The college football season begins on Sept. 2 for 12 of the 13 FBS teams in the state of Texas. The lone exception in the Lone Star State is UTEP, which face Jacksonville State in Week 0 to begin Conference USA play.

As we approach the start of another season, we'll count down the 50-most important players in college football. We'll go one-by-one until Sept. 1 as we enter the top 20.

Previous rankings: 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21

No. 12: North Texas Edge Mazin Richards

The History

Richards, who set records for career sacks and tackles for loss at Burleson Centennial High School, enjoyed a homecoming last season at North Texas. He spent three seasons at Eastern New Mexico and was the 2021 Lone Star Conference Defensive Linemen of the Year. His skills translated to Conference USA football. The DCTF Second Team All-Texas College selection started all 14 games at linebacker and racked up 78 total tackles. While he roamed all over the defensive scheme, his biggest impact came when he rushed the passer, posting 12.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.

The Importance

Richards, who describes himself as a pass rush guy, will get to pin his ears back and play on the line of scrimmage full time in new defensive coordinator Matt Caponi's 3-3-5 scheme. While he'll be the war daddy leaned on to wreak havoc in the backfield, the rest of the three-man front has experience. Nose tackle Roderick Brown started all 14 games last season, and defensive tackle Fatafehi Vailea made the conference All-Freshman team. North Texas will need quality play in the trenches, especially for the first few games of the season, as they look for contributors at linebacker. That position group is thin after the loss of KD Davis, who notched 139 tackles last season, and Auburn transfer Larry Nixon III.

The Outlook

North Texas has plenty of proven playmakers on the defensive line, but the group is smaller than ideal for a three-man front. Brown and fellow nose tackle Enoch Jackson are the only guys in the two deep above 300 pounds, and they're barely scraping the three-bill mark. Richards will get more chances to rush the passer, but he may have more attention directed at him with only two other linemen alongside him. The secondary is rangy with Ridge Texada, who had 15 pass breakups last year, and should benefit from the return of John Davis after an ACL injury effectively ended his 2022 campaign before it started. If the Mean Green can find a solid core of linebackers, the defense should rebound from the 31.7 points per game they surrendered.

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