Fall Camp CFF Stock Report – August 15th
Fall Camp CFF Stock Report – August 15th
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
RB Jaydon Blue (Tex) +5.00: With Cedric Baxter missing the season after tearing his knee, Blue now takes command of the Longhorns’ backfield. Blue’s talent outshines the rest of the Texas RB room and he should command a monster workload. Blue most likely won’t make it past the mid 2nd round of fantasy drafts now.
RB Amari Daniels & Le'Veon Moss (TxAM) +1.50: With Rueben Owens now hurt for the entire season, Daniels and Moss can look to divide up the carries in offensive coordinator Collin Klein’s rush friendly offense. I see Daniels with an edge over Moss for carry totals, but both get a bump to their value with Owens now out.
RB Ikaika Ragsdale (NorTx) +1.25: After suffering a season ending lower body injury in week 2 of last season, Ragsdale has returned to full action in fall camp. He has been taking most the first-team reps at RB and appears to be locking down the starting job. While I initially viewed this as a committee situation with Minnesota transfer Zach Evans, its looking like Ragsdale is securing a larger share of carries from his performance so far.
WR Giles Jackson (Wash) +1.00: Jackson was the favorite to win the starting slot WR position heading into fall camp. QB Will Rogers has been targeting him regularly in practice. It would take an act of God for Jackson to fall to second-string at this point. He has been going undrafted in fantasy drafts this summer and should be someone you target who has potential to be the Huskies’ WR2.
RB Kaleb Johnson (Iowa) +1.00: Fall camp started with a competition to see who could earn the RB1 role between Johnson and Leshon Williams. Williams will now miss time with an injury which will leave Johnson to lock up the starting position and a larger than expected workload.
QB Kadin Semonza (Ball) +1.00: Semonza has solidified the starting QB job for the Cardinals. Offensive coordinator referred to him as a winner/gamer who is hungry and has, “all the talent in the world.” The redshirt freshman isn’t a draft worthy fantasy talent but he is a player you can keep an eye on in week 2 when he opens the season against Missouri State.
WR Elijah Badger (Fla) +0.75: For two weeks in a row there has been a steady drumbeat of praise coming from the coaching staff about Badger. He has been picking up the playbook, showcasing his physical skills, and exhibiting a strong work ethic. All signs seem to point to “go” for Badger being the solid WR2 in the Gators’ offense.
WR Tetairoa McMillan (Ariz) +0.75: T-Mac has worked his way into participating in all sessions of practices while wearing a non-contact jersey. This should be seen as a good sign for his leg’s health as he would not be performing one-on-one drills if his running ability was still being hampered. The coaches are likely keeping him non-contact to ensure that he doesn’t have any incident that could cause a setback to his recovery.
QB Preston Stone (SMU) +0.50: Stone is back and looking strong as ever in fall camp. The concerns about his previously broken leg should be put in the rearview mirror. Those concerns had many fantasy analyst a bit pessimistic about Stone for 2024.
QB Riley Leonard (ND) +0.50: Leonard has been running and cutting without any limitations in fall camp. It appears his ankle injury has healed and it shouldn’t affect his rushing fantasy value. This was a concern that made Leonard drop in ADP draft value after missing significant time in spring camp.
QB John Mateer (WaSt) +0.50: In the first scrimmage of fall camp Mateer was able to distance himself a bit from Zevi Eckhaus by not turning the ball over. The battle is still going strong and this weekend’s final scrimmage of fall camp will be vital in determining the starter. This race is being evaluated on throwing ability only as Mateer isn’t being called on to perform any QB runs.
WR Chris Hilton (LSU) +0.50: Hilton has been looking good in fall camp thus far. He has regularly beat defensive backs deep in one-on-one and group drills. One touchdown grab he made was on a slot fade route. Hilton has played on the outside. Him running slot fade routes could be a sign that the coaches might move him into a more balanced role. While I’m listing him as the WR3 for the moment, he has the potential to move up to WR2 if we get more word of him playing balanced snaps on the outside and in the slot.
