College Fantasy Update

The Core Four – four key updates from Oct 12-14

1. Texas F Dylan Disu, a Vanderbilt transfer, has not yet practiced full-contact as he works his way back from February knee surgery. Disu started all 17 games he played last season for the Commodores, averaging 15.0 ppg and 9.2 rebounds.
2. Xavier F Zach Freemantle was described as week to week and is in a walking boot. He was Xavier’s leading scorer and rebounder last season with 16.9 ppg and 8.9 rpg.
3. Vanderbilt C Liam Robbins has been sidelined to this point with foot issues, but he is expected to ramp up his activity next week. Robbins, a Minnesota transfer, was the Golden Gophers second leading scorer last season averaging 11.7 points but only played in 23 of their 29 games as he dealt with foot issues near the end of the season.
4. Butler got two pieces of good news, as Aaron Thompson (shoulder) and Christian David (knee) have both been fully cleared for the season. Thompson averaged 10.4 ppg last season and led the team with 4.7 assists, while David was limited to 1.8 ppg in eleven games.

Notable names in the transfer portal included Cashius McNeilly (Texas A&M, decommit from TCU), and Xavier Foster (Iowa State, dismissed from program).

Announcing transfer destinations were Justin Hemsley (Hawaii to Azusa Pacific), Vinnie Viana (Tennessee-Martin to Montevallo) and DJ Mitchell (FIU to Valdosta State).

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

Injuries and Updates from Oct 12-14:

• Keyshawn Bryant, South Carolina – limited in practice Tuesday (knee)
• Christian David, Butler – has been fully cleared for the season (knee)
• Dylan Disu, Texas – has not yet practiced full-contact after February knee surgery, is optimistic to play in the opener but may still be working his way back
• Zach Freemantle, Xavier – in a walking boot, week to week
• AJ Griffin, Duke – Coach K shared that Griffin is off crutches (dislocated knee) but still has a lot of rehab in front of him (last weekend the timeline was shared to likely be 4-6 weeks)
• James Hampshire, UNLV – the Pacific transfer had his left arm in a sling at practice
• Dieonte Miles, Xavier – is practicing after knee issues last season
• Jack Nunge, Xavier – is practicing but is not yet full-contact (meniscus)
• Ohio State – Kyle Young and Justin Ahrens were both limited in practice Thursday, called a little banged up but not long term
• Liam Robbins, Vanderbilt – will begin ramping up basketball activities next week after being sidelined (foot)
• Aaron Thompson, Butler – has been fully cleared for the season (shoulder)
• Elijah Tucker, Xavier – the freshman forward will redshirt this season, is working his way back from an undisclosed illness
• Morris Udeze, Wichita State – did not scrimmage Tuesday (shoulder) as a precaution, should be available for Saturday scrummage
• Rashad Williams, Saint Louis – Oakland transfer received a waiver to play this season – 13.6 ppg, began career at Cleveland State

Transfer Updates from Oct 12-14:

• Xavier Foster, Iowa State – enters the portal after recent dismissal from the team – 4.0 ppg
• Justin Hemsley, Hawaii – transfers to Azusa Pacific – 3.8 ppg
• Cashius McNeilly, Texas A&M/TCU – announced a transfer to TCU but then decommitted in late August, is now back in the portal
• DJ Mitchell, FIU – transfers to Valdosta State – 4.6 ppg
• Vinnie Viana, Tennessee-Martin – transfers to Montevallo – 4.4 ppg

See For Yourself:

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Since we are close to the halfway point of the season, use discount code “HALF” to get a football season pass for only $15.99 to get you all the way through the bowl games. Reminder – the daily player update post as well as some other content moved to a premium content level, to become a subscriber click Subscribe.

Since we are close to the halfway point of the season, use discount code “HALF” to get a football season pass for only $15.99 to get you all the way through the bowl games. The daily player update post as well as some other content moved to a premium content level, to become a subscriber click Subscribe.

Some of these 16 stats after Week 6 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 6s, 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 Missouri RB Tyler Badie and Memphis WR Calvin Austin. I hope a few jump out to you as well.

