Month: August 2020
CFB Injuries & Updates – Fri-Sun August 28-30
The news of note on Friday included RB/Slotback Keoni-Kordell Makekau of Navy choosing to opt out of the season and WR Brenden Schooler announcing he would grad transfer to Texas from Oregon after a brief stop at Arizona.
Among Saturday’s updates included Marshall’s Grant Wells being named QB1, Georgia QB JT Daniels was active in the scrimmage but hasn’t been cleared for games, & South Carolina WR OrTre Smith has missed recent practices for undisclosed reasons.
The big news on Sunday were the reports that LSU WR Ja’Marr Chase & Memphis RB Kenny Gainwell will opt out of the season and declare for the NFL Draft.
List of Injuries & Updates from August 28-30:
QBs:
- Joey Cambron, MTSU – transfer portal
- JT Daniels, Georgia – not cleared for games but cleared for practices and scrimmages.
- Drew Gunther, transfers from Syracuse to Bowling Green
- Jack Smith, Arizona State – enters transfer portal, missed 3 years due to back injury
- Grant Wells, Marshall – named the starter
- West Virginia preseason depth chart – Jarret Doege OR Austin Kendall
- Bryce Young, Alabama – didn’t scrimmage today (reports are he has missed recent practices) but expected back Monday.
RBs:
- Leddie Brown, West Virginia – RB1 on preseason depth chart
- Kenny Gainwell, Memphis – reports will opt out and declare for the NFL Draft
- Keoni-Kordell Makekau, Navy – opts out of season
- Larry McCammon, Florida Atlantic – rolled his ankle in Saturday scrimmage
- A’Montae Spivey, Arkansas – “dinged up”, held out of scrimmage
- Malik Staples, Western Kentucky – moves from LB back to RB where he played in 2016 for Louisville
WRs & TEs:
- Ja’Marr Chase, LSU – reports will opt out and declare for the NFL Draft
- DeAngelo Gibbs, Tennessee – sit out this fall, focus on academics
- Rahmon Hart, transfer from Ball State to Duquesne
- Tyquan Johnson, South Carolina – enters transfer portal
- TE Isaiah Miranda, Boston College – enters transfer portal
- Brenden Schooler – will reportedly grad transfer to Texas after leaving Oregon and making a brief pit stop at Arizona before their season was postponed
- OrTre Smith, South Carolina – missed practice recently due to an undisclosed issue
CBB Player Updates – August 24-30
The news this week again mostly centers around transfers being granted immediate eligibility to play this season, with Memphis’ Landers Nolley perhaps the biggest name to get a waiver.
List of College Basketball Transfers, Updates & Injuries this week:
- Charles Bassey, Western Kentucky – knee expected to be fully cleared for the start of practice
- Tyron Brewer, ETSU – eligible after transfer from SE Louisiana
- Colin Castleton, Florida – eligible after transfer from Michigan
- David DeJulius, Cincinnati – eligible after transfer from Michigan
- Jalen Hawkins, transferring from Robert Morris to Norfolk State
- Nigel Hawkins, Stephen F. Austin – eligible after transfer from UTEP
- Rey Idowu, Tulsa – eligible after transfer from Illinois State
- Trey Jemison, UAB – eligible after transfer from Clemson
- Isaiah Jones, transfers from Southern Miss/New Orleans to Mississippi Valley State
- Chris Knight, Dartmouth – will miss season with Achilles injury, also will explore a grad transfer
- Adam Kunkel, Xavier – will redshirt after transfer from Belmont
- Malik Martin, Rhode Island – eligible after transfer from Charlotte
- Zane Martin – transferring from New Mexico to Towson, where he began his college career
- Franco Miller, Florida Gulf Coast – eligible after transfer from Ole Miss
- Landers Nolley, Memphis – eligible after transfer from Virginia Tech
- Jaylen Sebree, Morehead State – eligible after transfer from FAU
- Justice Sueing, Ohio State – foot fully cleared for fall
- Wynston Tabbs, Boston College – knee expected to be fully cleared for start of practice
- Austin Trice, Old Dominion – eligible after transfer from Portland State, played at Kansas St in 2018-19
- De’Torrion Ware, transfers from Jacksonville St to Morgan St
- Howard Washington, transfers from Syracuse to South Alabama
- Gabe Watson, Tulane – eligible after transfer from Southern Miss
- Elijah Weaver, Dayton – will redshirt after transfer from USC
- Isaiah Wilkins, Wake Forest – eligible after transfer from Virginia Tech
- Bryce Williams, Oklahoma State – eligible after transfer from Ole Miss
- Jalen Wilson, Kansas – ankle fully cleared for fall
The Top 20 2020 Returning WR Stat Leaders
A number of elite receivers entered the NFL draft after last season, with Ja’Marr Chase of LSU being the clear top returner (until the Aug. 30 news he would opt out) . If you are playing CFF and like to balance your draft with a combination of proven talent and potential breakouts, you’ll likely want to grab at least one of these guys with your first WR selection.
