College Fantasy Update

I break down the injury news from this past weekend with notes on each player who may have been dealing with injuries.

A few notes about this list, being on it does not for sure mean a player is “injured”, but rather:

• They may have missed the game due to a known injury (ok, this does mean they are injured), or missed the game for another stated reason
• They may have gone out of the game due to injury and not returned (sometimes with an official announcement from the team)
• They may have left the game but returned, or at least attempted to return (sometimes these guys end up banged up enough to miss future games)
• They may have had a vague twitter mention about possibly being injured or leaving a game, so it’s something on my radar

I’ll continue to post any updates I see during the week, those will be added to daily updates as well as the injury database.

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See the updates to potentially be watching for today including starting QB battles and player injury statuses to be aware of.

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The Core Four – four key updates from Oct 27-28

1. Saint Louis wing Javonte Perkins tore the ACL in his left knee in an exhibition game Tuesday night and is out for the season. Perkins was the Billikens leading scorer last season with 17.1 ppg and also added 3.9 rebounds a game, starting all 21 games they played. Perkins was second-team all-conference last season and was using his extra season of eligibility.
2. Syracuse F/C Bourama Sidibe will miss around a month with a knee injury suffered around two weeks ago. He was going to try to return to practice but was then ruled out. This is to the other knee than he dealt with an injury last season, when he was limited to only playing two games. In ’19-20 he started all 32 games averaging 6.0 ppg.
3. Vanderbilt C Liam Robbins remains limited in practice with a foot injury, but is hopeful to be full-go by the third week of November. Robbins, a Minnesota transfer who averaged 11.7 ppg for the Gophers last season, figures to be the Commodores starting center when healthy, but Quentin Millora-Brown may fill in until Robbins returns.
4. Florida State‘s Anthony Polite, Cam’Ron Fletcher, & Naheem McLeod did not dress for the Thursday exhibition. Polite was mentioned to have a minor injury (hyperextension) and all three are hopeful to return for the next exhibition. Polite averaged 10.1 ppg last year, Fletcher is a transfer from Kentucky, and McLeod is a 7 foot 4 juco center.

Notable names in the transfer portal included Blake Hinson (Iowa State).

Announcing transfer destinations were Jason Douglas-Stanley (Manhattan to Northwestern Oklahoma State), and Eric Parrish (UTSA to Grambling).

(Injuries & Updates in the first section, Transfers down below.)

Injuries and Updates from Oct 27-28:

• Posh Alexander, St John’s – is active this fall and played in the scrimmage last Friday and started the scrimmage on Wednesday (thumb surgery in spring)
• Thomas Allen, NC State – is fully healthy this fall after an ankle injury ended his season last spring
• Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse – tweaked his ankle in the Wednesday night exhibition, could have returned but held him out, expects to practice Friday and play in Monday exhibition
• John Bol Ajak, Syracuse – did not play in Wednesday exhibition due to minor ankle injury in practice
• Keyshawn Bryant, South Carolina – is still nursing a sore knee in practice
• Robby Carmody, Notre Dame – was hopeful to return by October 1 but was not seen at a mid-October practice (knee)
• Peyton Daniels, Vanderbilt – did not practice Wednesday due to disciplinary reasons, will be back in the mix soon
• Dayton – Malachi Smith & Zimi Nwokeji have returned to practice
• Florida State – Anthony Polite, Cam’Ron Fletcher, & Naheem McLeod did not dress for the Thursday exhibition
• Matt Garry, UConn – took part in a recent scrimmage after missing last season (returned from ACL)
• Tyrin Lawrence, Vanderbilt – has returned to practice (ACL)
• NC State – Manny Bates and Greg Gantt did not play in last Saturday’s scrimmage, no reason shared
• Javonte Perkins, Saint Louis – is out for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee suffered in Tuesday night’s exhibition
• Liam Robbins, Vanderbilt – still not fully practicing (foot), is on track to be back practicing by the first week of November and full-go by the third week of November
• Bourama Sidibe, Syracuse – will be out around a month with a knee injury, the injury happened around two weeks ago and he was going to try to return to practice Tuesday but then the setback was reported, this is not the same leg that kept him almost all out last season
• Tolu Smith, Miss State – has progressed to light jogging in practice (foot), anticipated return is still late November
• Cole Swider, Syracuse – returned to action (ankle) Wednesday night after sitting out the scrimmage last Friday
• Myles Tate, Butler – did not scrimmage Saturday, is progressing (ACL surgery in March)
• Seth Towns, Ohio State – targeting a mid-late December return (back surgery)
• Drissa Traore, St John’s – the team is considering redshirting the freshman forward this season
• Jahlil White, Temple – is practicing this fall (knee)
• Noah WIlliams, Washington State – after facing misdemeanor charges in September, coach Kyle Smith said Williams had missed some time recently (for reasons he could not disclose) but would be with the team for the opener
• Wisconsin – freshmen guards Lorne Bowman (lower body) and Chucky Hepburn (upper body) are back at practice