Syracuse QB Garrett Shrader became the first player this season with a 150 yard pass & 150 yard rush game, totaling 15/27-160-2 passing and 29/178-1 on the ground. Since 2016 a player hitting both of those numbers with at least 25 carries has only happened 7 times, with three of those being former Louisville QB Lamar Jackson.

TCU RBs Zach Evans and Kendre Miller had very effective rushing games against Texas Tech last week, with Evans (17/143-2) and Miller (12/185-3). It was only the second time this season a team had two players with 17 or less rushes both have 140 rushing yards, the other being Georgia Southern (Logan Wright/Jalen White).

Coastal Carolina TE Isaiah Likely had a 8/232-4 line last week, becoming only the 2nd player this season with 4 TD catches in a game (Fresno State WR Jalen Cropper), and the first tight end to have 3 or more receiving TDs in a game this season.

Virginia leads the nation in total passing yards (2477) and is 104th in the nation in rushing yards (678). This might not seem that unusual, but in 2020 Virginia was 32nd in the nation in passing yards and 43rd in rushing yards. While the games played is not even among all teams which skews the results slightly, the contrast is still stark. More unusual is that UVA has the same starting QB (Brennan Armstrong) and RB (Wayne Taulapapa) in both seasons yet such different results. One of the primary differences is that Armstrong rushed for 552 yards in 9 games last season, but in 2021 has rushed for only 44 yards in 6 games.

Penn State backup QB Ta’Quan Roberson was thrown into a difficult situation after starter Sean Clifford was injured last week against Iowa. Roberson went on to throw for 7/21-34-0. It was the second lowest passing yardage total for a QB with at least 20 attempts in a game this season, beaten in futility only by Terry Wilson (New Mexico) who had a 10/23-33 game earlier this year.

Since volume matters for RBs, three RBs had 33 rushing attempts in week 6 – Mataeo Durant (Duke, 43/152-1), Ellis Merriweather (UMass, 39/171-2), and Brad Roberts (Air Force, 33/140-1). Durant’s 43 was a season-high for any player, while Merriweather’s 39 was the third highest total. Durant’s 3.5 average yards per carry was tied for the lowest average of any back with 30+ rushes in a game this season. A’Jon Vivens (Colorado State) had 31/114-0 this week, making Colorado State only the second school this season to have two different players with 30 attempts in a game, joining Minnesota (Ibrahim/Potts), David Bailey also had 30 in a game for Colorado State earlier this year.

There have only been seven 200 yard receiving games this season, and five of them happened in week 6 – Xavier Worthy (9/261-2), TE Isaiah Likely (Coastal Carolina, 8/232-4), Jalen Nailor (Michigan St, 5/221-3), Tyrese Chambers (Florida International, 3/201-2), and Calvin Austin (Memphis, 13/200-1). Austin was the first player to do it twice this season, and Worthy had the season high with 261 yards.

There were three 200 yard rushing games in week 6 – Kenneth Walker (Michigan State, 29/233-1), Kennedy Brooks (Oklahoma, 25/217-2) and Tyler Badie (Missouri, 17/217-2). It was the second 200 yard game of the season for both Badie and Walker, the only two players with two so far this year.

Florida International WR Tyrese Chambers caught 3/201-2 against Charlotte last week, a 67.0 yard per catch average. On the season Chambers has caught 20/672-2, a 33.6 average. Amongst players with 20 catches he is the only one averaging over 24 yards/catch, next is Jacob Cowing (UTEP, 23.42).

In MTSU’s 41-13 loss to Liberty, they did not have a single player rush for 10 yards, as they went 21/35 rushing as a team. Seven different players had a carry, “leading the way” were QB Chase Cunningham (6/4), RB Chaton Mobley (4/8) RB Brad Anderson (3/7) and RB Frank Peasant (3/5).

Iowa State RB Breece Hall is the only player in the nation with three games with 100 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs in the same game. Fifteen players have done it twice this year, all are RBs.

Only three teams in the nation have only had one passing TD on the season, two are option-oriented teams (Navy and Georgia Southern), the third is South Florida. USF is 116th (out of 130) in the nation in passing yards (927) but WR Xavier Weaver has caught their only TD.

