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
BROC LOWRY (WestMi): Lowry has now put up four fantasy productive games in a row, with fantasy scores ranging from 22.35-36.85 fantasy points. He’s only thrown for 200+ yards twice in those two games, but he’s making his money on the ground. On the season he’s accounted for 28.5% of all rushing attempts, 38.8% of all rushing yards, and 53.8% of all rushing TDs (scored 5 rushing TDs in last four games).
BEAR BACHMEIER (BYU): Bachmeier has also produced four straight good performances ranging from 24.9-30.9 fantasy points. How he produces his fantasy points changes regularly. Some games he’s hot passing with less than 50 yards rushing, while other games he fails to hit 200 yards passing while doing real damage on the ground. BYU has the #12 fantasy rushing offense and Bachmeier is scoring 41.2% of all rushing TDs.
DEXTER WILLIAMS II (KennSt): Williams has been banged up for some time and playing hurt. This has held his fantasy production in check, but last week looked like he is fully healthy again. Against Louisiana Tech he scored 31 fantasy points off of 290 yards passing with 4 TDs. He has a bye in week 8 but after that he has a really nice match-up with FIU.
CADEN CREEL (JacSt): Jacksonville State’s starting QB has been injured and Creel has stepped up twice now scoring 29.55 and 24.55 fantasy points. He’s been a good fit for this rushing offense, and he has run for more yards than he’s passed for in both of his starts. The fantasy match-up grades in the chart above are based on passing. When you look at the rushing match-ups for the rest of the schedule 5/6 of the remaining games have an A grade with the worse match up being a B+.
ANTHONY COLANDREA (UNLV): Despite an off game against Wyoming, Colandrea has been solid as a fantasy QB2. Last week against Air Force he had his best game of the season scoring 40.25 fantasy points. He’s normally good for around 25 fantasy points. His match-ups from Weeks 10-12, & 14 look to be pretty solid for him in your fantasy line-up.
JAYLEN RAYNOR (ArkSt): Raynor had a bounce-back game last week against Texas State scoring 41.6 fantasy points. He’s been very up and down this season which makes it hard to pick him up and feel like you can rely on him. His upcoming schedule is better for rushing match ups than passing, and while Raynor is getting carries his rushing production fluctuates a lot.
RUNNING BACKS
JAKAIL MIDDLEBROOK (MidTN): Middlebrook had been average for the first month of the season. The coaches have increased his workload over the last two weeks and he has averaged 18.5 carries/game for 101 yards/game and 1 TD/game. He provides a small PPR value as well. While Middle Tennessee ranks #133 for fantasy rushing offense, Middlebrooks does account for 48.4% of all carries, 87.1% of all rushing yards, and 50% of all rushing TDs.
JAVIN GORDON (Tul): I want to see more from Gordon before I’m willing to buy into him personally. Three weeks ago he was given 15 carries and he gained 78 yards and 3 TDs. Last week he got 10 carries but for just 34 yards (he was saved with 35 yards and 1 TD receiving). Yes he is producing fantasy points in his last two games but the way he’s getting those points worries me that he can’t make it last.
CALEB KOMOLAFE (NW): Since Komolafe took over the starting job he has been consistent with Over the last three games he has scored 17.9, 19.5, & 14.6 fantasy points. He has two good match ups against Purdue and Nebraska, but that’s the only good match up remaining on the schedule.
KENDRICK REESCANO (Ariz): After missing multiple games due to injury Reescano had a modest showing last week against BYU. He ran the ball 13 times for 90 yards and 1 TD. I don’t see a playable match up until Week 10 and 11 against Colorado and Kansas. He’s worth grabbing if you’re in a Power 4 only league since RBs are hard to find in that type of league format.
JEVYON DUCKER (Tem): Ducker has been inconsistent this season. He puts up decent fantasy numbers one week, then scores around 4 fantasy points the next week. Over the last 5 games, when he has been decent he has scored 14.77, 15.6, & 22.6 fantasy points. I do like that he has gotten 14, 16, & 24 carries in the last three games.
WIDE RECEIVERS
PARKER KINGSTON (BYU): Kingston has scored 25.1 and 20.2 fantasy points over the past two games. These two games are the only ones where he has scored a TD. When he doesn’t find the end zone he fails to score 10 fantasy points. I like his recent success but I don’t like the upcoming schedule (first decent fantasy match up is Week 12 against TCU).
