College Fantasy Football championships are won and lost on the waiver wire. Purple Reign has identified the players you need to target on this week’s waiver wire that will help give your fantasy team a champion’s edge.
Premium subscribers will have access to hand chosen waiver wire targets for Joe Arpasi’s Top 5 selections, the best match-ups on this week’s slate, high volume workload players, and players with the most favorable playoff match-ups.
In the free preview below I will review players I feel are honorable mention waiver wire targets that did not make any of the specified target lists that are featured for premium subscribers.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
QUARTERBACKS
WALKER EGET (SJSU): Something has started to click for Eget over the last two weeks. He’s scored 38.05 and 30.4 fantasy points over those two games while averaging 3 passing TDs/game during that span. San Jose State has the #25 ranked fantasy passing offense and he is has been averaging over 35 pass attempts/game over the last three weeks.
BROC LOWRY (WestMi): I can’t deny Lowry’s fantasy value after he has put together three decent games in a row. During those games he has scored 27.05, 22.35, & 27.35 fantasy points. His fantasy value is tied to his rushing ability where he is averaging 15.6 carries/game and 1.3 rushing TDs/game over the last three games (scoring 60% of all rushing TDs).
KIAEL KELLY (Ball): Kelly is another player who has put together three decent fantasy performances in a row scoring 27.35, 25.55, & 30.85 fantasy points. He is a true dual-threat QB who has rushed for 90+ yards and scored a rushing TD in two of the last three games, and he accounts for 45.1% of all rushing attempts. He is very weak throwing the ball, only throwing for more than 1 TD once this season.
RUNNING BACKS
DONTAE MCMILLAN (E Mi): Eastern Michigan’s rushing game isn’t very string, ranking #73 for fantasy rushing offenses. McMillan is averaging 17.3 carries/game over the last three weeks but only accounts for 39.6% of all rushing attempts on the season. Scoring TDs is his weakness as he accounts for only 20% of all rushing TDs and has only scored one rushing TD over the last four games. He is the PPR back on this list, getting 28.6% of all receiving yards.
LESHON WILLIAMS (Kan): Williams has stepped into the starting role with Daniel Hishaw being sidelined with injury. He’s scored 23+ fantasy points in two of his last three games. Diving into the numbers I see things that give me hesitation. Three games ago against West Virginia and had a good day rushing, but a single 39 yard reception that went for a TD padded his fantasy points. Last week against UCF he only carried the ball 12 times for 58 yards but somehow managed 3 rushing TDs. I’m not totally sold he will maintain this.
KENDRICK RAPHAEL (Cal): After two very disappointing performances in Week 3-4 Raphael has bounced back in a nice way. Two weeks ago against Boston College he scored 18.7 fantasy points and last week against Duke he scored 22.7 fantasy points. Over those two games his per game average is 21.5 carries for 93 yards and 1.5 TDs. Cal’s rushing offense is ranked a dreadful #116 on the season but Raphael is getting 50.5% of all carries, 72.9% of all rushing yards, and 50% of all rushing TDs.
JORDAN GANT (Akr): I’m not quiet sold on Gant yet but wanted to cover him. Last week against Central Michigan he carried the ball 32 times for 176 yards, had 3 receptions for 28 yards and 1 receiving TD. That was the only time this season he’s hit 14+ carries in a game. Three weeks ago against an FCS school he had 13 carries for 161 yards and 3 rushing TDs. I' don’t know how the coaches will handle his workload moving forward and its possible he goes back to 13 carries or less per game.
JEFFERY PITTMAN (SMiss): Pittman is the best of this group if you need immediate help as his next two games look nice. Over the past two weeks he’s scored 18.8 and 20 fantasy points. Last week he got 18 carries which is good to see, but in all his other games he’s ranged from 6-10 carries. This is another case of worrisome workload projection moving forward
WIDE RECEIVERS
CHAS NIMROD (SoFL): If you go back through Nimrod’s last three games he has been providing a decent floor around 14.3 fantasy points, with one big performance against an FCS school. He has gone for 110+ yards and at least 1 TD in two of his last three games. His workload isn’t that large and he only accounts for 18.6% of all receptions and 32.7% of all receiving yards.
CORTEZ BRAHAM (Mem): Last week against Tulsa I expected Braham to have an off day and he did, being held to 9.6 fantasy points. The two games before that he was averaging 23.7 fantasy points with 9.5 targets for 6.5 receptions, 114.5 yards and 1.5 TDs. I still like him to be the big play guy when the offense needs to remain balanced.
