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Mike's college fantasy football draft avoids and overvalued players at QB, RB, WR, TE, D/ST, and Team Offense. His bust candidates for Yahoo drafts, including Arch Manning.
One good thing about NIL is that it brought back college football games on gaming systems where you can actually use your favorite player and not have to know his number. It has also opened the door for fantasy football leagues, much like the NFL. The NFL has been wildly successful and has added to the popularity of the game. College football has a few more barriers in place, not the least of which is the fact that CBS, ESPN, and Fox all have contracts with conferences. ESPN could still run CFB fantasy leagues, but others may have an issue. Yahoo has no such problems, and they have improved the user interface over what it used to be. I haven't played on Yahoo in a decade, but college football lured me back.
College football is unique. So is college fantasy football. The standard scoring numbers are the same (six points for touchdowns, four points for a passing touchdown, one point per yard, one point per 25 passing yards), but there are a few wrinkles. The largest being that team offenses are included, not just team defenses. Some offenses have the potential to score a lot of points. Turnovers do count against the offense, so teams that rack up the points and take care of the ball come at a premium.
All ADP positions and projections are based on Yahoo drafts and Yahoo scoring. Yahoo only includes 68 teams (Power 4 plus Notre Dame), whereas other sites allow players from all 138 teams. Don't fret. The SEC still has Cupcake Saturday, and some Big Ten schedules are absurdly easy, even within the conference. There are plenty of places to look for high-scoring players (and teams). Here, we are going to help identify players who are being overpaid in drafts.
Arch Manning, QB, Texas
ADP: 16.2 (QB1)
I'm not attacking Arch. I think he's going to have a very good year. The issue is with where he is being drafted. His ADP is 18.6 spots higher than Trinidad Chambliss and 46.7 slots higher than the predicted second-highest QB scorer (Conner Weigman).
Add to that the fact that Weigman is only projected to score 10.35 fewer points over the entire season, and you have the makings of a bust. Unlike the NFL, college football doesn't have anywhere close to a balanced schedule.
You'll want to have Arch on your bench for games against the tough defenses of Ohio State and Oklahoma. You may have a better matchup for your backup when Texas plays Mississippi, Florida, and LSU.
All told, you may only use Manning for six or seven games. That is not worth a mid-second-round pick. Not when players such as Aneyas Williams, Cam Coleman, Amare Thomas, and Wyatt Young are still on the board. Much like NFL leagues, you can wait on quarterbacks...especially when there are 68 available.
Cam Coleman, WR, Texas
ADP: 20.0 (WR3)
Talent-wise, Coleman is definitely in the top three receivers in college. Production may be a different story. 10 receivers are predicted to outscore Coleman this season. It's not a question of talent; it's a question of talent around him.
Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley V were both successful receivers last year and have played a year (or more) with Arch. Both Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown started for Power 4 schools last year. Both are in the same backfield this season.
Texas has a lot of mouths to feed. I would be nervous about the number of balls going Coleman's way. The talent at WR for Texas should help once he gets the ball, but there are four stars who need the ball. Something has to give. It could be Coleman's production.
Charlie Becker, WR, Indiana
ADP: 34.5 (WR9)
The hero of the 2025 College Football Playoff faces much the same problem that Coleman does, with one major difference. He's not even the alpha on his own team! That would be Nick Marsh, who is currently the fifth receiver off the board in Yahoo drafts.
Can Indiana's offense sustain two receivers? This offense ran a lot last year. The RB room isn't as deep this year. Incoming QB Josh Hoover threw for nearly 4,000 yards (3,949) in 2024 at TCU. Maybe Indiana passes more than last year.
One hindrance could be Hoover's turnovers. He has thrown 24 interceptions over the last two seasons. His 13 interceptions in 2025 tied for the FBS lead. That's not a category that you want to lead the league in.
I know that fantasy players don't care how many interceptions Hoover throws if they have Becker on their team and not Hoover. However, Hoover's devil-may-care nonchalance about interceptions is a direct contrast to Curt Cignetti's coaching style.
There is also a distinct possibility that Cignetti and Becker's insane catch radius can help curb the turnovers, and I'm completely wrong here.
Ahmad Hardy, RB, Missouri
ADP: 37.3 (RB22)
Hardy is easily one of the best backs in college football, and might be the best back in the SEC. The problem is that no one knows when he will finally step on the field in 2026. Hardy was shot in the leg back in May after a concert in Laurel, Mississippi.
NEWS: Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy, a consensus All-American in 2025, is “medically cleared” from his gunshot wound this summer but the timeline of his return to play this year for the Tigers is still uncertain, per coach Eli Drinkwitz. pic.twitter.com/NKUuEtFmPT
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 20, 2026
The bullet struck a bone in his leg. Hardy has been medically cleared, but has yet to practice with the team. He started rehabilitation back in July, and the original timeline for re-evaluation was in mid-September. At the very least, Hardy will miss games against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kansas, and Troy.
With the nine-game SEC schedule starting this season, that means that Hardy will miss all of the easier games. He could also miss games against Mississippi State and Florida.
There are rumblings that Hardy will not play at all this season. I don't think that is true, but if Jamal Roberts performs well in Hardy's stead, we could see a timeshare at RB for the Tigers anyway. That's a lot of draft capital on a what-if situation.
