Fall Camp CFF Stock Report – August 8th
Fall Camp CFF Stock Report – August 8th
I have reviewed news from fall camps across the country and now look at how that news impacts player’s college fantasy football value. I then assign a generic positive/negative point score to the impact of the news affecting a player’s value. A history of weekly value updates will be tracked on the Purple Reign Big Boards at the bottom of the article to track how players are trending through fall camp.
STOCK RISING
WR Ja'Corey Brooks (Lou) +1.00: In the first 11-on-11 session of fall camp Brooks was the primary target for QB Tyler Shough. Brooks and Chris Bell look to be the starting outside receivers and Bell had the most buzz around his name during the spring. Every year since 2019 head coach Jeff Brohm has featured an outside receiver as his WR1 in the offense.
WR Jayden Thomas (ND) +1.00: Thomas caught the eyes of the media with his outstanding play at the start of fall camp. Going back to 2018 offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has favored a slot receiver for his WR2 and Thomas plays in the slot. The biggest competition for Thomas should be Jaden Greathouse but I believe Thomas will play a balanced role of inside and outside alignments and not be the full-time slot receiver.
WR Jacoby Jones (UCF) +0.75: Jones had his 2023 season cut short at Ohio due to a leg injury. Has has made his transfer impact felt early in fall camp catching two touchdowns in the team’s first scrimmage. If he can solidify a starting spot he should battle with Xavier Townsend to for the team’s WR2 role in the offense.
WR Josh Meredith (WaSt) +0.50: Meredith is firmly on the first-string offense at one slot position and his biggest fantasy competition looked to be Kris Hutson at the other slot (see below for more on Hutson). Until we see more positive news come out of camp involving Hutson it looks like Meredith would be the only fantasy worthy slot receiver to target in the offense at this point.
WR Cam Camper (Boise) +0.25: There is not a lot of fantasy value in the Boise State passing offense but the best option would be the WR1 with deep threat ability. Camper looks like the best option to fit that receiver profile and has not shown ill effects from his previous knee injury. He’s been the offense’s deep touchdown target since the beginning of fall camp.
RB Maurice Turner (Lou) +0.25: Turner was the first running back to receive carries with the first-string offense at the start of fall camp. Turner was expected to be the RB2 behind Donald Chaney Jr. in what was going to be a tough fought position battle. This is still very early and you can expect more movement to come in Turner’s value as fall camp continues.
WR Deion Smith (Miss) +0.25: Smith was a JUCO star in 2023 and brings some serious potential to the Mississippi receiver core. His first task was getting academically cleared into school which he did achieve. We’ll see how quickly he can learn the playbook and if he can stand out in a talented receiver room before we know if he’ll bring some real fantasy value in 2024.
STOCK FALLING
WR Joseph Manjack (Hou) -0.75: Manjack left practice early then was not seen at the following practice and no reason has been provided as to why. This could just be a private family issue, or something more serious to impact his physical playing ability. Another factor hurting Manjack is that he plays in the slot. The slot receiver over the past two seasons for head coach Willie Fritz has finished as the team’s WR3.
WR Kris Hutson (WaSt) -0.75: Hudson finds himself on the second-string offense behind Tony Freeman at one of the Cougars’ slot receiver positions. We’ll see if this is just because Hutson is back from injury and has to earn his stripes or if Hutson isn’t talented enough to dethrone Freeman.
RB Montrell Johnson (Fla) -0.50: Johnson suffered a knee injury during practice and had a routine scope procedure done. The team stated he will not miss an extended period of time but there should be doubts on when he will be able to handle a full workload. He won’t be able to do full conditioning for a while which may limit his carries in the first couple of games. If he is kept from full participation for an extended period of time the worry meter should start to rise fast.
WR Tetairoa McMillan (Ariz) -0.50: McMillan was expected to be fully healthy for the start of fall camp but was seen not participating in drills on the first day of camp. He did elevate to limited participation the following practices. If this continues it could be a sign that his leg injury may affect his fantasy value but we’re not going to get too carried away just yet.
RB LJ Martin (BYU) -0.25: A report from day one of fall camp stated that Martin is likely to miss the first 3-4 games of the season with the same shoulder injury that hampered him in 2023. On day two of fall camp Martin told the media he is a full participant and will be available for the season opener. This could be a minor misstatement from day one, or the coaches let something slip out that they didn’t want the public to know. We’ll have to monitor this for more info but as of now I’m viewing it as a slight fall in value.
RB Donald Chaney Jr. (Lou) -0.25: While many people expected Chaney to be the top guy in the Cardinals’ backfield, he has started camp behind Maurice Turner. This position battle should rage on through fall camp so things are very early in their development. We’ll get a better picture for how things will shake out once contact drills and scrimmages begin.
RUNNING BACK BIG BOARD
WIDE RECEIVER BIG BOARD
