-and-down season for Purdue, Moore always made plays.

With Brohm electing to stay in West Lafayette rather than return to his alma mater to coach the Louisville Cardinals, it could be another perfect marriage between the two in Moore's sophomore season.

The signing of another elite receiver, David Bell, should relieve some of the pressure on Moore, who burst onto the scene against Ohio State in a major upset but posted big numbers all year.

Brohm gets his playmaker the ball in a variety of ways, and all he does is move the chains.

He caught an eye-popping 114 passes for 1,258 yards and scored 12 touchdowns in his first season. Though he averaged just 11 yards per grab, he caught so many balls that it kind of overshadows his ability to make plays in the open field.

He also averaged 20 yards per kick return and more than 10 yards per rush (213 rushing yards with two more scores). He had seven catches of 40-plus yards, and he should produce even more big plays this season.

Athlon Sports' Nicholas Ian Allen called Moore "arguably the most electrifying player in college football," and he definitely could be. He's a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball, and his spot on this list projects he'll make more game-breaking plays in '19 than he did as a first-year player.

5. Tylan Wallace, Wide Receiver, Oklahoma

Tylan Wallace was a Biletnikoff Award finalist for the nation's top college football wide receiver, proving he can do everything necessary to be a WR1 for a major program like Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys didn't have the best season without quarterback Mason Rudolph and '17 Biletnikoff winner James Washington, but Wallace proved he was a worthy replacement.

He also made plenty of big-time plays when he got his hands on the ball, too. As quarterback Taylor Cornelius' top weapon, Wallace wound up with 86 catches and 1,491 yards for a 17.3 average and 12 touchdowns. With games on the line, the Cowboys routinely went to Wallace.

Roughly three-quarters of his catches went for first downs, as well. He was the man for the Cowboys.

"The kid's super consistent, man," former Oklahoma State and current Ohio State passing game coordinator Mike Yurcich told NewsOK.com's Nathan Ruiz. "He practices exactly how he plays. The same great catches you see on Saturday, you see on Tuesday, you see on Wednesday. Practice, he does it. Blocking, he does it. He's a complete receiver."

Wallace led the nation with 63 catches of 10 or more yards, and he tied for second with 25 grabs of 20 or more yards. He also tied for sixth in catches of 30 or more and 40 or more yards. Beyond that, though, he didn't make but one half-field grab.

Can he replicate his '18 success? A lot of that depends on how well new offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson (who came over from Princeton) meshes with Cornelius' replacement, which should probably be either rising redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders or Hawaii transfer and redshirt senior Dru Brown.

As long as those two pieces of the puzzle come together, Wallace is guaranteed to hold up his side of the bargain if healthy.

4. CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver, Oklahoma

You can't have a big-play maestro slideshow without Oklahoma Sooners on the list.

As a matter of fact, an argument could be made that dual-threat transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts, game-breaking runner Kennedy Brooks or one of the freshman receiver trio of Jadon Haselwood, Theo Wease and Trejan Bridges could make an appearance, too.

There are other receiver options who could slide onto the list as well.

But rising junior CeeDee Lamb not only should be one of the best receivers in the nation; he'll also be a threat to go long and make multiple acrobatic grabs. Last year, Marquise "Hollywood" Brown stole the show, but Lamb eclipsed 1,000 yards as well, as quietly as anybody can.

He won't be so silent this year.

Lamb is a scoring threat, and he averaged nearly 18 yards per grab last year. With Brown off to the NFL and an almost certain first-round pick, Lamb should shine. 

Last year, Hurts' late-season heroics showed him flashing a much more accurate arm than he did in his earlier days at Alabama, so there's plenty of reason for excitement about how he'll fare in Norman under Lincoln Riley's tutelage.

While he probably won't be as deadly accurate as Baker Mayfield or Kyler Murray, Hurts will have plenty of weapons at his disposal and has shown in the past a propensity for throwing the deep ball well.

Lamb will benefit, and he'll carry the load and show the young pups how it's done in '19. Look for monster play after monster play.

3. Reggie Corbin, Running Back, Illinois

You've probably heard of everybody on this list except one, and that's Illinois running back Reggie Corbin. Believe it or not, Lovie Smith's Illini could have had two players in this ranking had Vanderbilt's Ke'Shawn Vaughn elected to stay in Champaign. 

