RADIO
Mike's college fantasy football draft targets for Yahoo leagues. His undervalued players and sleepers for all positions, including Cam Cook, Yamir Knight, and more.
The NFL version of fantasy football 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.
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 drafted well below others who may not perform as well.
Cam Cook, RB, West Virginia
ADP: 12.3 (RB10)
While it is true that there is likely no wrong answer among first-round running backs, Cook slipping into the second round is surprising to me. Cook led FBS with 1,659 rushing yards last year at Jacksonville State.
Cam Cook.
Jacksonville State ——> West Virginia
Definitely a top 10 transfer in coming into the BIG12 this season.
The dude led FBS in rushing yards last season with 1,659 rushing yards.
Super hard to tackle. BIG12 fans get him & Caleb Hawkins in the conference this fall. https://t.co/d8CN101EV9 pic.twitter.com/UqNCe3Drjh
— Garrett Armbrust (@4thandsaturday) July 16, 2026
Now he heads to a Rich Rodriguez offense. Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cook are giving me serious flashbacks of Pat White and Steve Slaton. They wreaked havoc on the Big East in Rich Rod's first stint in Morgantown.
West Virginia doesn't play Texas Tech and Utah until November and doesn't have to play BYU at all. It's a favorable schedule for the Mountaineers. Cook is projected to outscore four of the backs currently being taken in front of him, including L.J. Martin (RB3).
I'm comfortable taking Cook in the middle of the first round if Caleb Hawkins, DeSean Bishop, and Kewan Lacy are off the board.
Caleb Komolafe, RB, Northwestern
ADP: 75.7 (RB34)
Komolafe ran for 941 yards and 11 touchdowns last year for a Northwestern team that struggled to move the ball on offense. There is cautious optimism in Evanston with former Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles taking the reins of the offense.
The line and receivers (not to mention the quarterback) all seem to be upgrades from 2025. Yahoo agrees, as Komolafe is projected for more fantasy points than a dozen backs being taken in front of him. Some of them are going in the third round!
Komolafe feels like a very solid bargain in the middle of the seventh round if you go heavy on receivers early and miss some of the top running backs.
Yamir Knight, WR, SMU
ADP: 86.6 (WR24)
The three-headed SMU receiving monster of Romello Brinson, Jordan Hudson, and Knight is down to two heads. Knight and ECU transfer Yannick Smith.
Knight had a successful 2025 with 637 yards and five touchdowns. Expect that number to go up as his rapport with Kevin Jennings should have a big impact on SMU's offense this year.
Jennings is starting his fourth year for Dallas. He led the Ponies to the CFP in 2024 and might have the horses to get there again. The most important of those is Knight.
Knight is projected to outscore all 10 receivers being taken directly in front of him. He and South Carolina's Nyck Harbor are excellent picks in the late eighth round.
Mississippi Offense
ADP: 91.7 (OFF8)
Didn't this team prove enough last year? The Rebels were second in FBS with 489.7 yards per game. Only Indiana and North Texas scored more points. The scary part is that Trinidad Chambliss and Lacy came back.
Mississippi loses Harrison Wallace III and De'Zhaun Stribling, but Deuce Alexander returns. Pete Golding took to the portal and brought in two receivers who played well together at Syracuse, Darrell Gill Jr. and Johntay Cook II.
The Rebels are projected to outscore every offense except for Indiana, Texas Tech, and Oregon. You can get Ole Miss 20 picks later than those three teams.
Garrett Oakley, TE, Kansas State
ADP: 126.9 (TE14)
TE is shaping up to be the shallowest position, which should come as no surprise. Many teams use tight ends solely as blockers and decoys in college. The dropoff after the top five TEs is expected to be steep.
The good news is that you can grab Oakley 60 picks after the fifth tight end is taken. His output is expected to be roughly the same as Central Florida's Dylan Wade and DJ Vonnahme of Iowa. They are both being drafted in the middle of the fifth round to the middle of the sixth round.
Oakley will be used much like Vonnahme is at Iowa. K-State will run the ball much of the time. With Jayce Brown now at LSU, expect Avery Johnson to look for a familiar face. Oakley caught six touchdowns last season.
Byrum Brown, QB, Auburn
ADP: 127.2 (QB23)
Brown threw for 3,158 yards at South Florida last year with 28 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He was also lethal on the ground, running for 1,008 yards and another 14 touchdowns.