ISAIAH SATEGNA (Okla): Last week was a setback for Sategna but he managed to score 20+ fantasy points in the two games prior. I still like him as a waiver wire target as he got 11 targets last week against Texas. As Mateer’s hand gets healthier he should continue to work his way back to what he know he can do.
GRIFFIN WILDE (NW): Wilde has been pretty reliable over the past three games scoring 19.3, 13.9, & 18.9 fantasy points. He has 20 targets for 17 receptions, 256 yards and 3 TDs over these games. Those games were against UCLA (before the turnaround), UL-Monroe, and a terrible playing Penn State. The upcoming schedule is a detriment though.
NYZIAH HUNTER (Neb): Who the WR1 is for Nebraska has been changing all season long. Right now Hunter has taken that role, scoring 17.3 and 27 fantasy points over the last two games. He hasn’t had more than 6 targets as Nebraska keeps spreading the ball around. The next four opponents are good fantasy match-ups though.
GABRIEL BENYARD (KennSt): Every week I keep bringing up Benyard as a WR to target. He continues to be reliable, scoring 13+ fantasy points in his last four games. He typically will score around 14 fantasy points which means he has a limited fantasy ceiling, but he has popped off once before (20.4 fantasy points). I still like him as a solid WR/Flex that can round out a fantasy line-up most weeks.
KAMRYN PERRY (MiaOH): Perry is very similar to Benyard in regards to fantasy scoring, but Perry has big play potential and better chances for popping off in a given week. He usually scores around 13 fantasy points, but over the last five games he has pulled in more than 3 receptions twice and scored a TD twice. The upcoming schedule isn’t great which might make it too difficult to trust him in your line up.
CAMRON LACY (MidTN): Lacy has been playing all season but its been the last two games where he has taken off. In those games he is averaging 8 targets for 7 receptions, 105 yards and 1 TD. He has done it twice now which opens me up to looking at him as someone worth a shot on. He’s on a Bye this week but after that he has three good match ups in a row.
JOSIAH FREEMAN (Fres): Freeman has taken off the last two weeks scoring 17.5 and 24.4 fantasy points. He was targeted 15 times last week but the next best performance this season saw him targeted 7 times. He has scored 2 TDs in each of the last two games but those are his only TDs this season, and he has yet to rack up 90 receiving yards in a game. I think you wait and monitor his name before picking him up.
TIGHT ENDS
LUKE LINDENMEYER (Neb): What a surprise, I have Lindenmeyer as a waiver wire target again. He managed to score 10 fantasy points on 2 receptions for 30 yards and 1 TD. The bad about him is that over the last two games he has 3 receptions for 36 yards and that 1 TD. The good about him is that over the last five games he has scored 9+ fantasy points three times and the upcoming schedule unfolds nicely.
ROCKY BEERS (ColSt): Beers has been filling in for the injured Jaxxon Warren. On 9/20 he scored 11.8 fantasy points, then had two stinker games before last week. Against Fresno State last week he scored 16.1 fantasy points. He is totaly TD dependent as he gets 4 or less receptions and had not racked up 40 yards in a game yet.
QUARTERBACKS
TOP 5 TARGETS
CARLOS DEL RIO-WILSON (Marsh): Take note, this is your last chance to land DRW (Del Rio-Wilson). Since taking over the starting job he has scored 37.25, 33, & 40.15 fantasy points. While he is throwing for over 200 yards and 2+ TDs in each of these games, he’s producing on the ground (scored a rushing TD in 3 of last 4 games). Last week’s fantasy match up against Old Dominion wasn’t good but he still put up great fantasy numbers. He might be an every week starter moving forward.
TUCKER KILCREASE (Troy): I had a hard time figuring out how much I like Kilcrease. He has been playing for 4 weeks but hasn’t been fantasy viable until the last two weeks. The schedule has been much easier these last two weeks which led Kilcrease to score 30.35 and 42.35 fantasy points. 30 fantasy points is more realistic. Last week he passed for 415 yards and 5 TDs compared to throwing for 200 yards and 2 TDs, with some rushing production and a rushing TD. If he posts good fantasy numbers again this week I’ll feel much better about him.
NICK MINICUCCI (UD): Minicucci is coming off a Bye week. 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.
MASON HEINTSCHEL (Pitt): In his second start of the season Heintschel put up a respectable performance, scoring 26.45 fantasy points. He’s now thrown for 300+ yards and 2+ TDs in his last two games. Every game on the upcoming schedule has a B fantasy match up grade or better. I have more faith in Heintschel over Kilcrease and Minicucci, but those later two appear to have the higher fantasy ceiling over Heintschel.
