Joe Arpasi
May 28, 2026
When it comes to College Fantasy Football the draft strategy that I hang my hat on is targeting specific coaching systems. It is a good strategy to target players that play in roles within their offense that have a history of good fantasy production. There are times when we know who the starter is going to be, but there are also times where we don’t. When fantasy owners don’t know which player will be “the man” they utilize the “Handcuff” technique.
Handcuffing a position is a way to “corner the market” on a specific position from a specific team. You want Texas’ starting RB but there’s two guys competing for the job, which guy should you draft? When utilizing the Handcuff technique, you’ll draft both. This ensures that whoever wins the starting job is on your roster.
If you want fantasy success just remember, “greed is good.”
**This article will be updated as position battles sort themselves out through the summer**
Honorable Mentions
Arkansas State
WR Chauncy Cobb
WR Hunter Summers
Head coach Butch Jones has produced three WR’s with 100+ targets in the last five years. Last season’s WR1 Corey Rucker is gone, opening up a new opportunity. Cobb is the top returning WR on the team and plays in the slot. From 2023-2021 Jones’ WR1 was a slot. But the last two seasons saw an outside WR as the WR1. Summers was last season’s WR3 and he had a strong spring camp. We need to see if Jones will continue to feature an outside WR as the WR1 or the most talented WR.
Update 6/16
Baylor
RB Dawson Pendergrass
RB Caden Knighten
In his first two seasons at Baylor Pendergrass has been a regular in the RB rotation, producing a combined 200 carries for 1009 yards and 11 TD’s. He missed the 2025 season after suffering a foot injury last August, but he was able to have limited participation in this spring’s camp. With Pendergrass out last fall that gave Knighten the opportunity to get into the mix. He finished that season as the team’s second leading rusher with 104 carries for 469 yards and 1 TD. At the end of the season he suffered a severe head/neck injury that he’s recovered from and was able to fully participate in the spring. Until Pendergrass is back to 100% in the fall we won’t know if he’ll command the majority of carries or if this will be a committee approach.
BYU
WR JoJo Phillips
WR Kyler Kasper
WR Tiger Bachmeier
During the offseason last year’s top receiver Parker Kingston was dismissed from school for legal issues. Now the WR1 role is opened in an offense that doesn’t have an established guy returning that could easily fill that void. Phillips delt with injuries early last season which limited his role in the offense. Kasper only had 2 receptions in 2025 but he put up a strong performance over the spring and thrust his name into this battle. Both play on the outside which has only been featured as the WR1 twice since 2021. A balanced WR has been the WR1 more during that time and the leading WR in that role is Tiger Bachmeier. Bachmeier isn’t the most talented of this group which opens the door for Phillips and Kasper.
California
WR Ian Strong
WR Chase Hendricks
The wide receiver room underwent an overhaul this offseason. Strong transfers in from Rutgers where he had 52 receptions for 762 yards and 5 TD’s. Hendricks transferred in from Ohio where he produced 71 catches for 1037 yards and 7 TD’s. While starting QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele returns, there are question marks about what type of offense will Cal run. Jordan Somerville comes in from the Detroit Lions as the new offensive coordinator. Somerville doesn’t have much history in our coaching tracker to give us an idea of how valuable the WR1 position will be from a fantasy perspective.
TE Dorian Thomas
TE Mason Mini
Just like I previously stated, OC Jaron Somerville doesn’t have much history for us to go off of when it comes to the fantasy value of the TE position. Mini emerged last season as a reliable fantasy TE for the Bears. Despite him coming back this season the coaching staff went out and signed Thomas in the portal. Thomas scored 17 more fantasy points last season at New Mexico than Mini scored. Right now its too hard to tell who the TE1 is, or if the new offense will feature two TE’s regularly which could dilute both of their fantasy values.
Colorado State
QB Hauss Hejney
QB Ksaan Farrar
When Hejney signed with Colorado State in the offseason many believed this was his job to lose despite only throwing 10 passes in his collegiate career. Farrar is equally unproven in his career but he followed the coaching staff from UConn. The staff saw good things in him last season and during spring camp he kept this position battle a dead heat. The staff plans to involve the QB more in the running game this year, giving both of these athletic QB’s added fantasy value.
RB Durell Robinson
RB Mel Brown
Last season RB Cam Edwards was phenomenal at UConn scoring 248.1 fantasy points with a 210 carry workload. Brown was the RB2 at UConn last year and he follows the coaching staff. His performance during spring camp was great as he regularly ran with the first team offense. Robinson played for this coaching staff two years ago as the starting RB. He was still nursing a leg injury this spring so his return in the fall will shake up the RB1 position battle. Colorado State plans on running the ball a bunch but we just don’t know if they will lean into a bell cow back, or split the workload.
