Devy Analysis
With the collegiate regular season finally finished, the real work for us as dynasty managers has just begun. Even more so if your team is not competing in the playoffs. Later on in the offseason, we’ll deep dive into the 2023 prospects. But in this series, I’d like to profile the biggest names in college that we should be watching next year. We start with Freshman sensation, Quinshon Judkins.
As a three-star recruit coming out of Texas, Rashee Rice finally got his chance to be the WR1 at SMU. He was slated behind future NFL receiver Danny Gray. It is safe to say at this point that Rice seems to be the better of the two prospects. In his Junior season, Rice hauled in 64 catches for 670 yards and nine touchdowns. The stage was set for him to take on the WR1 role in 2022. In easily one of the most surprising starts of the season, the 6’2” 205 lbs. speedster caught 34 passes in four weeks. He is currently on pace for 90+ receptions, 1,400+ yards, and 10+ touchdowns.
As we move toward the halfway mark of the 2022 college football season, it’s a good time to see how the highly coveted 2023 running back draft class has produced so far. From our household names to our risers and fallers. Let’s dive in. We’ll start with the dynasty darling of the class, Texas RB Bijan Robinson. Widely considered the best running back prospect since Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliot, Robinson has lived up to the hype thus far.
The former Penn State transfer arrived in Lexington (KY) in 2021, after never retaining a starting role with the Nittany Lions. It was a strange situation, as most would agree that Levis should’ve been the starter there, but it just never happened. The move to Kentucky though was also strange at first glance. Known to be a college basketball powerhouse, Kentucky is usually not the first or even second school that college prospects consider as an option. Will Levis, since enrolling, has started to change the narrative.
When we hear the term “X receiver”, what comes to mind? Tall, fast, strong, and with big hands, usually complete that prototype. That is exactly what we see from TCU WR Quentin Johnston. Standing in at 6 ’4” 212lbs., Johnston has asserted himself as one of the nation’s top receiving weapons.
A four-star recruit from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, Braelon Allen burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2021. Arguably the best two-way player in the state of Wisconsin coming out, Allen dominated the high school gridiron as both an All-Area Safety and All-Area RB. In his senior season, he averaged 14.6 yards per carry. Entering college, there was some doubt about whether Allen would play offense or defense at the next level. It was believed he could convert to MIKE LB, as his 6’2” 232 lbs. frame would suggest. Alas, RB would be Braelon’s calling and it was the right decision.
Josh Downs was a four-star prospect out of Suwanee, Georgia who put together 187 receptions for 3,019 yards and 32 TDs over his final three high school football seasons. He starred both on the football field and the track, as he finished third in the state in triple jump and fourth in the state in long jump before giving up track to focus on football. Downs comes from a pedigree as well. His father was an RB in the NFL after playing at North Carolina State. Furthermore, his younger brother Caleb is ranked as the number one Safety in the nation and just committed to Alabama for the 2023 season.
Nicholas Singleton comes into Penn State already equipped with an NFL build at 6’0” 210 lbs. and the data shows we can expect RBs to gain anywhere from 10-15 lbs. in college. When the time that he is draft eligible comes, he will have prototypical workhorse size. One of his best attributes is his burst through the line of scrimmage and his effortless lateral agility without decelerating to make defenders miss while still keeping that top-end speed.
In the first installment of “Undeclared Gems” I covered another transfer WR in the 2023 class in Jordan Addison. Jermaine Burton is someone I’m more intrigued with as a transfer player, however. The former four-star recruit from Calabasas, CA, possesses good size, listed at 6’0 even, 200lbs. He has blazing speed. Burton is an exciting prospect to me particularly because of Alabama’s success last season in bringing Jameson Williams in via the transfer portal. I believe Burton will be asked to do a lot of the same things as Williams and will be able to showcase his abilities with a Heisman trophy-winning QB, Bryce Young. Talk about an upgrade from Stetson Bennett. Despite the lack of usage at Georgia, Burton still put out a great tape and was used creatively in the scheme when given the opportunity to touch the ball.
Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba combined for 3,600/4,952 (73%) of Ohio State’s team passing yards as well as 34/46 (74%) of total passing TDs. Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson have gone down as two of the best Buckeye receivers ever after going back-to-back in the NFL Draft at number 10 and 11 overall. Jaxon on the other hand, who was the most productive of the three, will be back in Columbus for his junior season where he’s been named a team captain and he’s one of the favorites to bring home the Biletnikoff Award. Let’s take a deeper look into each of these players and why we may have just witnessed the best WR room in the history of college football.
In a new era of the NIL, Jordan Addison is the first player that truly made his decision essentially a free agency tour. He visited multiple schools including USC, Texas, and Alabama, spoke to coaches, spoke to players on the team, and figured out who could provide the most for him both on and off the field. Now the all-important question: what does this mean for Jordan Addison’s devy value going forward?
Hello, again Fantasy Devy Gamers! We are here again to analyze the latest updates, performances, and NFL buzz surrounding college players that should prove to be integral to their eventual NFL Draft Stock. We will utilize recent statistics, performance and film, and general “front office whispers” to compile the intel shared. The hope is to provide you with a leg up on your opponents. You will know which devy players to target in trades and/or in what range of draft picks (both NFL and fantasy drafts) you can expect these players to be selected.
Hello, again Fantasy Devy Gamers! We are here again to analyze the latest updates, performances, and NFL buzz surrounding college players that should prove to be integral to their eventual NFL Draft Stock. We will utilize recent statistics, performance and film, and general “front office whispers” to compile the intel shared. The hope is to provide you with a leg up on your opponents. You will know which devy players to target in trades and/or in what range of draft picks (both NFL and fantasy drafts) you can expect these players to be selected.
As our fantasy football season has come to an end, the off-season begins. It is time to examine some of the most pristine college players in the ’23 and ’24 classes. I will be listing my top 10 Devy targets that I will be frantically trying to snatch up. Whether you are in Devy leagues or trying to stay up to date with the NFL prospects for your dynasty leagues, this article will be nosediving into these targets.
The College Football regular season has come to an end this week, and we are here to show you all of the breakout players that you need to be aware of both for devy leagues and in standard dynasty leagues. In devy, you will likely be able to acquire these players in your offseason drafts, and in dynasty leagues, be sure to keep your first-round picks in these players eligible years close to the vest.
In Miami’s regular-season finale, 6’4” 224 lbs. redshirt freshman, Tyler Van Dyke led the Hurricanes to a convincing 47-10 win over the Duke Blue Devils, throwing for 381 yards and three touchdowns. After taking over for injured D’Eriq King in Week 4, Van Dyke had a couple of rough outings, but starting in late October Van Dyke has looked like a very good young QB. Since Miami’s victory over NC State, Van Dyke has completed 66% of his passes for 2,194 yards, 20 touchdowns, three interceptions, and has a passer rating of 171.85. In his 10 appearances on the year, Van Dyke leads the ACC in Passing Yards Per Attempt with nine and is second in the conference in Passing Efficiency Rating at 160.1. I find his efficiency as a first-year starter to be very impressive.
Grayson McCall’s stats are slightly padded by Coastal Carolina’s offensive scheme, which I believe would be fair to call a “Spread Triple Option” attack. Their offense utilizes the triple-option rushing attack, but out of the shotgun and receivers spread out wide, opposed to the under-center triple option we typically see from Army and Navy. The Coastal Carolina offense also utilizes a lot of Run-Pass-Options. This scheme forces the defense to respect the run and allows the QB to make easy reads. So you should consider this when evaluating McCall’s stats, but you cannot undervalue his arm talent and athleticism. In 2020 McCall used his legs often and was efficient doing so, running for 569 yards and seven touchdowns. In 2021 he has not run nearly as often, rushing for just 188 yards and three touchdowns through nine games. He has been more effective as a passer though, as I previously mentioned, he leads the country in Passing Efficiency Rating and Passing Yards Per Attempt.