List in Order of 2019 Yards Receiving (2019 Stats – Receptions – Yards – Yards per Game) – Players Playing this Fall Bolded
- Ja’Marr Chase, LSU – 84 – 1780 – 127.1
- Tutu Atwell, Louisville – 70 – 1276 – 98.2
- Damontie Coxie, Memphis – 76 – 1276 – 91.1
- DeVonta Smith, Alabama – 68 – 1256 – 96.6
- Rashod Bateman, Minnesota – 60 – 1219 – 93.8
- Tamorrion Terry, Florida St – 60 – 1188 – 91.4
- Tre Walker, San Jose St – 79 – 1161 – 116.1
- Jared Smart, Hawaii – 87 – 1129 – 75.3
- Warren Jackson, Colorado St – 77 – 1119 – 111.9
- Austin Watkins, UAB – 57 – 1092 – 78.0
- Jaden Blue, Temple – 95 – 1067 – 82.1
- Amon-Ra St. Brown, USC – 77 – 1042 – 80.2
- Keylon Stokes, Tulsa – 62 – 1040 – 86.7
- David Bell, Purdue – 86 – 1035 – 86.3
- Dyami Brown, UNC – 51 – 1034 – 79.5
- Dazz Newsome, UNC – 72 – 1018 – 84.8
- Whop Philyor, Indiana – 70 – 1002 – 83.5
- Sage Surratt – Wake Forest – 66 – 1001 – 111.2
- Elijah Cooks, Nevada – 76 – 926 – 71.2
- Tyler Vaughns, USC – 74 – 912 – 70.2
Some takeaways from the Top 20 list:
- #1 Ja’Marr Chase had more than 500 more yards more than #2 on the list, and almost doubled #20 on the list (1780 to 912)
- 4 of the top 6 are playing, and 9 of the top 16 are playing this season, was 10 before the Chase opt out
- Jaden Blue (Temple) had the most receptions of any returning player with 95, next is Jared Smart (Hawaii) with 87
- UNC & USC are the only schools with 2 players on the list
- Of the 9 who ARE playing here is the conference breakdown: ACC-4, AAC-3, SEC-1, CUSA-1
- For a reference point, Tyler Vaughns was #50 on the 2019 yard receiving list, so 30 of the top 50 from last year graduated or went to the NFL
CFB Injuries & Updates – Wed-Thur August 26-27
(Continually updated with new updates)
The first news of Wednesday was significant as TCU WR JD Spielman was confirmed to have received a waiver to be immediately eligible this season. Other highlights were Auburn RB DJ Matthews returning to practice and the news that Miami RB Robert Burns isn’t at full-speed.
