Author name: David Whitman

chambliss

Rewriting the Devy QB Board: Unconventional Stars Lead the 2027 Class

College Fantasy, Devy / By /

The 2027 NFL Draft class is shaping up to be an excellent, albeit unconventional, group of prospects, headlined by a couple of zero-star recruits, a three-star, an elite legacy, and a Midwest blue-chipper.

As college football enters week 4, I am planting my flag with my current top five signal-callers – with the clear understanding that this board remains fluid and several rising prospects are still within striking distance.

Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss – “The Magician”

Operating with the elusive agility of an escape artist, this former zero-star recruit routinely pulls highlight-reel plays out of thin air. Reminiscent of Caleb Williams, Chambliss’ elite ability to manipulate defensive spacing and orchestrate out-of-structure chaos has made him the most lethal drive-and-dish point guard in college football. The beautiful thing? He can operate on time and in rhythm too. This combination and elite belief in himself make him the most dangerous quarterback in the country when the game hangs in the balance; to say he’s capable of last-minute magic is an understatement. 

However, while he possesses tremendous physical gifts, a shorter physical build right at the 6-foot threshold will give traditional front offices pause. Furthermore, because he fought for a sixth year of eligibility, Chambliss will be 25 years old in week 1 of the 2027 NFL season, forcing NFL decision-makers to evaluate him as an older prospect. 

Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State – “The Gun-Slinger”

Another phenomenal zero-star walk-on story, Mestemaker defies developmental trajectories, relying instead on a talented, quick-trigger arm that stylistically conjures images of Phillip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers. He plays with a fearless bravado, constantly attacking tight intermediate windows and driving the ball deep downfield with supreme confidence. 

Mestemaker’s biggest flaw is a lack of historical reps and playing in a purely collegiate system. The quarterback famously rarely played in high school and had to walk on to the North Texas program just to earn a chance to play college football. Furthermore, the Cowboys’ prolific air-raid system, led by head coach Eric Morris, is viewed as a college-specific scheme whose passing philosophies are only utilized in snippets at the professional level. 

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Rewriting the Devy QB Board: Unconventional Stars Lead the 2027 Class Read More »

Austin simmons

Austin Simmons: Who the Hell is This Kid?

C2C, College Fantasy, Devy / By /

Every college football season, an unexpected quarterback prospect seems to emerge from the shadows, step into the national spotlight, and enter the conversation as a potential first-round pick. 

In 2019, it was former Ohio State backup, Joe Burrow. In 2025, it was former Cal starter and Indiana Hoosier transfer, Fernando Mendoza. 

2026? Early returns suggest the University of Missouri southpaw gunslinger, Austin Simmons. 

The 247 four-star transfer portal signee arrives at Columbia by way of the Ole Miss Rebels and has the Tigers off and running with a 2-0 record.  

So who is Austin Simmons, and why does there seem to be a groundswell of hype building behind him?

Let’s begin with what makes him truly one-of-a-kind. Simmons is currently in his fourth year of college, 20 years old, and working on his master’s. A true academic prodigy, he graduated high school in two years and skipped his junior and senior years to jump into the SEC and play at Ole Miss. Originally a class of 2025 quarterback, he reclassified to 2023 to get an early start on his tutelage from Lane Kiffin. 

Drawn to Ole Miss specifically because of Kiffin’s offensive prowess and ability to develop elite quarterbacks, the high school two-sport phenom was also swayed by the promise of being able to play football and baseball in Oxford. 

In the summer of 2023, Simmons flipped his commitment from the Florida Gators to Ole Miss and spent the fall 2023 season taking a redshirt year to adapt to the speed of college athletics. Simmons joined the Mississippi baseball team as a left-handed relief pitcher. He made 13 bullpen appearances, putting up a stellar 3.21 ERA and a 2-0 record before a minor elbow sprain ended his baseball season. After the injury, Simmons stepped away from baseball to focus on football, his first love. 

In the fall of 2024, Simmons was back on the gridiron as the primary backup to future first-round pick Jaxson Dart. He appeared in nine games, flashing high-end upside.

After Dart’s departure, Simmons beat out the competition in fall camp and was named the undisputed starter for the 2025 season. In week 1, he exploded for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns against Georgia State. However, in week 2 against Kentucky, he suffered a pivotal left ankle injury. While Simmons healed, little-known backup, former Division II star and potential 2026 first-round pick, Trinidad Chambliss took over, and the offense caught fire, leading the Rebels to a College Football Playoff berth and leaving Simmons relegated to the bench. 

Recognizing the writing was on the wall, Simmons entered the transfer portal on January 2, 2026. Four days later, he joined the Tigers of Missouri. 

