We’re already three weeks into the CFF season, and the tumultuousness of the early season is going to subside quickly. Beginning Week 4, we’ll see far fewer lopsided matchups, and as teams start to get into the beginnings of their conference schedules, we’ll know who will be set to start week to week.
But for now, we’ll continue to try to get ahead of that curve with our latest round of waiver wire recommendations for college fantasy football. As I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, the quarterback market is currently the shallowest due to the numerous CFF-friendly systems and teams returning their starters, leaving few players to be picked up.
However, there are a few who are starting to show they are beyond a flashy early game or two and could end up being more consistent weekly options than expected. In addition, what CFF players need to be on the lookout for are quarterbacks who are being dropped out of frustration with rough early-season performances. That could prove to be a big shifter in some leagues.
At running back, three major systems have new names emerging than we expected to start the season, some due to injury, others because of performance. These could end up being season-savers at the position for the teams lucky enough to grab them off the wire. Wide receiver remains the most lucrative market for those who have struggled at the position.
With all that being said, let’s look at who you could be grabbing off the waiver wire to enhance your playoff runs! All players mentioned are rostered at a sub-30% rate in Fantrax CFF leagues.
Quarterbacks
Ta’Quan Roberson – Buffalo – Ros: 3%
One of the beautiful things about college fantasy is watching guys we’ve long since given up on somehow find their way back into relevance. So far this year, if there was a face to that archetype in 2025, it is Ta’Quan Roberson. Roberson is entering his sixth year of college play, after spending two years at Penn State, two years at UConn (one as a backup, one as a starter), one year as Kansas State’s backup to Avery Johnson, and now he is the starter for the Buffalo Bulls.
During those five years preceding this season, Roberson received only one year of extensive playing time, which was in his second year at UConn. He wasn’t impressive by any means, throwing for 6.1 yards per attempt and only getting 120 yards on the ground. When he transferred to Kansas State, it looked like Roberson had waved the white flag on his career.
Then Roberson transferred to Buffalo. Very few saw that transfer and felt optimistic about it. Most saw it as a straight downgrade to CJ Ogbonna, who ran out of eligibility after last season. The opener against Minnesota wasn’t inspiring, but that’s understandable for a MAC squad.
However, the last two games against Kent State and St. Francis show glimpses of a potential great play once Buffalo is fully in their MAC schedule. Over the last two games, Roberson has averaged just over 30 fantasy points and 3 TDs per game, doing his work both on the ground and through the air. What’s especially exciting is his legs. When he’s not facing a Big Ten defense, Roberson has rushing yardage totals of 88 and 63 yards on the ground. That provides a very nice fantasy floor each week.
Roberson also seems to be starting to really connect with his top two receivers, Victor Snow and Nik McMillian. While Roberson only averaged 120 yards passing in his first two games, his latest performance was putting up 318 yards through the air, a career high. Obviously, Kent State and St. Francis aren’t defenses that are anything to write home about, but Buffalo will face no other defenses from here on out besides Miami, OH, in Week 13. I’d grab Roberson if I were a team struggling at QB, and he could end up being a season-saver down the line if he does produce in conference play like we think he could.
Jaylon Raynor – Arkansas State – Ros: 25%
Something I’m keeping an eye on this season is quarterbacks who are being dropped early due to rough performances in the first three weeks. Many talented quarterbacks were already on rosters entering the season, as much was known ahead of time. However, I think that because of that, we’re seeing shorter leashes for QBs this year, concerning fantasy owners, and people are quick to drop a QB for the new waiver pickup options. This is leading to good QBs getting back onto the market.
Case in point is Jaylen Raynor. Raynor’s rostership percentage dropped a whopping 5% in one week after playing Arkansas, where he put up only 12.8 fpts. To the managers who made that decision after that performance, I only have to ask, what did you expect to happen? It’s not like Raynor had a bad performance the week before. He put up 27.5 fpts against SE Missouri. I’d get the drop a bit more if he started off with two duds.
Now? Aguilar bounced back and responded with 23.18 fpts this past week. That’s not a crazy score, but considering he did this against Iowa State’s defense, I think that’s a huge win. It gets even better when you start to dive into the stats, particularly his rushing. We’ve seen Raynor run a lot over the last couple of weeks, as he’s averaged 12 non-sack rush attempts in his previous two games. He was particularly effective running the ball against Iowa State, with 83 yards on the ground. Much of this is due to Raynor playing hero ball from behind against tougher competition, but there are other factors at play.
