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Mike's college fantasy football waiver wire adds for Week 12 of the 2026 CFB season. His top targets and free agent pickups for CFF leagues at RB, WR, TE, QB.
This is why we've held on to all of those struggling players from Mississippi, Mississippi State, Alabama, and Auburn. It's cupcake week in the SEC, just in time for our league semifinals. Yikes. We're here to help with our Week 12 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 10. Pickups are listed in priority order by position, and their Yahoo rostered percentage is in parentheses. This column considers only players under 40% rostered at the time of writing. That means that some of my favorites who were hanging around between 40 and 50% won't be featured this week.
Below, read about key Week 12 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.
Week 12 Running Back CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Javian Mallory, Miami (FL) (10%)
Mark Fletcher Jr. broke the Miami career touchdown record against Duke, but didn't play the entire second half due to a lower-body injury. Mallory came on and scored three touchdowns to preserve the Miami win.
Javian Mallory : 10 carries for 71 yards & 2 TD's; 3 catches for 79 yards & a TD (Season-high 150 scrimmage yards & 3 total TD's) https://t.co/BJiFWkLcqe
— Lee Harvey (@ben__zucker06) November 15, 2026
There hasn't been any update on what exactly is ailing Fletcher, but Miami has championship aspirations. Fletcher won't play unless he is 100% healthy.
That should mean at least one week of a full game of Mallory against Virginia Tech and possibly Boston College. This is the pickup you need heading into your league semifinals and finals.
Carson Hansen, Penn State (35%)
Hansen had 12 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown is less than a half, but didn't return due to an injury. Penn State had a big lead at the time, and most of the talk coming out of the team sounds like it's a minor injury.
Who is this guy? Carson Hansen made two nifty moves on this drive to put Penn State on the board. Here he cuts back to the original PoA for a score. https://t.co/pq5eggDF14
— T-FrankOn3 (@ThomasFrankCarr) November 7, 2026
Penn State has a dream matchup against Rutgers next week. If Hansen isn't available, Cam Wallace (1%) is worth a look in case Penn State holds Hansen out.
Jonaz Walton, Notre Dame (6%)
The tough games for Notre Dame are out of the way. The only ones left are against an SMU team that was throttled by Wake Forest (it was 42-0 at halftime) and Syracuse.
Like Miami, Notre Dame has national title hopes. That should mean a rotation of backs to keep all three of them fresh. Aneyas Williams hasn't done much with his carries since September.
Walton is still getting 10 or more touches per game. He can do a lot of damage with a dozen touches per game.
Ty Clark III, Wake Forest (24%)
Clark is in a timeshare, but Wake's offense has been so good that it doesn't matter. The Demon Deacons have scored at least 40 points in four straight games. Clark has at least 10 fantasy points in all four of those games.
He has a perfect matchup against Georgia Tech. Wake has to be twice as good as any SEC team because they aren't in a chosen conference. They understand the assignment and are laying waste to everyone not named Miami in the ACC.
Kedrick Reescano, Arizona (6%)
Ismail Mahdi is still out. Arizona doesn't run the ball much, but Reescano has scored six touchdowns in the last six games. He gets a favorable matchup against a gutted Kansas State team before the Duel in the Desert to close the season.
Week 12 Wide Receiver CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Chris Lawson, Washington (20%)
Demond Williams Jr. LAUNCHES IT for Chris Lawson
A 58-yard TD for @UW_Football https://t.co/V0JGcoH9t1
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2026
Lawson was buried on the depth chart to start the season. He had moderate success in the first month of the season, but has become the best WR on the team in the last six weeks.
Lawson has at least 10 fantasy points in six consecutive games, and has topped 20 in three of those and twice in the last three games. He's targeted more than Dezmen Roebuck now.
Josh Derry, Central Florida (5%)
Keyone Jenkins did a hell of a job for UCF this year, and I'm not trying to take anything away from him. Derry had a couple of big games with Jenkins in there.