WR Jackson Harper
WR Jordan Mosley
WR Tommy Maher
Last season at UConn the offense force fed WR Skyler Bell with 145 targets leading him to score 253.9 fantasy points. Bell was hands down the best WR on that team which made sense to throw to him so much. This year’s WR room doesn’t look to have a single standout star. Harper follows the staff from UConn and has received praise on his potential even though he only had 9 targets last season. Mosley is a former four star recruit that transfers in from Mississippi State where he only had one season with more than 20 targets. He also brings the experience of 40 career game appearances with him making him the most seasoned WR of this group. Maher is the top WR that returns from last season’s Colorado State team where he had modest production with 32 receptions for 358 yards but no TD’s. Unless one of these guys can break away from the pack in fall camp there’s a chance that the target distribution might get split between all of these players.
East Carolina
QB Mitch Griffis
QB Emory Williams
Jordan Davis comes to East Carolina as the new offensive coordinator, following three seasons as the OC at North Texas. The success of those North Texas offenses came from the mind of previous head coach Eric Morris. We can’t ignore the type of numbers that offense produced for fantasy QB’s as they scored 379.3, 336.9, & 317.1 fantasy points over the last three seasons. Griffis has starting experience from the 2023 season while at Wake Forest, but has spent most of his career as a back-up. Williams spent the last three seasons as a back-up at Miami, FL. While there is good fantasy potential from this QB position, I am lowering my expectations for the eventual starter in year one under Davis.
Georgia Southern
RB David Mbadinga
RB Jamarian Samuel
In the four seasons that Clay Helton has been the head coach at Georgia Southern his RB1 has scored 160+ fantasy points each year and they’ve received 40% or more of the team’s total carries twice. Mbadinga was last season’s clear RB2 but he suffered a knee injury late in the season. He was able to participate in spring camp after rehabbing his knee. Samuel was banged up last season but got healthy and participated in the spring as well. His play in spring camp has brought his name into this position battle where no guy is the favorite entering the summer.
Kentucky
RB Cedric Baxter
RB Jovantae Barnes
New head coach Will Stein has a history of productive fantasy RB’s from his time coaching at Oregon. In 2024 & 2023 his RB1 carried the ball 180+ times. For his rebuild at Kentucky he brought in two backs from the transfer portal. Baxter had a promising freshman season at Texas, but injuries have plagued him since. Barnes saw significant playing time at Oklahoma from 2022-2024, and he too has missed time over his career due to injuries. Due to the injury concerns with both these backs we might not see one player dominate the carries, and instead see them splitt the workload unless a “hot hand” appears.
Update 6/22
Louisiana-Monroe
RB Donald Chaney Jr.
RB Bryson Roland
UL-Monroe is completely replacing their RB room for 2026. Chaney transfers in from Charlotte where he opted out last September without playing in any games. Prior to that he spent 2024 at Louisville, then four seasons at Miami (FL) where 2023 was his best season as he racked up 94 carries for 478 yards and 2 TD’s. Roland played last season at Arkansas Tech and as a freshman had 175 carries for 1141 yards and 9 TD’s. Chaney is the thunder to Roland’s lightning, and the two will likely form a committee backfield. Head coach Bryant Vincent prefers to lean on a workhorse RB with five players getting 180+ carries going back to 2018. 2026 will likely stay a split workload between these two unless a “hot hand” appears.
Nebraska
RB Jamal Rule
RB Mekhi Nelson
With Emmett Johnson leaving for the NFL, this offense loses 251 carries and 60 targets of production from the RB position. 2021 was the only other time that offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen had a RB get 180+ carries which means that we shouldn’t be expecting this year’s RB1 to shoulder the bulk of the carry load. Nelson looked to be the next man up as the team entered spring camp despite only carrying the ball 27 times last season. But true freshman Rule enrolled early and turned heads all through the spring. Its a tall task to throw a true freshman in as your primary back in the Big Ten so this situation might revert back into a commitee approach that Holgorsen has used multiple times in the past.
Oklahoma
TE Hayden Hansen
TE Rocky Beers
Last season TE Jaren Kanak scored 75.3 fantasy points as the Sooners’ top TE. This is the second time in the last four years that offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has had a TE1 score 75+ fantasy points in a season. To address Kanak’s departure the coaching staff hit the transfer portal. Hansen was brought in from Florida, and his 50.4 fantasy points in 2025 was a career best. He has a massive 6’8″ 268 pound frame and can be used in both the passing game and the running game. Beers transfers in from Colorado State and he put up an impressive 98.3 fantasy points last year. At 6’5″ 235 he is much smaller and more adapted for passing use. Looking at what these two bring to the table there might not be a clear cut TE1, and instead split time between the two players based on situational adaptability.
Penn State
RB Carson Hansen
RB James Peoples
When you look over the history of new head coach Matt Campbell you find that his RB1 has received 180+ carries once since 2021. That was last season at Iowa State with Hansen getting 187 carries for 157.9 fantasy points. Hansen followed Campbell to Penn State and will likely be the RB1 to start the season. But don’t forget about former Ohio State Buckeye James Peoples. The former four star recruit is talented and has the ability to overtake Hansen once he has the playbook down. Or in a worse case scenario Peoples is good enough to syphon away carries from Hansen in a split backfield rotation.