Firstly, Raynor is no longer a whippersnapper at QB. He’s entering his third year with the Red Wolves and serves as a veteran presence on the team. I think we’re finally reaching the point where the coaching staff will trust Raynor to take that next step. In addition, an under-the-radar injury in Week 1 was Ja’Quez Cross, who was expected to be the Red Wolves’ lead back this season. While Cross was always going to lead a committee, losing Cross means losing a lot of veteran stability in that running game. That will continue to open up opportunities for Raynor to run more than he has in the past.
Against a Sun Belt schedule, that could lead to some huge weeks. You need to hope that Raynor has finally cleaned up his turnover problem. He threw three against Power 4 competition. You hope that was the competition level and not his habits continuing.
Joey Aguilar – Tennessee – Ros: 30%
This is the second QB I’m discussing today, where many, including me, did not see this level of success coming in this system. Granted, Josh Heupal’s system is designed to be simple to pick up, but Joey Aguilar has looked great through three weeks. He started with five TDs in two games to start the season, and Tennessee’s offense as a whole looked incredible in their non-conference slate.
However, we had seen that song and dance before from the Vols, only for them to shrivel up in conference play. Well, suppose the Vols’ performance this past weekend against Georgia was any indication. In that case, Tennessee’s offense should see much better execution this year, making them far more viable in SEC play.
Everyone on Saturday who was not wearing Tennessee orange had their mouths gaping open as Aguilar diced up Georgia’s defense, scoring three TDs in just the first quarter of play. He’d go on to have 371 yards through the air and five total touchdowns. That is by far the best offensive performance we’ve seen from a UT QB against a Georgia defense under Josh Heupel. That list includes the likes of Hendon Hooker, Joe Milton, and Nico Iamaleava. Even in a loss, this type of performance is the kind that can boost confidence the rest of the season.
What makes it better is that among SEC teams, Tennessee drew a very favorable schedule. In terms of ranked opponents, they have Alabama, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt left on the schedule, but the rest includes Mississippi State, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Florida. Its hard to picture more favorable conference matchups for the Vols. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vols springboard from their performance and go on an offensive run, at least over the next three weeks. If they’re successful against Alabama, watch out.
Honorable Mentions
- Jake Retzlaff, Tulane – 22%
- Nick Minicucci, Delaware – 6%
- Bishop Davenport, South Alabama – 11%
- Anthony Colandrea, UNLV – 25%
- Darian Mensah, Duke – 29%
Running Backs
Tye Edwards – West Virginia – Ros: 2%
It really sucks to see Jahiem White out for the season; that just goes without saying. However, in the wake of the announcement, he was done for the year, and I had people asking me who was up next for the Mountaineers. Some speculated that young players like Clay Ash or Cyncir Bowers could be up next. The return of Diore Hubbard was discussed. I left the door open to the idea that, because there wasn’t a clear “next man up” in the aftermath of White’s injury in their game, West Virginia could go with a committee for the rest of the year.
However, Tye Edwards, an old CFF pre-season favorite from a few off-seasons ago, recently got the NCAA to approve his waiver to play one last season. Based on his performance in the Backyard Brawl this past season, he will make the most of that year, and for WVU, it couldn’t have come a moment sooner.
After not getting a touch in the first two games, Edwards was THE catalyst for not only the Mountaineers’ win over Pittsburgh, but just for their offense in general. Edwards was a bruising force, working exclusively on the ground. He ran for 141 yards and 3 TDs on 25 carries, for 5.6 YPC. Extremely impressive for a guy who has never played at the Power 4 level before.
This is all obviously a big deal for CFF because, based on this game, we have our Jahiem White replacement. Given what Rich Rodriguez did just last year with Tre Stewart, the upside of this spot in this system is absolutely nuts. If you’re someone who has struggled with getting RB right this year, the CFF gods have sent a mighty gift here with Edwards. I don’t love his upcoming date with Utah, but otherwise, Edwards should be very playable in most Big XII matchups.