In Thursday news Virginia named Brennan Armstrong their starting QB, and several WRs were announced to be out for the season with injuries – Dominick Blaylock (Georgia) and Camron Buckley (Texas A&M)
College Football injuries & updates for Aug 26-27:
QBs:
- Jack Abraham, Southern Miss – QB1
- Brennan Armstrong, Virginia – named QB1
- Henry Colombi, Texas Tech – eligible after transfer from Utah State
RBs:
- Robert Burns, Miami – didn’t sound like he was actively practicing with team, hopefully ready soon
- Colton Dooley, Army – transfer portal
- Keaontay Ingram, Texas – sat out weekend scrimmage with respiratory infection
- PK Kier, Virginia – reported to have entered the transfer portal after stepping away from the program last season
- Don Ragsdale, Southern Miss – RB1 on depth chart
- Bijan Robinson, Texas – sat out weekend scrimmage with tight groin
- Gabriel Watson – former D2 player signs with Texas as grad transfer
- DJ Williams, Auburn – returns to practice after being limited and held out of weekend scrimmage
WRs & TEs:
- Dominick Blaylock, Georgia – tears ACL after same injury last season
- Isaiah Bolden, Florida State – moving from CB to WR
- Camron Buckley, Texas A&M – ACL injury, surgery was Wednesday, out for season
- Markel Davis, Ohio – enters the transfer portal
- TE Dante Lang, Florida – moved to defensive line
- DJ Matthews, Florida State – not yet back at practice as deals with COVID
- Xavier Roberts, Florida Atlantic – enters transfer portal after redshirting 2019
- JD Spielman, TCU – eligible after transfer from Nebraska
- Cedric Tillman, Tennessee – has had a hamstring issue but has had a good fall camp
Still Uncommitted Basketball Transfers
(Original post August 13 – contains updates with date included)
While there are still many unknowns about the basketball season, many schools begin their fall semesters soon. Thus it is time for any players planning to transfer to lock in their commitments. Kobe King is the most high-profile player still uncommitted. Notable that a number of New Mexico players are still uncommitted after New Mexico’s turbulent season last year.
It is possible that some of these players could have made a quiet commitment to a lower level school or could return to their schools, but at this time their status is unclear. Following are the top uncommitted basketball transfers as of August 13th (updates will be added as available):
- Junior Ballard (13.1 pts – Cal Poly) – Aug 22 update – commits to Fresno State
- Zane Martin (10.1 pts – New Mexico) – Aug 24 update – commits to Towson, where he began his career
- Kobe King (10.0 pts – Wisconsin) – originally committed then decommitted from Nebraska
- Vante Hendrix (8.8 pts – New Mexico) – Aug 20 update – commits to Cal State Northridge
- Jalen Hawkins (7.3 pts – Robert Morris) – Aug 26 update – commits to Norfolk State
- Kevin Norman (7.3 pts – Jacksonville)
- Canaan Bartley (7.2 pts – Maryland Eastern-Shore)
- Timmy Falls (6.6 pts – Montana)
- Jordan Lyons (5.8 – Mississippi Valley State) – commits to Simon Fraser
- JJ Caldwell (5.8 pts – New Mexico)
- Chris Barnes (5.1 pts – Eastern Michigan)
- Brandon Kimble (4.8 pts – Mississippi Valley State) – Aug 17 update – will be a grad transfer walk-on at Arkansas
- Aguir Agau (4.2 pts – Fresno State)
- Juhwan Harris-Dyson (4.0 pts – Cal)
- Zavian Jackson (3.9 pts Arkansas Pine-Bluff)
- Sita Conteh (3.1 pts – Austin Peay)
- JP Robinson (2.1 pts – Samford) – Aug 14 update – Mineral Area Junior College
- Khavon Moore (1.8 pts – Clemson)
- Howard Washington (1.2 pts – Syracuse) – aug 28 update – South Alabama
If there are any additional players you feel should be on this list, or players you have questions about, tweet names @NCAAFantasyHoop
CFB Injuries & Updates – Mon-Tues August 24-25
The big news on Monday was 3 Florida WRs, Jacob Copeland, Trevon Grimes & Kadarius Toney, returning to practice after reportedly skipping practices earlier in fall camp
Tuesday was a fairly quiet day, biggest news was probably three MTSU skill-positions players opting out, RB Martell Pettaway, RB Amir Rasul, and WR Tyrese Johnson.