Western Kentucky QB Bailey Zappe leads the nation in passing yard per game, with 447.0. Next in line are Brennan Armstrong (Virginia, 410.0), Will Rogers (Miss State, 372.4), Jake Haener (Fresno State, 371.7) and Kenny Pickett (Pitt, 346.2). So the difference between 1st and 5th place is 101 yards. To get another 101 yard drop you have to go from 5th place to 37th place.

Western Kentucky WR Jerreth Sterns had a 16/195-2 receiving game, one week after a 17/186-1 line. Sterns 33 receptions the last two weeks are more than three teams have for the season. WR Drake London (USC) had 16/162-1 last week, which tied Sterns for the second-most catches in a game this season.

Only 8 times this season has a player had 20+ rushes with less than 60 rushing yards in a game, and only one player has done it twice. In each of the last two weeks Navy QB Tai Lavatai has met the mark, rushing for (21/57) and (24/53). The 24 carries was the most by any player under 60 yards this season.

The most receiving yards this season without a TD reception? – Marshall’s Corey Gammage (38/506). Next in line are Virginia’s Keytaon Thompson (29/419) and West Virginia’s Winston Wright (32/364).

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.

The Core Four – four key updates from Oct 8-11

1. AJ Griffin (Duke), a five star freshman forward, suffered a dislocated knee in practice and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks which will likely have him missing some early-season games. Griffin was likely slotted as a starter, but Duke has enough players with positional flexibility such as Wendell Moore that they should be able to cover his absence, but it does shorten the rotation/bench.
2. Jamarius Burton (Pitt) had a left knee procedure and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. The guard began his career at Wichita State, averaging 10.3 ppg in his final season, then transferred to Texas Tech where he had 4.3 ppg in 19 games last season.
3. Jarren McAllister (VCU) suffered a torn ACL in his right knee and will be out this season after missing the 2020-21 season with a torn ACL in his left knee, really tough break for him and VCU which also lost Jamir Watkins for the season to a torn ACL at the end of September, as well as Ace Baldwin to an Achilles injury which will sideline him until January.
4. Gonzaga G Dominick Harris is out indefinitely with a right foot injury and will have surgery on Wednesday. The guard was a regular rotation player that played in 25 games last season, averaging 3.0 ppg, including an appearance in the national championship game.

Announcing transfer destinations were Chauncey Hawkins (St Francis (NY) to Bryant), Virshon Cotton (Long Island to New Mexico State), and Davis Larson (Hillsdale to Duquesne). Hawkins and Cotton were two of the better names still remaining in the portal.

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

Injuries and Updates from Oct 8-11:

• Bryce Aiken, Seton Hall – fully cleared for the fall (ankle, knee)
• Allen Betrand, Rhode Island – rehab is ahead of schedule (knee) but is likely to redshirt this season
• Jamarius Burton, Pitt – Texas Tech transfer had a left knee procedure, will miss 4-6 weeks
• LJ Cryer, Baylor – is about a week and a half from returning after foot surgery
• Michael Durr, Indiana – expected to be ready for the start of the season, sat out August exhibition games
• Xavier Foster, Iowa State – has been dismissed from the team, facing legal charges related to assault
• AJ Griffin, Duke – dislocated knee, will not need surgery, out 4-6 weeks
• Dominick Harris, Gonzaga – is out indefinitely with a right foot injury
• Isaac Lindsey, Wisconsin – UNLV transfer is practicing after hip surgery last season
• Jarren McAllister, VCU – will miss the season with a torn ACL in his right knee, missed last season with a torn ACL in his left knee
• Makhei Mitchell, Rhode Island – did not scrimmage Saturday (groin), should be full-go next week

Transfer Updates from Oct 8-11:

• Virshon Cotton, Long Island – transfers to New Mexico State – 9.4 ppg
• Chauncey Hawkins, St Francis (NY) – transfers to Bryant – 16.0 ppg
• Davis Larson, Hillsdale – transfers to Duquesne – 11.0 ppg – he was planning to be a grad assistant for Duquesne, but with a scholarship open he has been added to the active roster

See For Yourself:

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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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The daily player update post, injury databases, and pregame posts have moved to a premium content level, to become a subscriber click Subscribe.

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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