Transfer Updates from Oct 25-26:

• Jason Douglas-Stanley, Manhattan – transfers to Northwestern Oklahoma State
• Blake Hinson, Iowa State – entered the transfer portal after recently leaving the team
• Eric Parrish, UTSA – transfers to Grambling – 6.5 ppg

See For Yourself:

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The Core Four – four key updates from Oct 25-26

1. New Mexico guard Saquan Singleton is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a heart abnormality following an illness. Singleton was the team’s top returning scorer (8.0 ppg) and led the team in assists last season, starting all 22 games.
2. Baylor freshman guard Langston Love suffered a season-ending knee injury (torn ACL) in the closed scrimmage Saturday. He scored 13 points in the scrimmage before suffering the injury. Love was the 40th ranked recruit in the 2021 class.
3. Texas A&M forward Jalen Johnson has a torn ACL and will miss the upcoming season. He transferred from Mississippi State where he averaged 5.2 ppg last season, starting 11 games and averaging 16.4 mpg. He began his career in ’16-17 with two seasons at Saint Louis, transferred to Louisiana where he sat a year and played a year, then transferred to Miss. State before finally ending up at Texas A&M.
4. Tennessee F John Fulkerson suffered a broken thumb on his left hand a couple weeks ago in practice and is in a cast. He will not play in the exhibition game Saturday but is expected to be ready for the season opener on November 9. He averaged 9.5 ppg a last season in 26.4 minutes per game.

Announcing transfer destinations were DeAnthony Tipler (Coastal Carolina to ETSU), Tipler was a late entry in the portal on October 5.

(Injuries & Updates in the first section, Transfers down below.)

Injuries and Updates from Oct 25-26:

• Dylan Addae-Wusu, St John’s – still limited to non-contact drills, questionable for opener (ankle)
• Keon Ambrose-Hylton, Alabama – played in the scrimmage Sunday after dislocated kneecap in early October
• Kennedy Chandler, Tennessee – missed some practice time (mouth/teeth) but is back at practice
• John Fulkerson, Tennessee – has a broken thumb and will miss the exhibition game but is expected to be available for the opener
• Both Gach, Utah – has not yet been cleared by the NCAA to play this season after his transfer from Minnesota, began his career at Utah, he averaged 6.8 ppg at Minnesota last season and 10.7 ppg in his final season at Utah
• Bostyn Holt, Utah – transfer forward was off to the side during media viewing of practice
• Jalen Johnson, Texas A&M – Mississippi State transfer will miss the season with a torn ACL
• Langston Love, Baylor – suffered a season-ending knee injury
• Javonte Perkins, Saint Louis – left the Tuesday scrimmage for the locker room with an apparent left leg injury after falling on a drive to the basket, it was later shared that he was being evaluated for a left knee injury and would not return to the game, he was seen leaving the arena on crutches
• Jevonnie Scott, Penn State – has not been cleared after transfer from South Plains JC but is enrolled in classes
• Saquan Singleton, New Mexico – is out indefinitely with a heart abnormality
• Earl Timberlake, Memphis – played off the bench in the Saturday scrimmage (shoulder)

Transfer Updates from Oct 25-26:

• DeAnthony Tipler, Coastal Carolina – transfers to ETSU – 13.4 ppg

See For Yourself:

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Some of these 16 stats after Week 8 are just for trivia, but most are good to know as you look at fantasy trends/leaders across the season or look for specific positions or teams to focus on or avoid.

As we are now in the middle of the season the stats this week are a mix of players who had big week 8s, players who have had multiple games with strong statistical output, and a few outstanding as well as some not so good team stats. When I put these together I always find at least a few players stand out to me who I knew were playing well but didn’t realize were really excelling to a certain degree (at least statistically), this week those guys were Northern Illinois RB Jevyon Ducker, Illinois RB Chase Brown, and Nevada WR Romeo Doubs. I hope a few jump out to you as well.

Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman threw for 23/29-458-5 against Army last weekend. He was the first QB this season to pass for 450 yards with less than 30 pass attempts (FIU’s Max Bortenschlager threw for 466 on 30 attempts). The only other QB to hit those numbers in the last five years was Liberty QB Stephen Calvert in 2019.

There are 5 RBs averaging 120 rushing yards a game: Kenneth Walker (Michigan State, 142.4), Sean Tucker (Syracuse, 132.5), Bijan Robinson (Texas, 132.0), Mataeo Durant (Duke, 124.7), and DeAndre Torrey (North Texas, 121.8). Torrey is doing it for a 1-6 North Texas team.

Nevada QB Carson Strong passed for 49/61-476-4 against Fresno State. According to his coach Jay Norvell, Strong was the first FBS QB to throw 60 passes and complete at least 80% of them in a game since the year 2000.

Georgia leads the nation in team defense yardage allowed, with only 208.3/game, with the next lowest being Wisconsin at 223.0. The worst is Arkansas State allowing 578.6/game, with the next worst being UMass at 495.9, still an impressive 82 yards better than last.

Marshall QB Grant Wells had six rushing attempts for four yards and 3 TDs in week 8. While QB rushing numbers can sometimes be skewed, he is the only player this season to have 3 rushing TDs with less than 10 rushing yards. Next lowest is Eastern Michigan RB Samson Evans with a 5/11-3 game.

Since volume matters for RBs, four players had 30 rushing attempts in week 8 – Chase Brown (Illinois, 33/223-1), Tyler Allgeier (BYU, 32/191-2), Jevyon Ducker (Northern Illinois, 31/183-0), and David Bailey (30/159-2). Ducker became the first player with 30 carries in a game in back to back weekends.

There were two 200 yard receiving games in week 8 – Malik Williams (App State, 10/206-1) and Romeo Doubs (Nevada, 19/203-1). It has happened eleven times this season, and the previous high number of catches had been 13.

There were two 200 yard rushing games in week 8 – Chris Smith (Louisiana, 24/238-2) and Chase Brown (Illinois, 33/223-1). It was Brown’s second 200 yard game this season, and he became the first player this season to do it twice in the same month.

Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader threw for 16/34-236-2 and ran for 22/174-3 in week 8. He is the only player to hit those yardage and TD numbers this season, the last to do so being Jalen Hurts for Oklahoma in 2019 with a 332-3, 176-3 game.

In Colorado’s 26-3 loss to Cal, RB Jarek Broussard led the Buffaloes in both rushing yards (11/28) and receiving yards (3/30-0). While those numbers are really low, what is surprising is that only one other player on the Buffs had double digit rushing or receiving yards, TE Brady Russell with 2/18. Colorado fired their offensive line coach after the game.

Kansas State RB Deuce Vaughn has 583 rushing yards on the season, as well as 302 receiving yards. Vaughn leads the Wildcats in rushing by 345 yards, and is second in receiving, trailing WR Phillip Brooks (316) by only 14 yards.

Only one team in the country has not scored 10 TDs on the season – Arizona has 9. Next lowest are Vanderbilt with 11 and Southern Miss with 12. The fewest field goals in the nation is Tulane with only 2, Rice and Liberty are next lowest with 3.

Nevada WR Romeo Doubs set the season high for catches in a game with 19, beating the previous high of 17 by Jerreth Sterns (Western Kentucky). The last time a player had more than 19 catches in a game was Zay Jones (East Carolina) who had a 22 catch game in 2016.

Oregon RB Travis Dye had 4 rushing TDs in week 8, tying a season-high as the 11th player to do so. Dye ran for 14/35-4, a 2.5 average, and had the fewest rushing yards of any player with a 4 TD game, the previous low being 59 yards (Isaiah Bowser, UCF and Rasheen Ali, Marshall).

Wake Forest beat Army 70-56 last weekend. Amazingly Wake Forest’s time of possession was only 17:17 as compared to Army’s 42:43. Wake Forest had more yards than Army (638 to 595) but not as many first downs (22 to 31).

There are only 62 power 5 conference players with 25 catches and 350 receiving yards this season, Virginia has five of them, and Ohio State (three) is the only other team with more than two players at those numbers (credit David Hale).

Credit to the CFB Reference and cfbstats.com sites for their stat-keeping, if you see any stats you feel are incorrect please let me know.