College Football Injuries & Updates List for August 24-25:
QBs:
- Harrison Bailey, Tennessee – returns to practice after quarantine
- Jordan Travis, Florida State – didn’t scrimmage Saturday, undisclosed, not expected out too long
RBs:
- Raheem Blackshear, Virginia Tech – no update on waiver appeal for eligibility
- Martell Pettaway, MTSU – opts out of season
- Amir Rasul, MTSU – opts out of season
WRs & TEs:
- Marvin “BJ” Alexander, Florida Atlantic – eligible after transfer from Kentucky
- Cassius Allen, Louisiana – significant knee injury from scrimmage
- Jacob Copeland, Florida – back at practice after earlier absence
- Taury Dixon, Miss St – opts out, grad transfer, former DB
- Zach Farrar – reportedly will walk-on at TCU after transfer from Auburn
- Rodrick Fisher, Washington State – enters transfer portal – he reportedly left school in the spring but had not yet transferred
- Trevon Grimes, Florida – back at practice after earlier absence
- Rahmon Hart, Ball State – transfer portal
- Keyshawn Helton, Florida State – fully healthy after injury last season
- Brian Hightower, Illinois – waiver for immediate eligibility after transfer from Miami
- Tyrese Johnson, MTSU – opts out of season
- Aaron Moffitt, LSU – reportedly has a torn ACL
- Isaiah Robertson, Notre Dame – plans to grad transfer, was “medically disqualified” earlier this fall
- Kadarius Toney, Florida – back at practice after earlier absence
How to Setup a College Fantasy Football League in this Bizarre Season?
To be honest, you have probably thought that between 4 different conferences postponing to the spring plus the schedules all getting changed, that college fantasy football might just be too difficult to navigate this season.
I think there are several different ways to make things work if you are open to a little flexibility and perhaps changing things up a bit from past seasons.
What Teams to Use?
You may have been in leagues in the past that only used power 5 conference players, but with the Power 5 now really the Power 3, my recommendation would be to do a league on Fantrax and use all FBS teams that are still planning to play this fall – ACC, Big 12, SEC, ACC, CUSA, Sun Belt and a few independents. This gives you 70+ teams and also helps overcome the different conference schedules (more on this in a bit).
Or you could just choose to use the Power 3 conferences, but you may need to push your schedule back a week or so. And if you run a league with deep rosters you might scale back your starting roster spots depending on the number of teams in your league, or perhaps scale back your bench spots creating more waiver wire/free agent possibilities.
How to Schedule? Based on how schedules stand now:
Right now there are a smattering of games the weekend of September 5th, but not enough to support a fantasy schedule, especially with most power conference teams still off. Big 12 & ACC teams (along with the rest) mostly begin either Sept 12th or Sept 19th, while the SEC kicks-off Sept 26th. You could choose to wait to start your league Sept 26th, but with deep enough rosters, could easily start Sept 12th/19th just having to do a little additional roster work those first two weeks to adjust for a lighter schedule.
While some teams don’t finish until Dec. 5th, many teams are done Nov 28th. If you run a four-team playoff I’d likely suggest running playoffs the weeks of Nov 21 and Nov 28, although you could push to Dec 5th but teams in the finals may have to do some roster juggling.
