Arguably, the most anticipated season in the history of college football is finally upon us! With a new 12-team playoff, new conferences, and a slew of players and coaches in new places, a lot is changing in the college football landscape. But one thing that’s not changing? There is an insanely deep number of options to fill out your lineups on a DFS main slate. A 12-game slate is a lot to comprehend. We’re going to try to make it easy by singling out our top plays at each position for the slate!
The Hokies’ offense is in a great spot for a week one breakout going against Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilt defense surrendered 31 or more points to every Power-4 opponent they faced last season, and Vegas seems to think that trend will continue with an implied team total of 31 for the Hokies. Drones is a dual threat who can score with his legs as well as his arm, accounting for 22 TDs last year. I think he could easily finish as the top-scoring QB on the slate. He can be played stacked or un-stacked due to his ability to score fantasy points with his legs in addition to his arm. Drones is the DFSHero.com #1 value play at QB on this slate.
DFS Hero #2 value play: Will Howard, Ohio State, $8500
Others receiving votes: Dylan Raiola, Nebraska, $8200 and Mark Gronowski, South Dakota State, $6100
In the three years that he has been at Texas, the RB1 for Steve Sarkisian and the Horns has averaged over 20 fantasy points per game. Granted, that’s two years of Bijan Robinson and one year of Jonathon Brooks, two guys who will be playing on Sundays for the next decade, but now the role belongs to Jaydon Blue. The newly minted starter is an explosive runner who actually graded out as the fastest runner on a miles-per-hour basis on the Texas team last season, and that team included Xavier Worthy. The matchup against Colorado State is also a good one, as they gave up 166 yards per game on the ground last season.
Death, taxes, and DraftKings having one glaring misprice on the week one slate. This year, the honor belongs to LaQuint Allen. The Orange’s top rushing threat averaged over 21 touches per game last season, and did not have a non-conference game under 19 DraftKings points last season. He should be priced up in the $7k range for this matchup against Ohio, but instead, he presents one of the slate’s best salary savers. I am not the only one who thinks he is mispriced — DFSHero.com has Allen as the slate’s best point-per-dollar play, regardless of position. Allen will surely be highly-owned in all formats, so just be aware of that. In GPPs, I’m willing to play the chalk here and make my lineups different elsewhere.
DFS Hero #2 value play: Roman Hemby, Maryland, $6000
Other receiving votes: Desmond Reid, Pitt, $4600
On a slate that lacks star power at the wide receiver position, I could see Presley being the slate-breaker. He represents a clear leverage play off of his star teammate, Ollie Gordon, who will surely be popular. But what I like about Presley is his ability to earn targets – he ranked 2nd nationally in targets last season. With an over/under at 54.5, this game represents one of the best game-stacking options on the slate. There were plenty of games last year where both Presley and Gordon hit value, as well as games where two of the Pokes’ WRs hit value, so an Oklahoma State onslaught is not out of the question.
Like his teammate LaQuint Allen, Gadsden is simply a misprice by DraftKings. One of the nation’s top tight ends in 2022, Gadsden missed much of 2023 and is, therefore, slipping through the cracks of the DraftKings algorithm. I think he is likely to lead this team in targets. Expect high ownership.
Okay, hear me out. Yes, I know that clicking a Pitt WR feels kind of gross. Heck, we don’t even know who is going to play all of the snaps at QB! But Mumpfield was the second-best WR on this Pitt team last year, and the best WR (Bub Means) is now gone. Pitt has an implied total of 39.5 points against a dismal Kent State team. Someone has to catch the ball, and someone has to score those points, and so why shouldn’t it be Mumpfield?
DFS Hero top values:
Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State, $7000
Xavier Restrepo, Miami, $6700
Others receiving votes: Tory Horton, Colorado State, $6900
Hail Mary: Vince Brown II, Colorado State, $3300
The new starting tight end for the offense that had the nation’s most-targeted tight end in 2023.
