Developing Assets: Week Four

Ryan McDowell

Whether you are a devy dynasty owner tracking your player or simply trying to stay ahead of your competition when prepping for 2019 rookie drafts, following the weekly world of college football can pay dividends for fantasy players.

Each week this season, I’ll focus on a trio of games throughout the day, along with some key future pros you might want to focus on as you watch.

Wake Up and Watch

Georgia at Missouri (ESPN, 12:00)

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The SEC East battle will serve as a true test for the undefeated Missouri Tigers. While the Bulldogs feature a bevy of young stars on the offense, Missouri relies on experienced veterans to score their points.

Senior quarterback Drew Lock is one of several who could be the first signal caller selected in the spring NFL Draft. He leads the SEC in passing yardage and touchdowns. His favorite target has been senior wideout Emanuel Hall, who is averaging over 140 yards per game. That is good enough to lead the conference by nearly 50 yards, but he will face his toughest test of the season, likely facing Bulldogs cornerback Deandre Baker.

Tight end Albert Okwuegbunam showed up big as a freshman a year ago with 11 touchdowns but has slowed a bit this year. Running back Damarea Crockett once looked like he might be the top back chosen in the 2019 NFL Draft, but an injury-plagued 2017 season followed by his slow start this year likely means he won’t even declare following his junior season. Crockett is just third of the team in rushing.

As I mentioned, the majority of Georgia’s key offensive stars are not even draft eligible this season, including quarterbacks Jake Fromm and Justin Fields, running backs D’Andre Swift and James Cook. You won’t find any of these players among the SEC statistical leaders as they’ve spread the ball and playing time around and have also left blowout games early. The good news is they are all very efficient. Fromm leads the nation with over 80% completion percentage and Holyfield has over 200 rushing yards, averaging over nine yards per carry.

Other teams in early action include:

Notre Dame at Wake Forest (ABC, 12:00)

Nebraska at Michigan (Fox Sports 1, 12:00)

Buffalo at Rutgers (Big Ten Network, 12:00)

Midday Marquee

Kansas State at West Virginia (ESPN, 3:30)

Since we’ve already been focused on the senior quarterbacks in the early game, let’s go back to the well. West Virginia senior quarterback Will Grier leads the Big 12 in completion percentage, touchdown, passer rating and yards per attempt. His favorite target has typically been fellow senior David Sills but he is just second on the team in yardage through the early part of the season. Grier should be a first-rounder in the spring, while Sills is likely a day three pick.

Other teams in mid-day action include:

Texas A&M at Alabama (CBS, 3:30)

Clemson @ Georgia Tech (ABC, 3:30)

Tulane at Ohio State (Big Ten Network, 3:30)

Primetime Play

Stanford at Oregon (ABC, 8:00)

You already know about Stanford running back Bryce Love, who has not started the season the way most imagined. After being shut down by San Diego State, Love bounced back against the USC Trojans before sitting out last week. I’m more interested in the Cardinal’s unique pass-catching group, which includes the underrated receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who leads the team in virtually all receiving categories. A pair of tight ends in Kaden Smith and Colby Parkinson are key contributors, as are former five-star recruit Trenton Irwin and Osiris St. Brown, brother of Packers rookie Equanimeous.

Let’s continue the star quarterback trend with Oregon’s Justin Herbert, who was considered the favorite to be the top passer drafted when the season began. Although he does lead the PAC-12 in passing touchdowns and yards per attempt, he has plenty of competition for that honor, including previously mentioned Lock and Grier, along with Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham.

Other teams with evening games include:

Mississippi State at Kentucky (ESPN2, 7:00)

Texas Tech at Oklahoma State (Fox Sports 1, 7:00)

Wisconsin at Iowa (FOX, 8:35)

Arizona State at Washington (ESPN, 10:30)

2019 NFL Mock Draft

As the NFL Draft has grown in popularity, that means it has become a year-round business and we no longer have to wait until the end of the football season to see where the top players project to land. Multiple sites and writers are nor regularly producing mock draft months out from the actual event and I’ll now be including those in these weekly updates.

Here’s the latest projection from CBS Sports writer Chris Trapasso.

1.07 CLE N’Keal Harry, WR Arizona State

1.09 NYG Drew Lock, QB Missouri

1.10 SF AJ Brown, WR Mississippi

1.12 DAL Anthony Johnson, WR Buffalo

1.23 LAC Marquise Brown, WR Oklahoma

1.24 PHI JJ Arcega-Whiteside, WR Stanford

1.25 GB David Sills, WR West Virginia

1.30 JAX Noah Fant, TE Iowa

2019 Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft

1.01 N’Keal Harry, WR Arizona State

1.02 Bryan Edwards, WR South Carolina

1.03 AJ Brown, WR Ole Miss

1.04 Dekaylin Metcalf, WR Ole Miss

1.05 Kelvin Harmon, WR North Carolina State

1.06 Noah Fant, TE Iowa

1.07 Tyler Johnson, WR Minnesota

1.08 David Montgomery, RB Iowa State

1.09 Hakeem Butler, WR Iowa State

1.10 Devin Singletary, RB Florida International

1.11 Damien Harris, RB Alabama

1.12 Deebo Samuel, WR South Carolina

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ryan mcdowell