What Rosters to Use? Some recommendations:
- Power 3 only leagues – since the player pool is smaller than the Power 5 I’d recommend either using smaller starting rosters, or allow deeper benches to account for unique scheduling. or you could use smaller starting rosters and smaller benches to create a larger available player pool for those weeks you are in a pinch
- All 6 conferences leagues – I think you can use a normal starting roster as in past seasons; if you normally use all 130 FBS teams you might make the benches a little smaller to allow for a larger available player pool to help with unique scheduling. Or the flip side of the coin, make benches bigger to allow stashing of players when scheduling gets tough.
I like to run an all FBS league with a fairly deep starting roster as well as bench, normally around 23-25 total spots per team. Barring any changes I plan to keep roster sizes the same, start the weekend of Sept 12th, and run four-team playoffs Nov. 21 and 28. It will make for a shorter season than usual, possibly with fewer options on the waiver wire than some years, but ultimately should run fairly similar to a normal season.
If your league has a unique setup for this season send me an email or tweet at me and let me know!
CBB Player Updates – August 17-23
The primary roster movement of the week was the NCAA granted a LOT of waivers for immediate eligibility, with a few transfers (Junior Ballard & Vante Hendrix likely the biggest) and injury updates mixed in.
Also of note was Isaiah Joe of Arkansas deciding to re-enter the NBA Draft on Monday’s deadline to declare.
List of Updates Aug 17-23:
- Cedrick Alley, UTSA – eligible after transfer from Houston
- Junior Ballard – announces transfer from Cal Poly to Fresno State
- BJ Boston, Kentucky – spotted with cast on hand due to finger injury, not thought to be major
- Jalen Carey, Rhode Island – eligible after transfer from Syracuse
- Noel Coleman, Hawaii – eligible after transfer from San Diego
- Kevin Cross, Tulane – eligible after transfer from Nebraska
- Malachi de Sousa – transfer from Albany to Rider
- Jalen Forbes, Tulane – eligible after transfer from Alabama
- Jeremiah Francis, New Mexico – eligible after transfer from North Carolina
- Alan Griffin, Syracuse – eligible after transfer from Illinois
- Vante Hendrix, transfer from New Mexico to Cal State Northridge
- Curtis Holland, Towson – eligible after transfer from High Point
- Isaiah Joe, Arkansas – re-entered the NBA draft after previously withdrawing his name to return to school
- Quade Green, Washington – academically eligible after missing the spring semester last season
- Braun Hartfield, San Diego (13.9 pts) – reports he has entered the transfer portal
- James Jean-Marie, Hawaii – eligible after transfer from San Diego
- BJ Maxwell, Detroit – plans to graduate & transfer
- Makhi & Makhel Mitchell, Rhode Island – eligible after transfers from Maryland
- Amanzie Nugumezi, Jacksonville State – eligible after transfer from Georgia
- Charles O’Bannon, TCU – eligible after transfer from USC
- Femi Odukale, Pitt – surgery for broken arm after moped accident, out indefinitely
- Bryan Penn-Johnson, LSU – eligible after transfer from Washington
- Russell Tchewa, South Florida – eligible after transfer from Texas Tech
- Khalid Thomas, Portland State – eligible after transfer from Arizona State
- Jacob Tryon, New Mexico St – transferred from Portland but announced was now transferring to Samford
- Holland Woods, Arizona St – eligible after transfer from Portland State
- Alexis Yetna, South Florida – on track to be fully recovered from knee injury by late September
CFB Injuries & Updates – Sat-Sun August 22-23
The biggest news from the weekend was transfer related. On Saturday Washington State WR Davontavean “Tay” Martin announced he would transfer to Oklahoma State. Over the past 3 seasons Martin has totaled 143 receptions for 1615 yards and 18 TDs. Martin will likely apply for a waiver to be immediately eligible in attempts to join a WR corps led by Tylan Wallace.
Then on Sunday Colorado State TE Trey McBride announced he would remove his name from the transfer portal and remain with the team.