Derry has been elite with Alonza Barnett III back in the offense. In the last two games, Derry has 41.5 fantasy points. He closes the season with nice matchups against Iowa State and Colorado.
This is crunch time. If you have a struggling receiver, go out there and grab Derry to take you over the finish line.
Kenny Johnson, Texas Tech (22%)
Thomas Castellanos turned Texas Tech into a favorite to return to the CFP, and he unlocked the potential of Johnson. Johnson wasn't bad with Will Hammond in there. He still had three double-digit fantasy games in seven tries.
In three games with Castellanos, Johnson has 50.8 fantasy points in Yahoo leagues. He has a tougher matchup with Baylor this week, but we can trust this Texas Tech offense now. I wouldn't have a month ago.
Legend Glasker, BYU (26%)
Glasker looked like a true freshman against Baylor. The Baylor defense frustrated him all day, holding him to five total yards on seven touches. He has a nice matchup against Kansas this week as BYU tries to hang around in the CFP chase.
SEVENTY FIVE YARD BOMB!!!!
? ABC https://t.co/iLH7JONAHc
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) November 7, 2026
Que'Sean Brown, Virginia Tech (36%)
Virginia Tech may have lost to Stanford, but don't blame Brown. He scored another touchdown and finished with 14.5 fantasy points. Brown hasn't had fewer than 9 fantasy points in a game since Week 3.
Cataurus Hicks, Pittsburgh (33%)
Holden Geriner missed the game on Friday, so freshman Corey Dailey started at quarterback. That was bad news for Hicks, who caught only three passes from Dailey.
I like this situation a lot more if we know that Geriner would get the job back. However, a week with Dailey in practice may help the offense. Hicks is the best receiver on the team. He just needs a quarterback who can throw the ball in the same zip code.
Week 12 Tight End CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Elija Lofton, Miami (FL) (32%)
This is probably your last chance to get on the Lofton train. He had a solid game against Duke with 6.4 fantasy points. It was a disappointment after his big game against Notre Dame, but the real story here is the targets.
He still trailed only Cooper Barkate in targets. That will be the trend through the end of the regular season.
Jaleel Skinner, Louisville (13%)
Skinner had his best fantasy game since Week 4 against a North Carolina defense that took the WRs out of the game. You can bet that Pitt will try to do the same this weekend.
Pitt has the secondary to pull it off, which should leave Skinner open on underneath routes. He's not going to have a huge game, but he could score in the low double figures again.
Jeremiah Hasley, Duke (39%)
Hasley was in the top five of TE off the board back in August, but he wasn't a part of the Duke offense early in the season. He only scored 12.8 fantasy points the entire month of October.
Hasley has 29.1 fantasy points in three November games so far. Duke has a tough matchup against Clemson's defense this week. Those are the games where Hasley has come through with his best games, as Nate Sheppard's output is limited.
Week 12 Quarterback CFF Waiver Wire Pickups
Gio Lopez, Wake Forest (29%)
Lopez nuked SMU for 27.44 fantasy points in his return, and he didn't even play for much of the second half. The game against Georgia Tech is leaning toward a blowout as well, but this whole offense runs through Gio.
If Wake blows out Georgia Tech, Lopez will be front and center and will clear 20 fantasy points again with ease.
Noah Fifita, Arizona (24%)
Fifita has at least 18 fantasy points in every game and has scored more than 25 in the last two games. Those were against TCU and Utah's tough defenses.
This week, Fifita will get to tear up Kansas State. The Wildcats are in a tailspin right now. Fifita will again be one of the higher-scoring quarterbacks this week.
Isaiah Marshall, Kansas (28%)
I hate the matchup with BYU, but we simply can't ignore how good Marshall has been since missing Week 9 against TCU with an injury. In the two games since his return, Marshall has 289 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
BYU will be able to limit what he does with his legs, but Marshall is the Kansas rushing offense right now. He's not going to quit running just because he's not getting huge chunks of yardage.