Sutton Smith – Memphis – Ros: 28%
Blake Watson. Mario Anderson. Guys who have been league winners the last couple of years in college fantasy. Is Sutton Smith on his way to ascending to that level? Or has his rise the last couple of weeks merely been a mirage that will come crashing down any week now? I’m willing to bet he sticks. This off-season was interesting when it came to the Memphis backfield. Greg Desrosiers was the main name people were discussing. Sutton Smith was considered a huge gamble because of his late-season injury. Bodiford and Peasant were even guys that people would take shots on late in drafts.
However, as we got closer and closer to the season, it seemed the answer was going to be the one we all dreaded: the Tigers really would be going committee with their approach this season. Then, Desrosiers got injured. From there, we’ve started to see Sutton Smith, as he returns from injury, slowly see his workload increase as the weeks go on. He began with ten touches in Week 1, bumping up to 15 in Week 2, and now 20 this past week vs Troy. That’s not quite the elite volume Watson and Anderson had, but it’s as close to bell-cow work as you can reasonably expect in college these days.
As of now, Smith is next for the Tigers. The primary concern is what will happen when Desrosiers returns. While I do think Desrosiers will impact the volume somewhat, when you go back and listen to coaching comments during the off-season, it was clear they were counting on Sutton coming back healthy and being a big part of this offense. If there’s a back to bet on here with the Tigers, you gotta take the chance on Sutton.
Seth McGowan – Kentucky – 19%
Another veteran player that the CFF world had left for dead. When McGowan left New Mexico State to go to Kentucky, many assumed this was a paycheck transfer, a place to hang for his final season, and provide quality depth for an SEC team. Especially with Kentucky also bringing in Dante Dowdell and returning Jason Patterson, few saw there even being a chance McGowan would be atop this depth chart.
Well, we were very wrong. McGowan has seen consistent volume in each of his games for the Wild Cats. He had 17 carries in Week 1, 15 in Week 2, and 18 in Week 3. He hasn’t had a game with fewer than 75 yards and a touchdown. It’s also good to see that he’s done this against a variety of competition, which includes two cupcake MAC matchups, as well as a very legitimate opponent in Ole Miss. That tells me the volume here is going to stick, and so long as Kentucky remains competitive in their matchups, McGowan will be heavily involved.
The one thing I worry about with McGowan is that he hasn’t been shown to be an option in the receiving game. He’s third in the team in pass snaps, but has only been targeted on five of those snaps so far. This makes me worry he could get game-scripted out. That wouldn’t be such a big deal if Kentucky’s upcoming schedule wasn’t #5 UGA, #8 Texas, #15 Tennessee, #22 Auburn, in that order.
Honorable Mentions
- Kejon Owens, FIU – 5%
- Jo’Nathan Silver, Delaware – 17%
- Lucky Sutton, San Diego State – 33%
- Dominic Richardson, Tulsa – 20%
- Tae Meadows, Troy – 31%
Wide Receivers
Chris Brazzell – Tennessee – Ros: 28%
During and after the game against Georgia, commentators made numerous comparisons between Chris Brazzell’s performance against Georgia on Saturday and Jalin Hyatt’s single-handed destruction of Alabama in 2022. This was far from an unfair comparison.
Brazzell saw eight targets, which resulted in six receptions for 177 yards and three TDs. Those three scores included several insane acrobatic plays over some very talented Georgia DBs. The thing is, this isn’t new for Brazzell this season. In the two games before, Brazzell saw 19 targets for 187 yards and two TDs. The problem is that we in the CFF world did not know if we could fully trust that, as we had seen in the last couple of years, from Tennessee starting the season, only for them to fizzle out in SEC play.
Much like Aguilar, Brazzell has shown that he can be a force, regardless of who he is playing against this year, with his best performance coming against what could be the best defense he faces in the regular season. Some might wonder why I’m discussing Brazzell over his teammate Braylon Staley, who has also had a good start to the season and has even seen more targets than Brazzell.
Firstly, I would like to mention that Staley is also a good pickup, especially in PPR leagues. However, Brazzell strikes me as the higher ceiling play just because his volume isn’t that much lower, but the value of his targets has been much higher. Staley’s average depth of target (ADOT) has been only 8.3, meanwhile Brazzell’s is a team high of 14.3 yards. This discrepancy has led to a difference in efficiency between Staley and Brazzell, as Brazzell averages almost five yards more per catch than Staley.
