As we count down 50 days until the start of the 2014 college football season, ESPN Insider Travis Haney is answering at least one big question a day until South Carolina and Texas A&M’s kickoff on Aug. 28.

Heisman contenders, breakout freshmen, conference winners -- it will all be covered as part of Insider’s Ultimate Season Preview.

Today’s question: With Johnny Football gone, who is the single most exciting player in the country? Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon? Georgia’s Todd Gurley? Jameis? Braxton?

You have to start with Jameis Winston to answer this one, as anything else would be disingenuous.

“He’s a goofy kid,” an ACC assistant told me, “but the kid can make plays. We couldn’t defend him.”

Winston is the player who rightfully beat out Johnny Manziel for the Heisman Trophy. And he became the must-watch player on par with Manziel from his very first game, a 350-yard, five-TD effort at Pitt on Labor Day night. The Hail Mary just before halftime at Boston College, one of the only half-threats of the season for the Seminoles, cemented him as a player of record. That all happened in September.