TAQUAN ROBERSON (Buff): Roberson is coming off a Bye week. Don’t be fooled by the 14.8 fantasy PPG that Roberson has scored over the past three games. 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
Both Eget and Heintschel are playing red hot and they have the only A fantasy match up grades for the week. I would recommend Heintschel over Eget only because he was good enough to make my Top 5. Kilcrease should be able to keep his hot hand going this week but DRW is definitely the safer play. I actually like Roberson as the best of the final three players on the list, with Davenport taking up the last spot.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
There are so many QBs that are being leaned on by their coaches. I’ve hit on most of these players already. The only player I haven’t talked about yet is Davenport. He has scored 25.65 and 26.4 fantasy points over the last two games. I think this is probably close to his fantasy ceiling. With so many players listed here, I would say my preferences for this players would reflect the way I’ve listed players in the previous sections.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
While Minicucci has the best playoff schedule on this list, I would favor him the least due to how inconsistent he has been over the last five weeks with his fantasy production. Eget gets the edge over Heintschel because he Notre Dame and Miami games might be difficult for a freshman to capitalize in.
RUNNING BACKS
TOP 5 TARGETS
KING MILLER (USC): USC’s top two RBs went down with injury last week and Miller was given a chance to shine. Against Michigan Miller was given 18 carries that he turned into 158 yards and 1 TD. He was able to get large gains in a game where the defense was loading up to stop the run. Miller will be fed a big workload for a couple of weeks until Sanders and Jordan return to action, but for how many weeks? That’s my biggest concern with Miller but I can’t deny how damn good he looked.
ZYLAN PERRY (ULLaf): Perry sat out last week’s game due to injury. 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 every game left on the schedule are good fantasy match ups.
MICHAEL ALLEN (Marsh): When the Marshall offense took off three games ago Allen has been playing well. In the first two of those games he was being fed 21 and 19 carries. Those carries shrunk to 11 last week (for 37 yards) but he was rescued by 55 receiving yards and 1 receiving TD. I still have faith in Allen and Marhsall has the #35 fantasy rush offense.
JEFFREY PITTMAN: (SMiss): Pittman now has two consecutive weeks where he has been featured more prominently in the offense. He’s scored 20 and 26.6 fantasy points in those games, and see his carries increase to 18 and 31. He’s now on a three game streak of scoring 2 rushing TDs in a game. He also has scored 66.7% of all rushing TDs for Southern Miss.
KENDRICK RAPHAEL (Cal): Raphael is coming off a Bye week. After two very disappointing performances in Weeks 3-4 Raphael has bounced back in a nice way. Two games ago against Boston College he scored 18.7 fantasy points and his most recent game 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.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
Due to Perry’s injury status you might not want to target him superficially for us this week. Allen is the top dog of this group with Pittman and King as the next best two players (Perry behind both of them). Ducker’s match up is good but I have worries about how high his fantasy ceiling is this week. But having said that I still prefer him over Gordon and Komolafe.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
While being listed at the bottom of this list, Komolafe has had the most reliable workload over the past three weeks. All other players on this list have just had two games of larger workloads. I do prefer Pittman over Raphael, and Raphael over the other players. Ducker and Middlebrook are very similar in my eyes, where I’m not sure just how much I fully trust the newly established workloads.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
Pittman might be the player you can rely on the most from this group. Pittman has been the RB1 all season long. Miller just took over the RB1 job and we have no clue what his role will be once Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders are healthy again. There’s a good chance Miller won’t have any fantasy value once the playoffs roll around. Gordon is someone that I’m not looking at as an established RB1 for Tulane. He has a better chance of holding fantasy value come playoff time than Miller does.
WIDE RECEIVERS
TOP 5 TARGETS
DEMARCUS LACEY (Marsh): This could be the last chance you have to land Lacey on the waiver wire. In his last three games he has produced 24.3, 32.7, & 23.5 fantasy points. Over those three games his per game averages are 9 targets for 7.6 receptions, 127.6 yards and 1.3 TDs. The Marshall offense is red hot and you want a piece of it.
CJ WILLIAMS (Stan): Williams has become a target machine for a Stanford offense that continually finds themselves playing from behind. This is a recipe for fantasy success. Over the last three games he has gotten 13, 18, & 9 targets in games where he has scored 14.8, 19.8, & 20.4 fantasy points. On the season he is averaging 9.7 targets/game but the one negative thing I see here is that he is only scoring 16.7% of all receiving TDs.