College Football Injuries and Updates List for August 22-23:
QBs:
- Max Duggan, TCU – had a procedure for pre-existing heart condition and has begun recovery, no timeline was mentioned
- TJ Goodwin, UTEP – opts out of season
- Gavin Hardison, UTEP – named starter
- Gunnar Watson, Troy – named starting QB
RBs:
- Jacob Kibodi – back in the transfer portal, was at Texas A&M last season and had transferred to Incarnate Word
- DJ Williams, Auburn – was seen wearing a non-contact jersey in practice last week, then held out of Saturday’s scrimmage, expected back next week
WRs & TEs:
- TE Baylor Cupp, Texas A&M – healthy after season-long injury last year
- Tay Martin – transfers from Washington State to Oklahoma State
- TE Trey McBride, Colorado State – withdraws from transfer portal
- Ricky Walker, grad transfer from Cal to Oregon State
CFB Injuries & Updates – Wed-Fri. August 19-21
The first news early on Wednesday was the biggest, as Wake Forest WR Sage Surratt chose to opt out of the season to prepare for the NFL Draft. In only 9 games last season Surratt had 66/1001-11 receiving.
Two big pieces of injury news from Thursday. First was South Carolina high-rated recruit RB MarShawn Lloyd tearing his ACL. Lloyd was set to be one of the top freshman running backs in the nation, but is now out for the season. Next was TCU QB Matt Duggan has been sitting out with an undisclosed condition that makes it sound like his season may be in doubt. Matthew Downing has been taking first team TCU QB reps in Duggan’s absence.
Friday didn’t have any groundbreaking news, with the possible highlights being Florida WR Trevon Grimes tweeting that he planned to play this season after missing several practices, and Texas Tech WR TJ Vasher returning to practice after some academic issues had caused him to miss earlier fall practices.
College Football Injuries & Updates List for August 19-21:
QBs:
- Harrison Bailey, Tennessee – quarantined, not yet practiced
- Mikele Colasurdo, Georgia State – out for season with Covid-related heart issues
- Max Duggan, TCU – undisclosed condition discovered, return uncertain this season
- RJ Harvey, transfer from Virginia to UCF, will move to RB
- McKenzie Milton, UCF, doing non-contact work, no timetable for return
RBs:
- AJ Davis, Pitt – dinged up in practice, should be fine for gameday
- Kendrell Flowers, Wake Forest – opts out
- Mike Hollins, Virginia – opts out
- MarShawn Lloyd, South Carolina – torn ACL, out season
- FB Drew Schlegel, Kentucky – transfer to Cal
- Gilberto Torres, UMass – transfer portal
- Ronnie Walker, Virginia – waiver denied after transfer from Indiana, team appealing
WRs & TEs:
- Jaylond Adams, Southern Miss – opts out (first reported earlier this week)
- Trevon Grimes, Florida – says will play after missing several practices
- Jadon Haselwood, Oklahoma – “isn’t likely to be ready until at least late in the season”
- Hunter Hayek, Rutgers – will graduate this fall and transfer to Stony Brook
- Tyquan Johnson, South Carolina – no longer with team
- TE Dalton Kincaid, transfer from San Diego to Utah
- Oliver Martin, Nebraska – transfer from Iowa, will walk-on at Nebraska
- TE Austin Pope, Tennessee – recovering from back surgery, expected to be ready for gameday as improves
- Brenden Schooler, Arizona – recently transferred from Oregon, entering the transfer portal toward goal of playing in fall
- La’Vontae Shenault, Colorado – was arrested in July with a DUI, will be suspended for an undetermined number of games when their season starts
- Sage Surratt, Wake Forest – opts out to prepare for NFL Draft
- DJ Turner, Maryland – plans to grad transfer
- TJ Vasher, Texas Tech – back at practice after academic issues
- Kobay White, Boston College – knee, missed several practices, not considered long-term
- Dontayvion Wicks, Virginia – season-ending injury last week
- Latrell Williams, South Florida – sprained ankle, optimistic to return next week