GABRIEL BENYARD (KennSt): I’ve been covering Benyard for weeks now and still see him as a reliable fantasy asset. He has scored 13+ fantasy points in 5/6 games, and he’s had 5+ receptions and scored a TD in 3/5 games. I also like that he is scoring 60% of all receiving TDs for the Owls.
KWAZI GILMER (UCLA): There’s been a change in play caller at UCLA and the offense took off last week. Gilmer produced 18.4 fantasy points with 79 yards and 1 TD. UCLA will still likely play from behind in most of their games and Gilmer looks to be the WR1 that the new play caller wants to lean on.
CAMDEN BROWN (GaSo): Another week and another Brown recommendation by me. He’s not flashing but he’s a safe guy you can count on for at least 13 fantasy points (only scored less than that in one game). He has hit 20+ fantasy points twice this season which means you could get lucky with a fantasy ceiling pop which is usually based on his TD production (scoring 55.6% of all receiving TDs).
GARY BRYANT JR. (Oreg): Bryant has been providing a decent fantasy floor but with no real ceiling upside. Over the last two weeks he has score 14 and 14.5 fantasy points. If you remove the Northwestern game he has scored a TD in every game and he has seen a slight bump in his workload since that Northwestern game.
KAMRYN PERRY (MiaOH): I’ve been keeping my eye on Perry lately as he is a big play explosive WR that is averaging 28.5 yards/reception. Last week against Northern Illinois was a dud of a fantasy performance but he has scored between 12.8-25.7 fantasy points in the three game prior to that. The QB play at Miami hasn’t been consistent and Perry’s only been able to reach the end zone against an FCS school.
COOPER BARKATE (Duke): The things I like about Barkate is that he has scored 14, 21.2, & 15.1 fantasy points over the last three games, and he’s scored a TD in each of the last three games. What I don’t like about him is that he’s never had more than 5 receptions in a game, he’s only reached 80 receiving yards in a game once, and he has two byes over the next three weeks.
TIGHT ENDS
CHAMON METAYER (AzSt): Metayer has received 6 targets/game in each of his last three games, but unfortunately he was held to 25 yards last week and failed to score 5 fantasy points. I still like how he is being used on a consistent basis in the offense but I feel his ceiling is probably capped a bit.
BRYCE CAUFIELD (OreSt): Caufield is probably just a name to monitor for now. He wasn’t able to do anything against Oregon but that was expected. Against Houston he had 6 targets and 4 receptions, and against Texas Tech he had 10 targets for 7 receptions. He doesn’t have a playable fantasy match-up in the next three weeks (ignore the FCS match-up as OSU will be able to run the ball) and that’s another reason I’m saying to just monitor Caufield moving forward.
QUARTERBACKS
TOP 5 TARGETS
LIAM SZARKA (AF): Its now been three weeks in a row that Szarka has put up big numbers scoring 25.5, 37.8, & 43.8 fantasy points. The passing game has been opened up over that span and he’s thrown for 200+ yards and 2 TDs in each of those games. He’s also taking care of business on the ground with 30.9% of all rushing attempts, 36.6 % of all rushing yards, and 40% of all rushing TDs.
CARLOS DEL RIO-WILSON (Marsh): DRW is coming off a bye week. He took over the starting job in Week 4 and the offense has been clicking since then. He scored 37.25 and 33 fantasy points against Middle Tennessee and UL-Lafayette. Over the past three games he’s averaging 15.7 carries/game and over the past two games is averaging 26.5 pass attempts/game.
MASON HEINTSCHEL (Pitt): The coaches made a change at QB going into this week and Heintschel had a big coming out party. He threw the ball 41 times for 323 yards and 4 TDs in the air, while running the ball 10 times for 28 yards (good for 34.95 fantasy points). The next three opponents are great fantasy match-ups, but we’ve only seen him do it once. If you pick him up you might want to see how he does against Florida State before throwing him into your starting line-up.
NICK MINICUCCI (UD): I’ve been on the Minicucci train since Week 1. Every other game he hits 30+ fantasy points, with two subpar fantasy games wedged in-between. Trying to predict how many rushing or passing TDs he could get in a given week its very tough since it changes all the time. While he isn’t very efficient when it comes to rushing yardage production, he is still accounting for 70% of all rushing TDs.