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Austin Simmons: Who the Hell is This Kid? Read More »

Phillip Wright III

Devy/C2C Stashes: LSU Freshman Playmakers, Phillip Wright III and Corey Barber

C2C, College Fantasy, Devy / By /

However you feel about LSU head football coach and controversial enigma Lane Kiffin, one thing remains: the man can put points on the scoreboard. Across his 15-year career as a head coach, Kiffin’s teams have averaged 35.4 points per game, ranking in the top five among active FBS college football head coaches [minimum five seasons coached]. Exclude the numbers from Tennessee and USC; when he ran a slow, methodical, pro-style system, the average jumps to 37.1 PPG. At Florida Atlantic University [FAU], Kiffin began shifting to his version of the veer-and-shoot. Kiffin marries pro-style passing progression, pass protection rules, and tight-end-heavy packages with the up-tempo, spread-the-field, RPO-heavy scheme. Call it a pro-Spread hybrid built on the Veer-and-Shoot architecture. This offense creates space by splitting its wide receivers out to the literal sidelines and numbers, horizontally stretching defenses and making them defend every blade of grass, leaving gaps for the right play call to target and gash. Speedy weapons out wide are essential to executing this. When Kiffin arrived in Baton Rouge for the 2026 season, he completely overhauled the wide receiver room via the transfer portal. Yet, two unique names have emerged from the dust as stash opportunities for your Devy/C2C rosters. 

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Devy/C2C Stashes: LSU Freshman Playmakers, Phillip Wright III and Corey Barber Read More »

Isaiah horton (1)

Isaiah Horton: The Most Underrated Wide Receiver in Devy and C2C

C2C, College Fantasy, Devy / By /

In late December 2025, head coach Mike Elko and offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins knew they had a problem.

Problem? What problem? They just finished 11-2 in regular-season play and qualified for the university’s first-ever appearance in the college football playoff, losing to the eventual runner-up, Miami, 3-10. 

Yes, the season was a success, but in the big-money, big-stakes business of modern-day college football, only championships matter, and resting on your laurels will get you fired. 

After starting X wide receiver Noah Thomas transferred to Georgia, the 2025 Texas A&M wide receiver room had a hole and consisted only of players six-foot and under. The lack of size was cited as one of the reasons TAMU couldn’t score a touchdown against the physical Hurricane defense.

Elko and Wiggins needed to completely reset the boundary position in the portal, and when the portal opened on January 2nd, they immediately targeted former Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Horton, officially signing him on January 11th, recapturing that missing, dominant ‘True X’.

Isaiah Horton was a 247 four-star from Tennessee who committed to the University of Miami out of high school. Horton broke out in his redshirt sophomore year while being led by 1st overall NFL Draft pick Cam Ward.

Horton jumped into the transfer portal and joined Kalen DeBoer and Ty Simpson at the University of Alabama. After enjoying another productive season, Horton decided to enter the portal again, claiming the departure was amicable but wasn’t comfortable in his role. 

Coach Holmon Wiggins offered Horton a crystal-clear, high-volume blueprint that guaranteed Horton the undisputed, alpha “X” boundary role where his 6’4″, 215-pound frame could command a massive target share for NFL scouts. 

A bonus for Horton was Marcel Reed. Both players are from the Volunteer State and played together on the 7-on7 circuit. 

“He adds a different dimension to the room, maybe a dimension that we were missing last year in terms of pure size and height, the ability to go and make contested catches.”

– Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Isaiah Horton: The Most Underrated Wide Receiver in Devy and C2C Read More »

tony diaz

Tony Diaz: College Football’s Next Cinderella Man & Your League Winner

C2C, College Fantasy, Devy / By /

Since late 2018, the transfer portal has been open for business, but it didn’t boom until 2021. Since then, it has turned college football into an open-market economy and is what many college football purists consider to be a stain on the tradition-laden sport they love. 

Every once in a while, though, it does what it was meant to do at its core: provide opportunity.  

Welcome to college football national consciousness: high school zero-star, zero-offer, and zero-win wide receiver Tony Diaz.

After enduring a grueling 0-10 senior season at San Marcos High School, Diaz signed with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The brand-new start-up program didn’t play a game in its first season (2024), and he redshirted for the entire calendar year, practicing in internal squad scrimmages. For nearly two years, Diaz didn’t experience a single official football victory.

In 2025, when the Vaqueros finally took the field, not only did Diaz notch wins, he took the FCS by storm.

As a redshirt freshman, Diaz dominated his team’s passing volume, commanding 67 receptions, 875 yards, and 11 touchdowns, earning AP All-American Honorable Mention honors and placing 7th in the Jerry Rice Award voting, the FCS equivalent to National Freshman of the Year. 