WRs Caleb Douglas and Coy Eakin (TxTch) +0.50: Both Douglas and Eakin have been playing well so far in fall camp and drawing praise from the coaching staff. Both play on the outside which is favored to be the offense’s WR2. Its still unclear if one of these two have stood out more than the other one. I’m giving Douglas a slight edge for his 6’4” frame but this is very much an open race to see who will become the WR2 in the offense.
RB Tawee Walker (Wisc) +0.50: Walker transferred in from Oklahoma hoping to have a shot at taking the starting RB job that was vacated by Braelon Allen. He has impressed the coaches so much that he is making a serious run for the starting role. I’m leaving him listed as the RB2 for now but I have changed the RB1 position battle status to contested.
WR Noah Rogers (NCST) +0.50: Rogers was a redshirt in 2023 that is having a breakout fall camp. The coaching staff has taken notice to the improvements he’s made and it looks like he is on track to become the top outside WR for the Wolfpack. This would equate to the WR2 within the offense as slot WR Kevin Concepcion will command the WR1 role.
WR Jeremiah Patterson (Ariz) +0.50: Patterson was a JUCO transfer who received extra reps in spring camp with Tetairoa McMillan sitting out. Those reps look to be paying off as Patterson has been on fire in fall camp. He has secured the starting punt returner position, and is on track to become the starting slot WR. The slot WR has a good chance of ending up WR2 in the offense and his punt returning skills provide extra fantasy value.
WR Keagan Johnson (K St) +0.50: Johnson has been building a rapport with QB Avery Johnson. Avery Johnson was quoted saying, “If I see him in single coverage, I’m going to him.” The outside WR role has been the predominant WR1 in the Kansas State offense. Its looking like Avery Johnson might be favoring Kaegan Johnson as his favorite target over Penn State transfer Dante Cephas.
RB John Emory (LSU) +0.50: Emory has been impressing the coaches in the early portion of fall camp and is making a case to get a decent share of touches. Co-offensive coordinator Joe Sloan stated that Emery has a chance to get the most touches in the season opener. I’m not quite ready to push him to the RB1 spot but he is rising.
QB Danny O’Neil (SDSU) +0.50: O’Neil has managed to keep himself in the race for starting QB since the spring and has been sharing reps with AJ Duffy to start fall camp. Beat writers say that O’Neil can make all the throws and Duffy has not shown the same arm talent. I’m giving O’Neil a slight edge in this fight for now and this is a situation that I will continue to monitor as fall camp progresses.
QB Bishop Davenport (SoAl) +0.50: While it doesn’t appear that Davenport may wrestle the stating QB job away from Gio Lopez, he has been doing everything in his power to give himself a shot. With Lopez sitting out the most recent scrimmage, Davenport played with the first-string offense and went 13/20 for 228 yards and 2 TDs.
RB Justice Haynes (Bama) +0.25: It appears that Haynes is building an edge in the battle to become the starting RB. Haynes has seen more reps than Jam Miller with the first team offense. While this looks promising I still believe that both backs will get a fair workload of carries and there won’t be a solid workhorse in the Bama backfield.
QB Dylan Raiola (Neb) +0.25: Raiola’s play in fall camp has stood out from Heinrich Haarberg thus far and it appears that Raiola is now the favorite for QB1. Considering how underwhelming Haarberg was last season and the over talent level that Raiola possesses, this isn’t really a surprise.
WR Kris Hutson (WaSt) +0.25: Carlos Hernandez will miss significant time after injuring his foot. That injury had the coaches move Hutson to the outside WR role to compete with Kyle Maxwell for the vacated spot. While Hutson brings lots of talents with him, he still has yet to show the coaches that he is worthy of a starting role in the offense.
WR TJ Moore (Clem) +0.25: The talented freshman has been as advertised so far through fall camp. He’s grabbing attention and might work into contending for some real playing time. Until more news comes out about where he stands on the depth chart this will be a minor value bump.