Instead, the 2018 backfield belonged to Reggie Corbin. And though Illinois has a long way to go to be a force in the Big Ten, it should start by giving Corbin more touches. That probably will happen this season.

Corbin was 35th nationally with 1,085 rushing yards, and he was sixth nationally with an 8.48 yards-per-carry average.

When he touched the ball, big things followed. He led all of the FBS with seven runs of 50-plus yards, five runs of 60-plus yards, four runs of 70-plus yards and an 80-plus-yard run, as well.

You should get to know the name. After he passed up the NFL to come back for his senior season, the Illini will try to help him get paid by putting the ball in his hands a lot. 

"You hit a couple 70-yarders and that will make a coach sit on the sidelines with his hands on his knees looking the opposite direction for about five minutes," Smith told 247Sports' Isaac Trotter. "That's what Reggie can do for you."

It's possible Corbin is low on this list, but the big-play ability is just more paramount at the receiver spots, and there are some elite players coming back who can go deep. 

Still, Corbin is the standard for home-run running backs. The Illini have a weapon who needs to be integrated as much as possible into the Big Ten's eighth-ranked offense that needs a lot of help.

2. Jerry Jeudy, Wide Receiver, Alabama

Alabama's record-setting 2018 offense, much like Clemson's dynamic attack, can be directly attributed to an elite, game-changing quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa.

But, like the Tigers, the Crimson Tide had their share of incredible playmaking receivers as well. Tagovailoa was good, but the receivers made him look good at times, too.

The best of that bunch was UA receiver Jerry Jeudy, who was also a surprising selection for the Biletnikoff Award that goes to the nation's top receiver. Apparently, voters were impressed by his uncanny ability to go for the jugular with the deep play. 

It happened often.

Jeudy finished the season with 49 catches of 10-plus yards and 23 of 20-plus yards. He also was tied for fourth nationally with 14 catches of 30-plus yards, tied for third with 10 grabs of 40-plus yards and also had two catches of 70 or more yards.

He finished the season with 68 catches for 1,315 yards, a 19.3 average and was third nationally with 14 touchdowns. He can do all that if not more in 2019, too. 

These past few years, Alabama has been known for dynamic receivers. Julio Jones set the standard years ago, and Amari Cooper and Calvin Ridley carried on the tradition. Like the latter two, Jeudy was a Sunshine State recruiting coup from the state of Florida and is a similar build (6'1", 192 pounds).

Now, he's got the hardware to go with them as well.

"Great player, works really hard and deserves everything coming his way," Ridley told the Associated Press' John Zenor of Jeudy. "We played high school together and grew up together a little bit. Just seeing him grow and becoming the player he is—that's the most exciting thing."

There are plenty of exciting things left for Jeudy to accomplish in Tuscaloosa as well.

1. Justyn Ross, Wide Receiver, Clemson

The College Football Playoff was a massive stage for national champion Clemson and coach Dabo Swinney's surging program.

It was also a coming out party for freshman receiver Justyn Ross.

While everybody talked about just how good Tee Higgins was, Ross caught and passed him as the leading receiver for the national champions in his first year at the South Carolina powerhouse. Nobody had an answer for the kid Swinney pulled from under Alabama's and Auburn's noses from Phenix City.

The former two-sport high school star is a 6'4", 201-pound force of nature who proved virtually impossible to defend. In the two biggest games of his first season, he was amazing.

First came the semifinal slaughter of Notre Dame where Ross posted six catches for 148 yards for an average of 24.7 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Not to be outdone, he torched the home-state Crimson Tide in the national championship game with six catches for 153 yards (a 25.5 average) and another score. The 74-yard stunning catch against the Tide was even bigger than his 52-yard haul against the Irish.

Ross stunned Alabama when he left the state, then he smacked Alabama in the title game.

"We thought he was one of the best players in Alabama a year ago and certainly recruited him with as much enthusiasm as possible. We just came up short," UA coach Nick Saban told the Washington Post's Barry Svrluga.

He added a one-handed stunning grab for 17 yards on a third-and-9. The kid can do it all, and his sophomore season has the ability to be even better with Lawrence and Higgins both back.

Others may have more big plays, but nobody made the biggest plays at the most important times like Ross.

All recruiting information is from 247Sports, and rankings are from the 247Sports composite.

Brad Shepard covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @Brad_Shepard.