In addition, because of his role, Brazzell is also more likely to find the end zone as he runs past the defense with a quick strike score, while Staley will rely on more sustained drives, which Tennessee isn’t quite as good at.
Harrison Wallace – Ole Miss – Ros: 28%
Part of CFF is admitting when you get a room wrong, and it looks like with the Ole Miss WR room, this is another example of mistaken identity. Throughout the off-season, folks pinned De’Zhaun Stribling as the heir apparent to Tre Harris and many other WRs that Ole Miss has produced over the years. And why not? He was hyper-efficient like Harris was, had played and produced at an appropriate level of competition, and had some hype this off-season. Sadly, this, in combination with the stink of being a former Penn State WR, made us forget about Harrison Wallace also being brought in this offseason.
While certainly nowhere close to the beast that Harris was, Wallace has clearly established himself as the favorite target for the Rebels early on in the season. He leads the team with 26 targets, the next closest being Lee and Alexander with 12 apiece. Wallace has been hype-efficient so far, averaging an elite 22.6 yards per catch, and his targets average a depth of 15.6 yards.
What’s more impressive is that Wallace has performed well without the help of cupcake games, as two of his performances have come against Arkansas and Kentucky, two teams that aren’t the cream of the SEC crop, but legitimate competition. He averaged 16 fpts in those games in 0.5 PPR formats. His baseline production is fantastic, with his lowest game yardage being 92 yards. If he ever can get a game where he can put more than one TD on the board, it’s lights out in fantasy for whoever is up against him.
Kyre Deuplessis – Delaware – Ros: 2%
It’s hard to know what to expect from a team coming up from the FCS to the FBS. We can examine what they’ve done in years past, but with the increase in competition, many things can change.
One thing that seems to be changing for Delaware is the reliance on its top wide receivers. Typically, this staff is content to spread the ball around, with their top WR usually finishing the season with around 70-75 targets. However, through three games, Kyre Duplessis is on pace for 96 targets and could finish with more as the season goes along.
Duplessis has been impressive these first few games for the Blue Hens. He’s averaged 15.5 yards a catch and has seen two 90-yard games already, including his 161-yard performance against UConn this past weekend. He did lay an egg against Colorado, but many G5 teams do so that we won’t hold that against him. If his games against Delaware State and UConn are anything to go by, Duplessis could be huge in CUSA games.
In those two matchups, Duplessis averaged ten targets, eight catches, and 125 yards. Obviously, it is a small sample size, but just the thought of that being within his range of outcomes the rest of the way makes him a nice target off the wire this week. Delaware has demonstrated that it can avoid the pitfalls that many FCS teams encounter in their first year in the FBS. Hopefully, that continues so Duplessis can eat. The main concern with Duplessis is the return of Jake Thaw from injury, but there is no word on when that might be. In addition, Delaware has already shown once in their opener that both of them can eat in this offense at the same time.
Honorable Mentions
- Zion Booker, Tulsa – 2%
- Raphael Williams, Pittsburgh – 4%
- Jaden Barnes, App State – 21%
- Jacquon Gibson, UMass – 19% (PPR Leagues ONLY)
- Brenen Thompson/Anthony Evans, Mississippi State – 25%/13%
Tight Ends
Eli Raridon – Notre Dame – Ros: 29%
Tale as old as time. Song as old as rhyme. Notre Dame and the Tight End. With the loss of Mitchell Evans, doubts arose among the CFF community about whether Eli Raridon would be able to take over the role left behind. After all, Raridon was used almost exclusively as a blocker behind Evans. If there were a receiving TE to be had this year with the Irish, maybe one of the younger ones would make a big step. Fools. Fools we were.
Raridon has put to bed any thought of him not being the top TE option for Notre Dame this year. Through two games against very good competition, Raridon has looked great. He’s seen 13 targets for nine receptions and 182 yards, which is fantastic production at the tight end position. He hasn’t found the endzone yet, but given how much volume has come his way and how much Notre Dame’s defense might force them to score this year, that issue will resolve itself sooner rather than later.
Lots of tight ends have popped up as potential steady options down the stretch, but few of them have the historic/system backing that Raridon does. He’s a great add for those still looking for their ride-or-die TE option this year.
Honorable Mentions
- Hunter Andrews, Utah – 9%
- Izayah Cummings, App State – 1%
