The year was 1904 and fancy diving was introduced to the Olympic Games in St. Louis. The event took place on a 10-meter platform, while nowadays Olympic Diving is based on 60-meter, 70-meter, and 85-meter platforms. Needless to say, the impact of hitting the water today from 85 meters up is significantly higher than the impact from hitting the water from 10 meters as it was over 100 years ago. Interestingly though, the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis were the one-and-only year that “plunge-diving” took place. Plunge diving was not based on who could do the “fanciest” dive with the smallest splash, it was a simple dive graded on how far the diver traveled.
Plunge diving, just like investing in a devy asset, is diving in on a developmental player but then having no impact on how far they go. In plunge diving, it’s measured by floating distance and in devy, it’s measured by how long they can stay afloat on NFL rosters. In this piece, we are going to look at several nearly free-to-acquire devy assets that should hold long-term value in the NFL. Our fancy divers are going to be players from Power Five schools with high levels of pedigree, and our plunge divers are going to be Group of Five players who could find themselves floating around the NFL for years to come.
FANCY DIVERS
The Power Five is made up of five of the ten Division 1 college football conferences; these five conferences are well-known but never formally stated as the superior conferences. The Power Five is made up of the American Coastal Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference (B1G), Big 12 Conference (Big12), Pac-12 Conference (PAC-12), and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The schools at these conferences are granted a level of “autonomy for student-athlete well-being”. Below you can see the full legal jargon for the differentiation between Power Five and Group of Five.
While this wording leaves room for interpretation, the NCAA uses one that is a hot topic in Congress as student-athletes are working state-by-state for the rights to profiting from their Name, Image, and Likeness, meaning student-athletes can profit from non-NCAA related channels. We will dive into what this may mean for the colleges in a later article because the relevant interpretation here is that along with their scholarship, all Power Five players can receive free meals, snacks, and anything else that impacts the well-being of their student-athlete designation. The origin of these rules was based on Shabazz Napier telling reporters that he went to bed starving each night on the team’s path to becoming the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions. Just as Napier publicized his hunger on his path to winning a championship, we at DFF are hungry for upgrading our devy rosters en route to a fantasy championship and I am here to help appease that appetite.
E.J. Smith, RB, Stanford, 2023 NFL Draft Eligible
The 6’0” and 208 lbs. sophomore sure has a great pedigree, although he didn’t get much action in the COVID-19 impacted PAC-12 2020 season. His father, Emmitt Smith, is the NFL All-Time leading rusher amassing 18,355 yards over his 15-year career. E.J. Smith showed off a similar rushing capability as his father did in Texas High School Football, also showing off elite receiving abilities with 114 receptions over his final three high school seasons in Dallas. He is currently being selected outside the top-50 in devy drafts and is outside the top-100 in some of the “big-name” devy site rankings. Smith is a player that I can’t get enough of this offseason, and I can’t wait until the consensus sees his value skyrocket.
Chris Tyree, RB, Notre Dame, 2023 NFL Draft Eligible
While Kyren Williams is the popular running back at Notre Dame, Chris Tyree offers unlimited upside. The smaller back stands at 5’9 and 188 lbs. and was the media favorite for a 2020 breakout season. The miniature dynamo has Earth-shattering speed running a 4.23-second 40-yard dash as a high schooler. I expect him to see a bit more rushing production in 2021, but where he will truly shine is in the return game. He should show his dynamic athleticism on returns that will earn him the Notre Dame starting running back job for the 2022 college football season once Williams has moved on.
Jalin Hyatt, WR, Tennessee, 2023 NFL Draft Eligible
The 6’0” and 170 lbs. receiver is the only remaining option of consequence in the Tennessee passing attack. He will likely see the defense’s top cornerbacks on every snap, and with a bottoming-out Tennessee roster, don’t expect crazy stats for 2021. Hyatt is a crazy athlete with 4.3 speed. Check out how dynamic he can be burning Alabama defensive back Jordan Battle on this out-and-up double-move.
PLUNGE DIVERS
The Group of Five are the remaining five Division 1 conferences including all independent colleges outside Notre Dame. The Group of Five is made up of the American Athletic Conference (American), Conference USA (C-USA), Mid-American Conference (MAC), Mountain West Conference (MW), and Sun Belt Conference (Sun Belt). As noted before these conferences are not allowed the same autonomy as the Power Five, which among other reasons makes Group of Five schools less desirable for incoming prospects. However, this does not limit these schools from recruiting and developing elite NFL prospects. Four of the first-round draft selections in the 2021 NFL Draft came from Group of Five programs.
Unlike the Power Five programs, in devy when dealing with Group of Five players we want to bet on the high floor options that may not necessarily have the elite upside that a Power Five prospect has. From this cohort, we are going to bank on past performance and hope that they earn NFL Draft capital inside the first two days (rounds one to three). Here are a couple of Group of Five prospects that could plunge their way onto an NFL roster and stick around to have lengthy and productive NFL careers.
Malik Willis, QB, Liberty, 2022 NFL Draft Eligible
Liberty has only produced one player to be selected in the NFL Draft in the past five seasons. However, Hugh Freeze coached his 2020 campaign up to a 10-1 finish that had them ranked 17th in the country. He convinced the Auburn backup quarterback, Willis, to transfer in 2019. But he did not become eligible until the 2020 season. Willis is a true dual-threat quarterback completing 65% of his passes for 2,250 yards and 20 TDs while adding 944 yards and 14 TDs on the ground. The returning senior has been getting some first-round buzz and if he delivers another efficient season he will surely be joining fellow former Flame Antonio Gandy-Golden on an NFL roster and fighting for the starting job.
Sincere McCormick, RB, UTSA, 2022 NFL Draft Eligible
McCormick is a 5’9” and 200 lbs. bowling ball that is nearly impossible for C-USA defenders to take down. He achieved a true freshman breakout season with 1,190 yards from scrimmage and nine TDs, making up 29% of the team’s total offensive production. He then improved in his 2020 sophomore season, increasing his yards from scrimmage to 1,598 yards and 11 TDs. McCormick achieved over two adjusted yards per team play, which is a threshold that elite running backs surpass in college. McCormick is currently being drafted late in deep devy leagues, but he could be the next Aaron Jones in the NFL.
We have listed five late-round or even free devy targets that could see a massive return on investment. Hopefully, you can take this advice, put your spin on it, and lead your fantasy rosters to championships this year as well as having the devy pieces in place to maintain a permanent contender.
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