Diaz’s breakout at age 19 is not only an incredible feat on the football field but a massive indicator of future success. For the Vaqueros, Diaz wasn’t a part of the offense; he was the offense. 

Dominating FCS competition is one thing; doing it on Saturdays in the Big Ten against Ohio State, Michigan, and other NFL talent-filled schools is an entirely different beast. But that’s exactly what Kirk Ferentz, Tim Lester and the Iowa Hawkeyes expect out of Tony “Boogey Man” Diaz. They were able to nab the coveted transfer portal star over Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, and Oklahoma State, to name a few. The hook was Diaz continuing the feature role that he thrived in at Edinburg in Iowa City.

To access the rest of this article, login or become a member. control room correct size

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Tony Diaz: College Football’s Next Cinderella Man & Your League Winner Read More »

edwards

Cam Edwards: Former Zero Star is Dark Horse to Lead B1G in Rushing

C2C, College Fantasy, Devy / By /

On December 1, 2025, Michigan State University officials were determined to start the new year off right and charted a new course for their beloved football team. 

On that Monday, Pat Fitzgerald, the former Northwestern head coach, vowed to “restore tradition” to the state’s second-most-popular college institution. Replacing the ineffective Jonathan Smith, Fitzgerald brings a culture of physicality and defense to East Lansing that athletic director J Batt says is “an excellent fit for Michigan State football”.

Priority one was reviving a moribund Spartan running game and establishing a physical, Big Ten identity, and that required looking outside of the current locker room to the transfer portal; enter Cam Edwards, running back, UConn.

Fitzgerald targeted and fast-tracked Edwards’ recruiting, hosting him and his UConn teammate, left tackle Ben Mrawski, as soon as the portal opened on January 2nd, securing both commitments within the week. 

Edwards was Pro Football Focus’ number two ranked running back available in the transfer portal and had significant interest from Penn State, Nebraska, LSU, TAMU, Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame, and Michigan, among others. The Spartans won out by offering Edwards something none of the other top-tier programs could offer: an uncontested path to a featured bell-cow role.

Who is Cam Edwards?

A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Edwards decided to stay home and play for former NFL head coach Jim Mora and the UConn Huskies. Edwards carved out a successful career while in Storrs, playing in 36 career games while starting 23. He enters MSU as a redshirt senior. 

A source with intimate knowledge of those UConn teams on Edwards’ move to MSU:

“He should be their bell cow; that’s perfect for that conference, great kid too, runs hard as shit and falls forward, we used to call him ‘Mr 5 a pop’.”

To access the rest of this article, login or become a member. control room correct size

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Cam Edwards: Former Zero Star is Dark Horse to Lead B1G in Rushing Read More »

west

Isaiah West: The REAL Ohio State RB1?

C2C, College Fantasy, Devy / By /

As a true freshman, Bo Jackson sprinted onto the college football scene as one of the top running backs in the nation. The Cleveland, Ohio, native and four-star recruit amassed 1,090 yards rushing at an astounding 6.1 yards per carry, while tallying 1,290 total yards and seven touchdowns. The historic season helped lead the Buckeyes to a 12-2 finish and an appearance in the college football playoffs. Jackson joined rare air in Columbus, becoming only the fifth running back in school history to clear 1,000 yards rushing in year one; the others being Robert Smith, Maurice Clarett, J.K. Dobbins, and TreVeyon Henderson. This feat earned Jackson Freshman All-American and Second Team All-Big Ten honors.

You’re probably thinking: “Wait, David, isn’t this an article about Isaiah West?” 

It is, but I have to set the table so you understand the shocking momentum building behind West and his potential ascension.

August 6th, following day one of fall camp, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day stated: 

“Well, first off, you can see his body. You can see the work he’s put in. Had a tremendous off-season. One of the best in the whole building. Consistency. And when he was there last year, he showed some really good things. So we want him to take the next step”

No big deal, that’s coach speak, right? Head coaches talk up players and their offseason improvements every year, right?

Absolutely, but to find an edge in Devy/C2C we have to pay attention to the action behind those words.

According to eyewitness accounts, West commanded first-team reps alongside quarterback Julian Sayin, while Jackson ran with the second team on an adjacent field for the first three days of camp.

So what the hell is going on? Is this real? 

How can we decipher this and apply it to our Devy/C2C teams? 

What about my Bo Jackson shares; should I sell?

To access the rest of this article, login or become a member. control room correct size

To access the rest of this post, you must login or purchase a DFF Membership.

Isaiah West: The REAL Ohio State RB1? Read More »