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Brad's college football DFS rankings for Week 1 on 8/30/25. His daily fantasy college football rankings for QBs, RBs, and WRs and the DFS slates on DraftKings and FanDuel.
Well, folks, we did it, the long offseason is over, and we have reached the first full week of college football! Last weekend was a nice appetizer, but our first true slate should be a fun one as we have some big-time schools and names, while also mixing in some less well-known teams.
As is the case each year in college fantasy football, Week 1 can be a bit of a guessing game. With the amount of impact transfers, injury concerns, and some big point spreads, it is always difficult to predict the first few weeks of the season.
In the article below, you will find my CFB DFS lineup picks for Week 1 (Saturday, August 30) via my positional college football rankings. Use these CFB DFS rankings when building daily fantasy college football on DraftKings, and be sure to read the rest of our CFB DFS articles and CFB betting articles as well. Good luck, RotoBallers!
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CFB DFS Quarterback Rankings
| QB | Cash Rankings Per $ | QB | GPP Rankings Per $ | |
| 1 | Joey Aguilar | 1 | Arch Manning | |
| 2 | Arch Manning | 2 | Caden Veltkamp | |
| 3 | Fernando Mendoza | 3 | Fernando Mendoza | |
| 4 | Caden Veltkamp | 4 | Colton Joseph | |
| 5 | Ty Simpson | 5 | Tommy Castellanos | |
| 6 | Zach Calzada | 6 | Joey Aguilar | |
| 7 | Blake Shapen | 7 | Ty Simpson | |
| 8 | Colton Joseph | 8 | Tucker Gleason | |
| 9 | Tommy Castellanos | 9 | Steve Angeli | |
| 10 | Drew Allar | 10 | Zach Calzada |
As noted above, there are a lot of new faces in new places at quarterback this year. That will make Week 1 interesting, but there are a few players who seem locked into nice roles. Arch Manning will be incredibly popular on this slate between name recognition and being a known quantity on offense. Do not sleep on Caden Veltkamp, as the WKU transfer has a familiar coach on the sidelines and brought his favorite target with him to FAU.
On the GPP side, it may be worth taking a flyer on G5 quarterbacks Colton Joseph and Tucker Gleason at ODU and Toledo, respectively. They face P5 teams in tougher matchups, but early in the season, players who are familiar with their system and coaching staffs could pay off huge. Also, look at Steve Angeli and Joey Aguilar, players new to their environments, but in highly productive offenses in the past.
Six to seal it!
Joey Aguilar > Christan Horn
Horn with a career-high 165 yards and two TDs. Aguilar throws for 391 and four TDs! pic.twitter.com/Ks2cuv8oKH
— App State Football (@AppState_FB) October 28, 2023
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CFB DFS Running Back Rankings
| RB | Cash Rankings Per $ | RB | GPP Rankings Per $ | |
| 1 | Nate Frazier | 1 | Nate Frazier | |
| 2 | Roydell Williams | 2 | Nicholas Singleton | |
| 3 | Nicholas Singleton | 3 | DeSean Bishop | |
| 4 | Richard Young | 4 | Yasin Willis | |
| 5 | Tre Wisner | 5 | Chip Trayanum | |
| 6 | DeSean Bishop | 6 | Jay Ducker | |
| 7 | Devin Mockobee | 7 | Kaytron Allen | |
| 8 | Yasin Willis | 8 | Roydell Williams | |
| 9 | Nolan Ray | 9 | Richard Young | |
| 10 | Cam Porter | 10 | Devin Mockobee |
There are no true high-priced options this week at running back, so going with the known running back factories at Georgia and Penn State seems like the obvious choices in cash games. Roydell Williams is a bit of a flyer, but the Florida State running back is running with the first team at practices thus far, and also faces off against his former team in Alabama.
In GPP, you may have to take a few guesses at workloads here, as places such as Tennessee, Penn State, and Alabama may all be the infamous running-back-by-committee approach early. Chip Trayanum is interesting as the former Kentucky player gets a chance to play his old team this weekend.
CFB DFS Wide Receiver Rankings
| WR | Cash Rankings Per $ | WR | GPP Rankings Per $ | |
| 1 | Jeremiah Smith | 1 | Jeremiah Smith | |
| 2 | Easton Messer | 2 | Duce Robinson | |
| 3 | Duce Robinson | 3 | Easton Messer | |
| 4 | Elijah Sarratt | 4 | Mike Matthews | |
| 5 | Jalil Farooq | 5 | Trayvon Rudolph | |
| 6 | Ryan Williams | 6 | Isaiah Horton | |
| 7 | Junior Vandeross III | 7 | DeAndre Moore Jr. | |
| 8 | Mike Matthews | 8 | Ryan Williams | |
| 9 | Griffin Wilde | 9 | Elijah Sarratt | |
| 10 | Trebor Pena | 10 | Emmett Mosley V |
The safest play on the board and likely top rostered player on the slate comes in at No. 1 in our wide receiver ranks. Jeremiah Smith may be tough to fit in, but you will not find a steadier player all year in college fantasy football. Outside of Smith, it is a bit of a guessing game in cash games. Easton Messer should see a ton of targets for FAU, as should Elijah Sarratt at Indiana.
JEREMIAH SMITH IS UNREAL‼️
HE FINDS THE END ZONE AGAIN 🔥 pic.twitter.com/N8J1f9giQF
— ESPN (@espn) January 1, 2025
GPP plays at wide receiver are going to be a bit all over the place this week, as we have yet to see how new offenses and players work into place. I like to target high-powered offenses like Ohio State, Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas, as it gives those players a wider net to hit their value.
The other note on Week 1, it may be ok to target some receivers on underdog teams as they may be throwing a bit more than usual, and it only takes one big play to make value at this spot.
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