RB TreVeyon Henderson (OSU) +0.25: It now appears that Henderson will not have to play second fiddle to Judkins but instead play along evenly with him. Both backs are expected to split carries to start the season. Its always preferred to not have a committee share, but Henderson wasn’t being projected to have as high of a workload previously so this news is good news for TreVeyon.
STOCK FALLING
RB Cedric Baxter (Tex) -10.00: Baxter tore his knee in practice and will miss the entire season.
RB Rueben Owens (TxAM) -10.00: Owens will miss the entire 2024 season with a lower body injury suffered in last weekend’s scrimmage.
WR Carlos Hernandez (WaSt) -8.00: Hernandez suffered a foot injury which will keep him out of action for an extended period of time. He was slated to be one of the starting outside WRs for Cougars. At this point its best to remove him from your draft day options.
RB Chip Trayanum (KY) -1.25: So far in camp the coaching staff has stated that no single RB has been able to stand out from the rest and instead you have a collection of players that all bring different tools to the table. Head coach Mark Stoops even went so far as to say, “That's a position we've got to continue to look at it and do it by committee.” That will take the wind out of the sails for all of us who felt like Trayanum could reach 200 carries and 1,000 yards this season. Trayanum doesn’t appear to be at risk of losing the RB1 job but it does look like this workload just got a leg chopped off of it.
RB Leshon Williams (Iowa) -1.00: Williams is expected to miss a period of fall camp with an undisclosed soft tissue injury. While the injury is not expected to be a long term issue, the time away from action will most certainly delegate him to RB2 duties instead of competing for the RB1 role.
WR Micah Hudson (TxTch) -1.00: Many fantasy analyst pegged Hudson to become the WR2 in the Red Raider offense. He’s been taking time adjusting in fall camp while his main competition (Caleb Douglas and Coy Eakin) have been drawing praise. Hudson may not be able to catch up to Douglas or Eakin and challenge for one of the starting outside WR positions.
RB Chez Mellusi (Wisc) -0.50: Most fantasy analysts had Mellusi pegged into the RB1 role this fall but Tawee Walker wasn’t going to take that laying down. Walker has had a fantastic fall camp and Mellusi has failed to secure the starting job so far. While I’m leaving Mellusi as a contested RB1, he could slide to second string or worse yet, a dreaded committee backfield.
QB AJ Duffy (SDSU) -0.50: Duffy has been the player many fantasy analysts have expected to win the QB competition in fall camp but one beat writer described his throwing style as leaving something to be desired. I’m knocking his value down a bit due to not being able to stand out more in the start of fall camp and allowing Danny O’Neil to keep hanging around in the QB battle. While this battle is still contested I’m sliding Duffy down to being slightly behind O’Neil for the time being.
WR Chris Tyree (UVA) -0.50: Tyree spent time in a walking boot but eventually had the boot removed. Even without the boot, he was limited in his practice participation. Seeing how I have Tyree projected to be the new WR1 in the slot, this is a concern if he remains limited for an extended period of time.
RBs Josh Williams and Kaleb Jackson (LSU) -0.50: This RB situation looked to come down to these two names but John Emery is turning this into a three-horse race. Emery’s play looks as though he is going to get a larger share of carries than we expected before fall camp. If this trend continues it could be the sign of a threaded three-man committee. While I’m leaving Williams listed as the RB1 right now, I have dropped Jackson to RB3.
QB Gio Lopez (SoAl) -0.25: Lopez has been held out of the last two team scrimmages and has not completed a pass since before the spring game. His most recent absence from last weekend’s scrimmage was due to disciplinary reasons. Could we be seeing signs that the starting QB job isn’t totally locked up?
RB Quinshon Judkins (OSU) -0.25: At the start of the summer most people envisioned Judkins as the clear RB1 in the Buckeye backfield. As the summer has progressed it appeared more and more like this would be a timeshare backfield. We now have confirmation that both backs will split carries to start the season.
QB BIG BOARD
RB BIG BOARD
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