Update 7/18
South Carolina
RB Matthew Fuller
RB Christian Clark
Fuller has spent his two seasons at South Carolina improving on his play. He received 72 carries in 2025 but entered this spring camp determined to make a difference. By the time camp was over he was named the offensive MVP of the spring and took the lead for the starting RB job. Clark originally signed with Texas out of high school and in his freshman season he saw action in 8 games and had 55 rushing attempts. He was the starting RB for the bowl game and had 20 carries for 105 yards and 1 TD against Michigan. New offensive coordinator Kendal Briles has utilized committee backfields and workhorse RB’s in his past. When it a committee situation the RB1 averages 120 carries and when there’s a workhorse they average 225 carries.
Update 7/18
Syracuse
RB Tylik Hill
RB Ju’Juan Johnson
Last season at Syracuse Hill was a true freshman that managed to play in 8 games and carry the ball 24 times. With the top two RB’s from last season no longer with the program, Hill became the most experienced returning RB on the roster. The coaching staff did hit up the transfer portal and signed Johnson in an attempt to bring in a RB with more game experience. Over two seasons at LSU Johnson played in 25 games and had a total of 48 rushing attempts. Neither RB was able to separate themselves during the spring, leaving this battle open going into fall camp. There has only been one RB for offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon who had received 110+ carries in a season, which was LeQuint Allen in 2024.
Tennessee
QB George MacIntrye
QB Faizon Brandon
From 2018-2022 the QB1 for head coach Josh Heupel had scored 300+ fantasy points each season. Since 2023 none of his QB’s have scored 285 fantasy points. This season we have two unexperienced QB’s battling for the QB1 job. MacIntrye comes back for his second season at Tennessee and has the edge in understanding the offense. Brandon is a true freshman five star recruit that was ranked #3 overall in his class. He possesses physical abilities that can’t be matched. Despite each QB bringing something different into this competition neither were able to separate themselves from the other in spring camp.
Texas State
RB Davian Jackson
RB Torrance Burgess
RB Taji Atkins
Heading into the spring it looked like Greg Burrell was going to be the favorite to become this season’s RB1 at Texas State. Instead of that happening Burrell was arrested, faced legal charges, and was dismissed from the team. This left things wide open especially because all of the remaining backs are small in nature. Burgess has the most rushing yards from a returning back but is small in stature at 5’8″ 176 pounds. Atkins was brought in from Rice. He has flashes of explosiveness but likely can’t handle much wear and tear since he has a 5’8″ 181 pound frame. Jackson is a WR transfer from Mississippi State that was moved to RB in spring camp. Standing 6’1″ 196 pounds, he is the only option of this group who’s body could handle a large workload.
UAB
RB Roderick Robinson
RB Braylon McReynolds
In the three seasons as offensive coordinator, Alex Mortensen has never had a feature running back. The reason I’m covering this position battle is that news from the spring about this position was extraordinary. Robinson is a former four star recruit that transferred in from Georgia. The instant he hit the field the coaches knew they had something special as Robinson would make plays with his size and speed that they hadn’t seen before at UAB. McReynolds ran for 600 yards at UL-Monroe last season before coming to UAB. He flashed his playmaking abilities this spring as well, with the coaches making comments about how they might have the best 1-2 punch at RB in the American conference.
UCLA
RB Anthony Woods
RB Wayne Knight
Offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy follows new head coach Bob Chesney from James Madison to UCLA. Last season was the only time that Kennedy utilized a workhorse back, and that back was Knight. He scored 248.1 fantasy points, had 200 carries, and more impressively had 60 targets. The RB1 for Kennedy in 2024 had a total of 187 carries & targets. Knight sat out the spring with an injury and that opened the door for Woods. During spring camp Woods stood out from the rest of the active RB’s and created a threat for Knight to contend with in fall camp.
Virginia
RB Peyton Lewis
RB Jekail Middlebrook
RB Solomon Beebe
Last season offensive coordinator Tony Elliott fed his RB1 with 222 carries and 58 targets. The only other times that an Elliott RB1 got 150+ carries was in 2018 & 2019 (204 & 207 carries), and he’s never provided 45+ targets to any other RB. With the amount of talent that Virginia acquired in the portal, it might be hard to see a bell cow emerge. Lewis comes in from Tennessee where he served in a back-up role. Lewis made quotes in spring camp that he expects to get a huge workload this season. Middlebrook scored 174.4 fantasy points last season at Middle Tennessee and he brings great pass catching skills to this backfield. Beebe is another good pass catcher that transferred in from UAB. There might be too much talent in this room for one back to get a lion’s share of carries.
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