TAQUAN ROBERSON (Buff): Don’t be fooled by the 14.8 fantasy PPG that Roberson has scored over the past three weeks. He was injured in a game and only scored 5.9 fantasy points. If you remove that game and look at his last three games you’ll see that he has scored 29.45, 30.2, & 23.47 fantasy points. I gave him the last spot in my Top 5 because I like the way his schedule starts to open up after he comes back from his Week 7 bye.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
As I look at this group I feel like the best option is probably to keep riding the hot hand of Szarka. His match-up with Navy last week was worse than what we see with UNLV. I mentioned that I’m not sure I trust Heintschel this week against Florida State so that would push Iamaleava up to the #2 recommendation for this week. Eget would round out my top three here.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
You can’t deny the workload that Heintschel had in his debut which looks gret moving forward. I’m surprised that Fifita has been averaging 50 total touches/game over the last 3 weeks and Minicucci continue to be a top workload target. The bottom four players are all extremely similar to each other in their workload distribution and volume. We’ve seen this play out over three games now for Kelly, DRW, and Lowry; while we’ve only seen it once from Iamaleava.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
As of right now I would trust Fifita in my playoff starting line-up more than anyone else on this list. Minicucci technically has three good match-up grades but I worry about the Wake Forest game. We will see over the next couple of weeks if Heintschel can be trusted as a playoff starting fantasy QB.
RUNNING BACKS
TOP 5 TARGETS
ZYLAN PERRY (ULLaf): Perry is coming off a bye week. It appears the coaching staff has settled in on how to utilized Perry over these last games. He is only averaging 14.5 carries/game over that span but he racked up 185 yards and 4 TDs (24.1 & 22.3 fantasy points scored). Its not easy to maintain efficiency like that but there’s only two games left on the schedule that are not good fantasy match-ups.
MICHAEL ALLEN (Marsh): Allen is coming off a bye week. Starting in Week 3 Allen has taken control of this backfield. Over the last two gameks he has scored 16.2 and 32.2 fantasy points to go with a total of 40 carries for 228 yards and 3 TDs. This Marshall offense has come to life on the ground and in the air recently. While I have Marshall ranked #42 for fantasy rushing offenses I see that ranking getting better each week as the season plays out.
WAYNE KNIGHT (JMU): Knight has emerged as the RB1 for James Madison. He has scored 17+ fantasy points in his last three games (26.6 fantasy points once), and he’s rushed for 85+ yards and 1 TD in his last three games as well. He does bring some PPR value to the table, with 15 targets for 10 receptions and 72 yards during those last three games.
QUA ASHLEY (Ball): We’ve seen a nix bag of fantasy results from Ashley when he’s faced non Power 4 teams. He scored 37.7 fantasy points against an FCS school, and he’s scored 17.5 and 6.9 fantasy points against UConn and Ohio. The 6 point performance against Ohio was expected in my eyes. If the offense can stay in a neutral game script and is QB Kiael Kelly doesn’t steal too many rushing scoring opportunities, then Ashley can be a solid fantasy back.
NATE SHEPPARD (Duke): I’m not very confident with Sheppard but I can’t ignore what he’s done over the past two games. He has scored 34.1 and 22.2 fantasy points, and rushed for 90+ yards and 2 TDs in each of those games (Syracuse and California). Don’t be surprised if you can pick him up later as two of his next three weeks features byes.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
This is a short list to chose from. Knight is the hands down best option of this group. I would take a chance on Allen over Pittman due to workload size difference and how hot the Marshall offense has been lately.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
The first thing that jumps out to me is that everyone on this list is averaging at least 3 targets/game over the last three weeks. Allen has had a more consistent workload volume while Gant’s volume goes up and down like a rollercoaster. Because of Gant’s turbulent workloads he would be my least favorite of this group. I would take Knight over McMillan to round out this list.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
This is really simple - Knight is the only guy her.
WIDE RECEIVERS
TOP 5 TARGETS
ISIAH SATEGNA (Okla): Sategna first started to emerge in Week 3 against Temple, and in his last two games he has been huge scoring 22.8 and 21.5 fantasy points. What I like is that he has stayed productive despite a QB change occurring last week. The biggest issue with him is that his next three fantasy match-ups are average at best.
DEMARCUS LACEY (Marsh): Lacey is coming off a bye week. Once QB Del Rio-Wilson ignited this Marshall offense, Lacey has been the benefactor in the passing game. In the past two games he has scored 24.3 and 32.7 fantasy points while posting a total of 18 targets for 15 receptions, 262 yards and 3 TDs. He’s even run the ball 5 times for 53 yards during those games. You can ignore his poor performances from the first two games as we now see what this Marshall offense will look like the rest of the way through the season.