JACKSON HARRIS (Hawaii): Harris returned to action in full health two games ago and has been living up to preseason expectations. He has scored 29.9 and 15.2 fantasy points in those games, and has a per game average of 10 targets for 7 receptions, 130.5 yards and 1 TD during that span. Hawaii’s schedule is so nice that Harris can be an every week starter in your fantasy line up.
CORTEZ BRAHAM (Mem): Braham is coming off a Bye week. In his last game 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.
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 where he scored 23.5 and 20 fantasy points against New Mexico State and San Jose State. Against San Jose State he had a whopping 15 targets for 11 receptions, and he’s hit 135+ receiving yards in his last two contests. He was held to just 12.3 fantasy points against Boise State last week but that could have been expected.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
I’m going to stick with my Top 5 guys in Harris and Lacey as my top picks for this week. They’ve been too hot to not favor most. The two players I favor next are Epps and Koger. They’re scoring good points but Epps is receiving a much better workload than Koger is. Hunter may or may not remain the WR1 for Nebraska but I’ll take him just over Pauling who has scored a TD in his last three games. Waseem has the best match up but has been inconsistent with his play. For the bottom three players I would take Braham, then Johnson, then Barkate.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
This is one of the largest WR workload lists I’ve featured this season. I’ve covered all these players in previous sections of this article but I have not commented on Epps from Troy. He’s scored 14.4 and 33.8 fantasy points in his last two games. His workload jumped up big time last week with 13 targets, when his total the week before was 6 targets. It might be too early to tell if Epps can maintain a high workload moving forward.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
Pauling has become a reliable WR for the Irish as he has scored 12.8, 13.3, & 18.5 fantasy points over the last three weeks. He looks to be another high floor, low ceiling player and I think he’s the most reliable guy on this list for your playoff ambitions. Barkate would be next as he has been on a three game scoring streak. When he doesn’t score a TD he usually averages around 11 fantasy points a game. Waseem and Koger and not guys I’m willing to count on in the playoffs yet but they have the opportunity to earn that trust between now and them.
TIGHT ENDS
TOP 5 TARGETS
BROC LANE (UtSt): In Week 1 Lane scored 11.7 fantasy points on a 1 reception for 52 yards and 1 TD performance. He then missed several weeks injured before returning in Week 5. In his last two games he has scored 13.3 and 12.8 fantasy points. In those games he has totaled 16 targets for 11 receptions, 146 yards and 1 TD. Healthy, increased workload, and an upcoming schedule that is extremely juicy make him a clear top choice.
SAM ROUSH (Stan): Roush is another player who has delt with injuries but has returned and it getting hot. If you remove his game against Virginia and focus on the three other most recent games, he has scored 15.4, 11.8, & 12.9 fantasy points. His highest receptions in a game was 3 before last week when he was hauled in 8 receptions.
BODEN GROEN (Kan): Groen took over the starting job and in his first two games he scored 16.9 and 7.3 fantasy points. His per game average in those games he averaged 4 targets for 3.5 receptions, 73.5 yards and 0.5 TDs. This is a realistic expectation for most games. Last week against Texas Tech the offense was forced to check the ball down to Groen all day which resulted in a 20.1 fantasy point performance of 14 targets for 13 receptions, 76 yards, and 1 TD.
RICKIE ANDERSON (Fres): Over the last four games Anderson is averaging 9.4 fantasy PPG. In those first two games he had a total of 5 targets for 3 receptions, 39 yards and 2 TDs. In the two most recent games he has a total of 16 targets for 13 receptions, 137 yards but no TDs. What I like here is that he finds a way to keep scoring fantasy points despite different workloads and scoring opportunities.
IZAYAH CUMMINGS (App): I continue to like Cummings despite his up and down performances. Last week he broke a two game slump by scoring 18.4 fantasy points. Cumming is a player that you have to use in the right match ups so if you’re looking for regular help in your line up he may not be the right option for you.
CURRENT WEEK MATCH-UP TARGETS
I love Lane’s match up this week with San Jose State as Utah State should be playing from behind again in a high scoring affair. You could flip a coin between Lindenmeyer and Cummings. Lindenmeyer probably has the best fantasy floor while Cummings has the best fantasy ceiling.
VOLUME WORKLOAD TARGETS
Lane and Roush have the most consistent workloads of this group. As I mentioned earlier Anderson’s workload has increased lately but we know it could drop back down any game. Groen only makes this list due to the inflated targets he got last game.
PLAYOFF MATCH-UP TARGETS
The Boise State game is the only game that’s not great for Lane’s rest of the season. I think he’s an every week starter from here on out.