It didn’t count, but Byrum Brown of USF just went full Marshawn Lynch pic.twitter.com/H8q6A8d1ya
— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) August 28, 2025
It's unreasonable to expect that kind of return this year, especially with a back like Jeremiah Cobb to take some of the burden off. USF didn't have much of a run game last year. However, it was a very good passing attack. All of it, including the coach, came with Brown to Auburn.
According to Yahoo's projections, Brown is expected to be the seventh-highest-scoring quarterback this season. I get it. Most fans belittle the American Conference, but Brown beat Florida last year at South Florida. He accounted for 329 total yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over.
Even if the projection is a little high, he'll be much better than the 23rd quarterback off the board. Brown could finish in the top 15 of quarterbacks and still be a steal at this price.
Dilin Jones, RB, LSU
ADP: 145.6 (RB66)
Jones was sitting atop the most recent LSU depth chart at running back, apparently taking the job from Harlem Berry. The Wisconsin transfer looked good for the Badgers when healthy, but what he has shown in camp is on another level.
#LSU RB Dilin Jones remains the talk of the town after emerging as an offseason standout in Baton Rouge.
The 5’11, 211-pound Wisconsin transfer handled the first reps on Day 1 with Harlem Berry + Caden Durham to follow.
A ton of talent in Lane Kiffin’s running back room… pic.twitter.com/fLNKavZGZb
— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) August 5, 2026
It seems that Caden Durham is the dreaded third back for now. Berry is still being drafted around pick 132 in Yahoo drafts, so this may shape up to be a dreaded committee backfield.
I think that's partially true. Berry has elite top-end speed. Think of this as Lacy (Jones) and Quinshon Judkins (Berry) with Ole Miss in 2024. Both were very successful in those roles, meaning that both could be steals where they are being drafted.
It's insane to me that several backups are being drafted over Jones. He's in a timeshare at worst. At best, he'll get 200 carries. Not bad for the 145th pick.
Avery Johnson, QB, Kansas State
ADP: 145.9 (QB38)
Johnson isn't even being drafted in some drafts. That boggles my mind. Johnson had 18 passing touchdowns and eight rushing touchdowns in 2025. He had 25 passing touchdowns and seven rushing touchdowns in 2024. This Kansas State offense is closer to the 2024 version.
Kansas State suffered a rash of injuries in the middle of 2025 and never recovered. Johnson's numbers suffered a bit, but not much. He still only threw six interceptions. Johnson doesn't have a great arm, but that rushing ability is going to have him in the top 20 of quarterback scoring.
Johnson has 1,083 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground as a starter in the last two seasons. K-State isn't going to quit using him in that way.
Kansas State Defense
ADP: 151.1 (DEF15)
The Wildcats defense isn't being drafted at all in 10-team leagues. Maybe not even in 12-team leagues. Yet they are projected to outscore every defense. That's right... every single defense.
Only Notre Dame is in the same stratosphere as K-State's projection. Kansas State forced 26 turnovers last year, which was good for seventh in FBS. Add that to a schedule that does not include Utah, Texas Tech, or BYU, and this projection may not be far off.
Tre Spivey, WR, Arizona
ADP: 154.5 (WR70)
I don't understand why more fantasy players aren't interested in the Arizona offense. QB Noah Fifita is starting his fourth season for Arizona, which is almost unheard of in college football anymore.
There are a lot of underrated quarterbacks going later in drafts, and I wanted to have a good selection of different positions. I could have easily come up with 10 quarterbacks alone. Fifita would be one of them. He's currently being drafted behind Malik Washington, Mason Heintschel, and LaNorris Sellers, just to name a few.
Nik McMillan is off to Kansas, so Spivey is the elder statesman of the WR room. He caught seven of Fifita's 28 touchdowns in 2025. Fifita has been really locked in with his alpha receivers (Tetairoa McMillan and Nik McMillan) in his three years as a starter. That's Spivey's role this year.
— Tré Spivey (@SpiveyTre) June 30, 2026
Spivey, the son of former Arizona Diamondback world champion Junior Spivey, is in line for a big season this year. Don't be shocked if he tops 1,000 yards with Fifita as his quarterback. He has some of the biggest upside in the draft at his ADP.