JACKSON HARRIS (Hawaii): Harris is coming off a bye week. In Week 0 Harris had 11 targets for 6 receptions, 59 yards and 1 TD against Stanford. He got hurt and didn’t return to action until Week 5 where he went off for 29.9 fantasy points against Air Force with 9 targets for 7 receptions, 144 yards and 2 TDs. If we only use these two games then his per game average come out to 10 targets for 6.5 receptions, 101.5 yards and 1.5 TDs.
KEAGAN JOHNSON (NM): Johnson spent most of the early portion of the season banged up. He has gotten healthy and has put up two good games in the past two weeks. He scored 23.5 and 20 fantasy points against New Mexico State and San Jose State. In last week’s game he had a whopping 15 targets for 11 receptions, and he’s hit 135+ receiving yards in his last two contests.
JORDAN NAPIER (SDSU): Over the last three weeks we’ve seen Napier get 7+ receptions, 150+ yards, and 1 TD twice (California & Colorado State). The biggest knock on Napier is that the San Diego State has the #108 fantasy passing offense. But he does dominate the production, accounting for 43.2% of all receptions, 48% of all receiving yards, and 40% of all receiving TDs.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
KJ Duff did not make the Top 5 but he has been super reliable this season and because of that I would favor him most for help this week. It might be blind faith but I think Harris will come out of his bye week and pick up where he left of in Week 5. Williams had the massive target workload going for him and that pushes me to liking him ahead Gilmer. Pegan could have a breakout day but he has been a bit inconsistent lately. Perry would be my last pick as the QB situation at Miami is a little rough right now.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
Williams stands tall on the top of this list, but he’s the only player to not score a TD over the last three weeks. Johnson and Lacey are tied when you add in their rushing attempts with Duff right behind them. Napier and Sategna are the most reliable of the remaining players with Brown pretty close to them. Pegan should settle back into a fantasy productive guy now that conference play is here.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
I mentioned that Bryant is a good steady floor player in the honorable mentions section and I like a guy like that to help fill in any weak spots in a playoff line-up. Barkate looks more reliable than Pegan right now but that could change over the next couple of weeks. The Utah State offense will need to be firing on all cylinders for the playoffs because UNLV and Boise State will be tough games.
TIGHT ENDS
TOP 5 TARGETS
RANDY PITTMAN (FlaSt): Pittman entered fall camp with nagging injuries and while he did play a little in Week 1, he sat the following games until Week 5. Starting in Week 5 against Virginia and Miami, FL he has scored 19 and 13.4 fantasy points, and racked up a total of 17 targets, 9 receptions, 55 yards and 2 TDs. He has even run the ball for a TD during that span.
GAVIN HARRIS (NMS): I was surprised to see Harris only score 1.2 fantasy points against Sam Houston last week. Maybe the offense was having too good of a day where they didn’t need to feed Harris? In the three games before that he had scored 10.9, 6.77, & 12.7 fantasy points. Don’t let this Sam Houston game scare you off of him.
GARRETT OAKLEY (K St): The last two games have seen a boost for Oakley’s production. Before those weeks he was averaging 2.76 fantasy points/game but has now scored 10.6 and 14.9 fantasy points. He has totaled 14 targets for 9 receptions, 90 yards and 2 TDs during that time.
SAM ROUSH (Stan): In Week 5 against San Jose State Roush score 11.8 fantasy points and scored a TD. The week before he had 1 target for no receptions (not sure if he was hurt). In Week 3 against Boston College he scored 15.4 fantasy points and scored a TD. These are the only games where Roush has scored a TD and had any fantasy relevance. Its hard to figure out this Stanford offense so don’t be surprised if we see more up and down production from him.
BODEN GROEN (Kan): Groen has been filling in for the injured DeShawn Hanika. Since his role has expanded in the last two games he has scored 16.9 and 7.3 fantasy points. What’s impressive is that he is averaging 19.5 yards/reception on the season, showing he can be a threat down the field.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
While Pittman is at the bottom of this list I would lean toward him as my top choice of someone who can help you this week. Oakley has been consistent over the last two weeks compared Roush who’s production goes up and down like a yoyo.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
Pittman’s workload volume is the best of this group, but he is the least efficient with those receptions when it comes to yardage production. Oakley gives the best mix of workload, yardage, and scoring potential of this group. Metayer still has his nice workload but just can’t seem to find the end zone.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
None