The 2014 college football season will be especially important for seniors; many will have to try to prove that they can have successful back-to-back seasons, while some will have to cope with a team that looks substantially different now that certain parts of the team have departed.

Here are some seniors who have something to prove in their final season:

Sean Mannion – Oregon State

At Oregon State quarterback, Sean Mannion, had a fantastic start to the 2013 season but the final six games saw his performance slump. If he wants to make the pros, he has an awful lot to prove in 2014, especially as he will be without his leading receiver, Brandin Cooks.

However, on the upside, he has plenty of other talent at wide receiver to work with, including Richard Mullaney and athletic Obum Gwacham. Mannion has the opportunity to make his final year a good one; he just needs to play as he did in the first half of the season and not the second half.

Jeremy Langford – Michigan State

Michigan State running back, Jeremy Langford, is a player that might just have a few people confused right now. His form late in the season was in marked contrast to that earlier in the year and, over the last nine games, he found the end zone 14 times, having just crossed into that zone four times in the opening five games.

He’ll be under the microscope now more than ever before and, with Michigan State starting to be taken seriously by fans who bet on college football, the question will be whether Langford can maintain that late season surge and the pressure that will bring.

Gabe Wright – Auburn

Auburn lost their disruptive defensive force in Dee Ford and that means that defensive tackle, Gabe Wright, will need to step up and fill that gap. His numbers were certainly not as good as Ford’s but it is hoped that he can fill the void. Wright will need to create as much havoc as Ford did in the backfield to prove his equal and the pressure will certainly be on him to do so.

Jarrick Williams – Alabama

Finally, defensive back is always a difficult position to play and even more so when the team only returns one starter in the secondary and only five on the entire defense. That’s the position that faces Jarrick Williams at Alabama.

Fans who followed college football last year will know that his numbers last season were not eye-popping but his experience will be important this year. Head coach, Nick Saban, may come to rely on Williams a fair bit; the question he will need to answer is does he have what it takes to have a big senior year in 2014?