Horses such as Iowa's Kamari Moulton and North Carolina State's Duke Scott can both be had in this area of the draft, as well as both Oregon running backs.
Dante Moore, QB, Oregon
ADP: 73.9 (QB7)
From a talent standpoint, I wouldn't argue if you claimed that Moore was a top-5 quarterback. What I'm looking at here is that Moore's projection is by far the lowest among the top 10 drafted quarterbacks in fantasy drafts.
Sam Leavitt (QB6) is the next lowest and is projected for more than 25 points more than Moore. I get it. Moore threw 10 interceptions last season and doesn't run the ball because he doesn't need to.
Even if we're only talking quarterbacks, dual-threats Demond Williams Jr. from Washington and Mississippi State's Kamario Taylor are still on the board. So are John Mateer and Bryce Underwood. QBs who also can (and do) run the ball are going to be more valuable than pure passers.
Jayden Maiava, QB, USC
ADP: 101.1 (QB10)
I understand that not much draft capital is wagered at this spot in the draft. I just question why many lean toward Maiava when Julian Sayin, Mateer, and preseason Heisman favorite CJ Carr are still on the board.
Maiava isn't accurate like Sayin, doesn't run like Mateer, and isn't efficient like Carr. There are a good 10 quarterbacks behind Maiava that I would love to have as my starter, and many of them can be had up to 25 picks later.
At that spot in the draft, Lotzeir Brooks of Alabama, not to mention a gaggle of other alpha receivers, are still available. You could also nab another starting RB if you went WR-heavy early. Penn State's Carson Hansen and Evan Dickens from Boston College are still out there at pick 101.
Joshua Dye, RB, Mississippi
ADP: 119.1 (RB46)
I get that Dye is turning heads during camp. It's a good story, but look at what a horse Kewan Lacy was last year. Lacy carried the ball 306 times. That doesn't leave much for leftovers.
Ole Miss likely won't ride Lacy as hard this year. The rest of the team aside from Lacy only carried the ball 270 times last year. Chambliss carried it 133 times. Is Ole Miss really going to go away from Chambliss and Lacy carrying the team?
Don't count on it, and certainly don't draft on it. I'm all for taking a flyer on Dye. He ran for 1,831 yards and 28 touchdowns at Southern Utah last year. The main question is how many touchdowns will he poach this year?
Featured backs like Demon June of North Carolina and Sedrick Alexander of Vanderbilt are still on the board at this time. I'd rather take a flier on one of them, or a nice sleeper candidate like Cam Edwards at Michigan State.
Wisconsin Offense
ADP: 125.9 (OFF10)
Full bars for this connection 🛜 pic.twitter.com/pdJDfQuxzL
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 12, 2026
Again, this isn't about draft capital. It's about what is still on the board at the same position. Oklahoma State, Utah, LSU, Indiana, and Washington are still on the board, just to name a few.
Wisconsin's patience (even if it was only financially driven) may pay off with Luke Fickell. This was a different team in November last year. The Badgers added QB Colton Joseph from Old Dominion and RB Abu Sama III from Iowa State.
Those are two players that I really like. However, the way that offense scoring is set up in college fantasy rewards teams that don't turn the ball over. Joseph threw 10 interceptions last year.
Wisconsin will excel at running the ball, but rushing yards aren't worth more than passing yards for team offense. Wins and losses count as well. Wisconsin avoids Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan. There is upside there.
Is it enough to take them over the teams listed above? Probably not. You're also not going to start them in Week 1 against Notre Dame. Even at their peak, Wisconsin was not a team that racked up 500+ yards of offense on the regular.
Andrew Olesh, TE, Oregon
ADP: 127.4 (TE15)
I get it. Most college teams don't use the tight end as a receiving weapon. Oregon does. The problem is that Olesh isn't even the starting tight end for the Ducks. Jamari Johnson is, and he's outstanding (TE2).
Kendre Harrison, a true freshman, is a special athlete and will compete for backup status along with Markus Dixon. Not only is Olesh blocked by maybe the best TE in the country, but he is also being pushed by two others with big billing.
I like Olesh, but not in this spot. He is being drafted ahead of Boston College's Kaelan Chudzinski and Washington's Decker DeGraaf, just to name a couple. There are several established TE options being taken below Olesh. I'm content with one of those.
Evan Stewart, WR, Oregon
ADP: 128.6 (WR46)
This Oregon offense is loaded. Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. are both projected to get a lot of chances. Jeremiah McClellan and Dakorien Moore were very good last year. Stewart missed the entire 2025 season because of injury. Where does he fit on this team?
2024 Oregon @ Michigan.
Ready for more Evan Stewart pic.twitter.com/qEjfI5nV6T
— The Quackalorian 🦆 (@DuckOnQuack2023) August 9, 2026
Stewart is projected to outscore McClellan, but I don't buy it. McClellan has some of the best hands in college. Moore became a star last year. Jamari Johnson is the next Oregon tight end who will play in the NFL.
Stewart is being drafted in the same area as McClellan, Ohio State's Brandon Inniss, and Clemson's T.J. Moore. He is also being drafted higher than alpha receivers such as Wake Forest's Carlos Hernandez or Nebraska's Nyziah Hunter.
Any of those options feels better than Stewart at that spot in the draft. Stewart's torn patellar tendon looks healed, but he's going to have to fight for targets with a lot of players who played well together in 2025.
