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Week 1 finally begins in earnest this week. Labor Day weekend is a college football extravaganza! We have at least one college football game each night from Thursday until Monday! If you want access to all of our premium college football content for 2023, the folks at RotoBaller are offering it FREE to the winner of our ESPN College Pick Em group! Sign up here! One entry per person, please. I will be posting my picks for ESPN College Pick Em all season long and updating you on the standings. The winner at the end of the season wins the free RotoBaller premium college football package for next year giving you exclusive access to our DFS lineup optimizer, DFS picks, and our Discord to give you real-time answers to your college fantasy questions!
We have a busy eight-game Friday, which will be the most for a Friday college football slate until the day after Thanksgiving. We have a lot of old faces in new places on this slate, along with a rather intriguing game out in Boulder...but not before a nice Illinois-Indiana border battle. All of this in Week 1 before a huge Saturday! I could get used to this!!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for DraftKings on 9/2/22 locking at 7 pm eastern. I’ll provide multiple player suggestions for players at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, aiming to highlight one option at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Quarterbacks
Jalon Daniels, Kansas ($9,400)
What's this? A Kansas player getting top billing? That's Week 1 for you. Lance Leipold has the Jayhawks heading in the right direction, and, well, Tennessee Tech is just...bad. Even by FCS standards (they lost 56-0 to Tennessee last year). Daniels racked up 80.34 DraftKings points over the last three games of the season once he took the starting job. Daniels should hit the ground running here on a rapidly improving Kansas team.
D'Wan Mathis, Temple ($6,000)
Duke allowed well over 500 yards of total offense per game and was the fourth-worst team in FBS with 39.8 points allowed per game. Sure, Mathis had some growing pains last year, but Temple as a whole looks to be a little better. If nothing else, Mathis should at least show out a little against this porous Duke D. For this price, he's worth taking a chance on. It's not like Mathis made a ton of mistakes last year. He just didn't put up much for counting stats.
Tommy DeVito, Illinois ($5,300)
DeVito was solid in the opener against Wyoming. Indiana should provide a little more resistance, but I expect another methodical day for DeVito. He wasn't taking a lot of the risks that he took at Syracuse last year. We can't tell a lot by Week 0, but I'm not entirely sure that Indiana is that much better than Wyoming. DeVito is a solid option to push for 20 DraftKings points.
Also consider: Peyton Thorne, Michigan State ($8,100); Grant Wells, Virginia Tech ($8,000); Riley Leonard, Duke ($6,600); Parker McKinney, Eastern Kentucky ($5,600);
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DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Running Backs
Shadrick Byrd, Charlotte ($7,800)
Byrd split carries with Calvin Camp last season and still put up solid numbers. He was the only 49er with more than three carries in the opener against FAU. With Chris Reynolds out of action for this game, I expect Byrd to get quite a few carries against the Tribe. He didn't see much daylight against the Owls, but that's going to change in this one.
Chase Brown, Illinois ($5,400)
So...uh...a guy that went for 151 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns in Week 0 is this cheap. I don't care if he's playing Alabama, Brown is a bargain at this price. He's going to light up Indiana like he did Wyoming, but another triple-digit day is certainly possible for Brown. The Illini showed that Brown is the unquestioned lead back in the opener. I have every confidence he will pay off this price.
Jalen Berger, Michigan State ($4,900)
A quick peep at the Spartans depth chart has Berger, the Wisconsin transfer at RB1 instead of Jarek Broussard, the Colorado transfer. I'm sure they will both see carries in a plus matchup, but Berger is a lot cheaper than Broussard. If he really does start, he could break the slate at this price.
Blake Watson, Old Dominion ($4,000)
The Hokies are a tough egg to crack, but it might take their offense a bit to get going. Watson ran for 1,112 yards last season, including 55 in the opener against Wake. The ceiling isn't that high, but Watson makes a lot fit at this price and he's a solid threat for double-digit points.
Also consider: Darius Boone, Eastern Michigan ($7,400); Jalen Holston, Virginia Tech ($6,300); Emari Demercado, TCU ($5,100); David Gist, Tennessee Tech ($4,100)
DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Wide Receivers
Hassan Beydoun, Eastern Michigan ($7,800)
For those of you that crushed mid-week MACtion with me last year, you know what Beydoun brings to the table. He only caught four touchdowns last season, but Beydoun racked up 1,015 yards on 97 receptions. That racks up points in a hurry. The Eagles are breaking in a new quarterback, but he would be a fool not to target Beydoun early and often in this one.
Jalon Calhoun, Duke ($6,500)
Being a really good player on a really bad team is nothing new for Calhoun. Duke is still unsettled at quarterback like they have been for the last few years. That hasn't stopped Calhoun from some strong games. I think Riley Leonard will be better than Gunnar Holmberg, but who knows? The Blue Devils are expected to use two quarterbacks in this one, but I'm guessing Calhoun will have a good game regardless of who is throwing to him against a Temple defense that allowed 37.5 points per game last season.
Jadan Blue, Virginia Tech ($6,100)
Blue racked up 1,067 yards on 95 receptions back in 2019 with Anthony Russo as the quarterback. Shoddy QB play (and the offense as a whole) has limited Blue the last two years, but I think he can have another big season with Marshall transfer Grant Wells throwing him the ball to finish off his college career. DraftKings hasn't really priced him as a sleeper, but this is still cheap enough in a plus matchup for Blue.
Pat Bryant, Illinois ($4,300)
I probably won't play all three Illinois players recommended in the same lineup, but if you roll DeVito, you should probably pair him with Bryant or Williams as well. Williams led the Illini in targets, but Bryant had the longest reception and found the end zone – the only player besides Chase Brown to do so. Bryant is a good punt since people have raved about DeVito's deep arm. We have yet to really see it come to fruition, but it might against a rebuilding Indiana squad.
Also consider: Jayden Reed, Michigan State ($7,300); Dylan Drummond, Eastern Michigan ($6,600); Isaiah Williams, Illinois ($5,600); Quinton Cross, Tennessee Tech ($4,400)
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