Now that the first week of the 2012 college football season is in the books, the debate for the Heisman can take form. Preseason hopefuls like Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson struggled against defending national champion Alabama’s suffocating defense in a 41-14 rout at Cowboys Stadium. Other favorites performed as expected . Players stock will potentially rise and fall from week to week but there are five players CLA believes will lead the way as the race unfolds.

1. Matt Barkley (USC, QB)

As class of 2012 high school recruits are opening fall practices for their respective colleges, a new class of prospects enter the recruiting ranks. This year's class of high school seniors now look to make their mark on the HS football recruiting landscape. Practices have begun for the 2012 HS football season and teams are eagerly awaiting week one matchups.

Watch this flashback from an exclusive post game interview featuring former Crenshaw High School football standout recruits De'anthony Thomas and Hayes Pullard. Thomas is coming off a freshman season that included 16 touchdowns and a historic performance in Oregon's Rose Bowl victory. Pullard has also performed well at the NCAA level, and led the Trojans in tackles as a sophomore, last season.

Look for both of these former College Level Athletes recruits to continue to shine and provide their teams with the necessary tools to become BCS Title contenders in 2013.

Diamond Ranch High School's varsity football team is loaded with talent for the upcoming 2012-2013 season. The list of top recruits from Diamond Ranch include a trio of sophomores, with Kammy Delp (DE/2014), Josh Buckholz (DE/2014) and Matt Preston (LB/2014) leading the way.

College Level Athletes caught up with 6'4" 275 upcoming junior Kammy Delp after yesterday's UCLA camp, and he shared his thoughts with us.

"There were about 6, including me. The ones who were there were Poasi Moala, CJ, Sunia Kafovalu, Damien Mama and Viane Talamaivao," Delp said.

A few weeks ago, CLA readers got their first look at Gardena Serra colossal offensive lineman Emerald Faletuipapai and his plans to dominate the competition for the Cavaliers this upcoming season.

The next step in Faletuipapai’s preparation will take place at the Los Angeles Nike Football Training Camp at Cerritos College on Sunday.

The lists for preseason Heisman candidates are in full circulation. The process of eliminating candidates has already begun, thus we have assembled the “CLA Sports Preseason Heisman Top 5 List.”

Watch this CLA Sports exclusive video interview featuring University of Oregon pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate De'Anthony Thomas & USC linebacker Hayes Pullard while they starred at Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, CA). Check out the post game interview, as well as highlights from the game vs. undefeated Culver City High School.

Florida, the Sunshine State. Florida, the straight up speed state. Ask Tacoi Sumler (WR/2011), who ran a 4.33 forty at the National Underclass Combine last year. Sumler, at a modest 5'9" 165 pounds isn't your prototypical wide receiver, however, what he lacks in size he makes up for in pure speed and ability. Sumler led the Gulliver Prep football team last season in catches (54), yards (994), touchdowns (17) and interceptions (5). Sumler also returned 2 kickoffs for touchdowns last year (94, 79), virtually propelling his team in all aspects of the game.

A handful of Southern California's top football recruits walked onto the grounds of the CIF State Track Meet in Fresno on Friday (6/4/2010) with unmatched confidence.

In the 110M Hurdles, junior Devon Blackmon (Summit) finished 6th in the preliminary round in a time of 14.16.