After receiving limited playing time at Ohio State in 2019, and 2020, Jameson Williams transferred to Alabama. The decision to transfer looks to be the right decision, as Williams is leading the SEC in receiving yards with 1,028 and receiving touchdowns with ten. This past weekend against New Mexico State, Williams had a career-high three-touchdown game, catching six passes for 158 yards. Through ten games this season, Williams has a dominator rating of 30.6%, which should qualify this year as a “breakout” for him. Listed at 6’2” 189 pounds, Jameson will be tagged as skinny for the BMI truthers in the fantasy football community. His production in the SEC cannot be ignored, even if it is Junior season. Alabama’s track record for producing first-round draft picks could continue with Jameson Williams.
The 2022 NFL rookie class is underwhelming. Two of the top-three quarterbacks who were the most valuable 2022 eligible prospects have had their value drop close to nil with Spencer Rattler and Kedon Slovis. The remaining option, Sam Howell has retained his value over time however many, including myself, view him as a limited prospect. The underlying reason for this class being below-average compared to other recent classes is not because every player in the class of 2022 will be a bust. The reason why the 2022 NFL rookie class is underwhelming is that we have too low of a confidence interval on the likelihood of an individual player being a viable fantasy option consistently.
Jahan Dotson is dominating in 2021, continuing his success from last season. In nine games last year, Dotson had 884 yards and eight touchdowns, and now through nine games in 2021 Dotson has 932 yards and nine touchdowns. Although his success is later in his college career, his dominance cannot be ignored. His production and strong film has not gone unnoticed. NFL Draft expert and analyst Mel Kiper is very high on the Nittany Lions’ WR. As of September 30th, Kiper had Dotson as the No. 8 player overall and WR1 on his 2022 NFL Draft Big Board.
This redshirt junior QB stands at 6’4” 215 lbs., and he is having a great season so far. Nationally Carson Strong is fifth in passing yardage, with 2,883, and is sixth in passing touchdowns, with 24. Through eight games in 2021, Carson has already surpassed this passing total of 2,858 last year and is only three touchdowns behind his 27 from last season. After his impressive sophomore season, Strong had some hype going into this season, and he has lived up to it so far. As things stand now, I believe he is firmly in the discussion for top-five QB in the 2022 class.
Romeo Doubs is a senior wide receiver for the Nevada Wolf Pack. He stands 6’2 and 200 lbs. which if validated at the NFL Combine represents a receiver that can play the slot or on the outside. Doubs will not test off the charts athletically at the NFL Combine, but he is likely to hit all of the athletically-based thresholds we like to see. Although coming out of Nevada is not ideal for a prospect, the Mountain West has brought up incredible players like Marshall Faulk, Nate Burleson, Keenan McCardell, Doug Martin, and most recently Davante Adams.
Hello again Fantasy Devy Gamers! Each week I will bring you the latest updates, performances, and NFL buzz surrounding college players that should prove to be integral to their eventual NFL Draft Stock. I will utilize recent statistics, performance and film, and general “front office whispers” to compile the intel I share with you. My hope is to provide you with a leg up on your opponents. You will know which devy players to target in trades and/or in what range of draft picks (both NFL and fantasy drafts) you can expect these players to be selected.
Xavier Worthy is a 6’1” and 160 lbs. burner who was the eighth-rated wide receiver in the 2021 class, and a top-75 player overall. Worthy was originally committed to Michigan, but when Steve Sarkisian accepted the Texas head coaching job he flipped Worthy, who he recruited hard during his time at Alabama. By flipping Worthy’s commitment, Sarkisian made it a point to get instant production from his first hand-picked prospect.
True freshman Caleb Williams made his first official start and it was nothing short of spectacular. The 6’1″ 218 lbs., 5-Star, #2 QB in the 2021 class, put on a clinic against Texas Christian University, completing 78.3% of his passes, for 295 yards and four touchdowns. He also added 66 yards and another touchdown on the ground. He looked like a seasoned veteran, picking apart the Horned Frogs defense with a Passer Rating of 243.4. There were questions going into the game, on who would take the first snap at QB, Spencer Rattler or Caleb Williams? Is Rattler still on the team? Will Spencer Rattler transfer? Well, I think is now safe to say, Spencer Rattler will not play for Sooners next season, and will only play for them this season if Williams gets hurt.