RADIO
Mike's college fantasy football waiver wire adds for Week 9 of the 2026 CFB season. His top targets and free agent pickups for CFF leagues at RB, WR, TE, QB.
Many of us are going to be left scrambling this week. Alabama, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee, Houston, and West Virginia are all on bye. That means no Michael Hawkins Jr. or Keelon Russell. We're here to help with our Week 9 college fantasy football waiver wire pickups list.
To help you make your waiver wire bids, we will identify the top running back, wide receiver, tight end, and quarterback free agents to target ahead of Week 9. Pickups are listed in priority order by position, and their Yahoo rostered percentage is in parentheses. This column considers only players under 50% rostered at the time of writing. We also won't recommend players heading into Week 9 byes.
Below, read about key Week 9 waiver wire targets and stashes like Jonaz Walton, Gio Lopez, and Jack Foley. Whether you're looking for production this week or a long-term solution, we'll give you options for any-sized league.
Featured Promo: Get any College Football Premium Pass for 50% off and win more using code CHAMP. Exclusive access to our industry-leading DFS Lineup Optimizer, DFS Cheat Sheets and Premium Discord Chat rooms. Go Premium, Win More!
Week 9 Running Back CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Cole Tabb (45%), Cincinnati
33% of you rushed to the wire to grab Tabb for this week. I'd like to think that I'm a small part of the reason why. Tabb has been a regular on this list for weeks, but that job is his now, bar none.
Cincinnati RB Cole Tabb (#3) was sensational against Texas Tech. Rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown on just 16 carries.
Bit of a short stepper but he has some juice. Big play weapon. https://t.co/BDZcEvsuk8
— Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) October 25, 2026
Tabb will never be a bellcow-type back, but he doesn't need to be. He can nuke an opponent with 12-15 touches. He has for the past couple of weeks. Tabb has 67.7 fantasy points on Yahoo in the last two games alone!
If he is somehow still out there in your league, he's a mid-season pickup that you can ride to a title.
Nolan James Jr., Notre Dame (25%)
Jonaz Walton was a bust against BYU. James was the only Notre Dame back who got any traction.
What does it mean for the backfield situation? I wish I knew. I think James and Walton are 1A and 1B, but it will be a situation where Marcus Freeman goes with the hot hand.
The good news is that Notre Dame is going to run all over Navy this weekend. Both are still safe in this game.
Micah Ford, Stanford (31%)
Some savvy people went out and picked up Ford after his huge week against Elon. He put up 22.3 fantasy points last week against North Carolina State without scoring a touchdown.
Of course, we need positive game scripts from Stanford to have Ford perform as we would like, but the defense has been a little better lately. Ford is a risk, but Stanford will ride him like a rented mule in close games.
Jonaz Walton, Notre Dame (7%)
Walton still scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion against BYU. What did Week 1 starter Aneyas Williams do in that game? He had three carries for eight yards.
Williams is still rostered in 85% of leagues. Go pick up both of his backups. Williams will still get work, but if it weren't for a 70-yard receiving touchdown against Stanford, Williams would have been a bust for three straight weeks.
Javian Mallory, Miami (FL) (7%)
Even with Mark Fletcher Jr. getting a normal amount of carries, Mallory scored two more touchdowns and picked up 47 yards. Touchdown dependency is never nice, but Miami is a prohibitive favorite in all but the Notre Dame game down the stretch. Mallory should still get plenty of work.
Week 9 Wide Receiver CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Chase Sowell, Penn State (3%)
Chase Sowell is having a day. He's over 100 yards for @PennStateFball. https://t.co/trOZe6DWq2
— CBS Sports College Football ? (@CBSSportsCFB) October 17, 2026
This is what Matt Campbell and Rocco Becht should have been drawing up all season. Becht and Sowell were together for two years at Iowa State. There has always been something there.
This needs to continue when Koby Howard returns. There is room for two successful receivers in this offense. Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins both had big years in 2024.
Donovan Olugbode, Missouri (41%)
Junior Sherrill is on bye this week, so I'll have to dig up someone else. Cayden Lee gets most of the attention, but Olugbode has scored over 15 fantasy points in four of seven games. He has been over 10 in six of seven.
Arkansas is playing better of late, but this is still a dream matchup.
Kwazi Gilmer, Nebraska (35%)
Love the strong hands of Kwazi Gilmer here. Puts himself in great position, uses the hands, great catch #Huskers #GBR https://t.co/lCfe1fO8Xa
— HuskGuys (@HuskGuys) October 6, 2026
Anthony Colandrea has unlocked Gilmer. Over the last four games, Gilmer has 24 receptions for 353 yards and four touchdowns. That comes out to 71.3 fantasy points.
Gilmer is the WR1 for Nebraska against a Washington defense that just allowed a total of 475 passing yards to Iowa and Purdue. That's like 700 yards for normal teams.
Cataurus Hicks, Pittsburgh (14%)
Only 3% of you went out and picked up Hicks for his 23.4-point performance against Miami. Hicks had a big game with Holden Geriner at QB and one with freshman Corey Dailey at QB. I don't care who Pitt starts. I'm starting Hicks.
Legend Glasker, BYU (16%)
Well, if Bear Bachmeier is going to be a thrower now, someone has to catch it. Even if Glasker isn't catching passes, he's getting carries. He has at least seven touches in four straight games, scoring two touchdowns in that span.
Caden High, Stanford (1%)
High nuked North Carolina State for 20.8 fantasy points. Davis Warren has been solid but unspectacular for Stanford, but he has improved in every game so far. I feel like the NC State game is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Week 9 Tight End CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Rocky Beers, Oklahoma (48%)
Beers has been hanging out in the high-40% range for a while now. He just keeps putting up double-digit fantasy points. He'll break 20 soon if he starts hanging on to more passes...
Caleb Odom, Mississippi (39%)
Odom has 23 receptions over the last five games, tallying at least four in every game. He's a big part of this offense.
The touchdowns should come at some point, but it's not like Odom is leaving us with nothing. He's one of the more consistent fantasy TEs available on waivers.
Daunte Bacheyie, Syracuse (10%)
Bacheyie has still caught passes lately, but the lack of touchdowns is tough, especially when Syracuse has scored 57 points in the last two games. Still, I'm intrigued by the volume.
Week 9 Quarterback CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Gio Lopez, Wake Forest (24%)
How good is Gio Lopez? He's so good that I STILL recommended him last week even though he was on a bye because I know what this week brings.
Michael Hawkins Jr. is the top-scoring fantasy player in Yahoo leagues this year. He's on bye this week. Who's second? It's still Gio, even though he had a bye last week. We also have to find replacements for Sam Leavitt, Keelon Russell, Conner Weigman, and Ethan Grunkemeyer.
Lopez is the best possible fill-in for all of them.
Lincoln Kienholz, Louisville (42%)
If you miss out on Lopez, Kienholz isn't a bad consolation prize. He has at least 18 fantasy points in every game and is fourth in fantasy points in Yahoo leagues this year.
Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska (15%)
The only reason that I picked Colandrea over Ashton Daniels is the matchup. The fact is that Daniels already has 10 rushing touchdowns, and now Ousmane Kromah is out for the season.
Daniels is sixth in fantasy scoring in Yahoo leagues this year, and Colandrea is seventh. That's right...you can replace ALL of your bye-week QB's with top-10 fantasy point scorers.
