WR Elic Ayomanor, Stanford
Fantrax Ownership: 4%
The star of the week is an unlikely character — Stanford wide receiver Elic Ayomanor. He ripped Travis Hunter’s soul from his body and cast it into the oblivion, dropping 13-294-3 on the Buffaloes to lead a terrific comeback victory after tailing 29-0 at the half. Ayomanor had 15 targets in his previous two games and was headed on an upward trajectory as this team’s top WR. He’s particularly interesting in CFF Dynasty leagues as he’s just a sophomore and Troy Taylor’s offenses should have plenty of fantasy goodness in the future once he’s able to establish his system, which generally has a few big-time producers and operates at a fast tempo. Ayomanor is listed as a sophomore but he didn’t appear in a game in 2022 and therefore could’ve used a redshirt year, so he may have more eligibility than we think. The Canadian speedster still looks like a raw product clearly possesses a wealth of potential and should be owned in all leagues to see what happens. Star right end Benjamin Yurosek left the game with an injury, so Ayomanor could be in line for even more targets going forward if Yurosek misses time.
QB Cooper Legas, Utah State
Fantrax Ownership: 10%
Utah State’s offense is back in a huge way this season with Anderson calling the shots offensively, and that means Legas is a near-weekly starter at QB in CFF leagues and should be rostered everywhere. The Aggies have aced every single test this season offensively and Legas should continue hucking it deep with regularity and he runs it a bit too, which is a perfect recipe for fantasy goodness. The Aggies are averaging 477.9 total yards per game and 6.6 yards per play and Legas has five plus matchups, plus a bye, ahead of him on the schedule.
WR Kelly Akharaiyi, UTEP
Fantrax Ownership: 4%
UTEP funnels targets to its top wide receiver every year and now it appears to be Akharaiyi’s turn as Tyrin Smith has been injured for a few weeks and there’s talk of him redshirting. Akharaiyi is now the target gobbler after seeing 21 targets in his last two games. The Miners have been struggling mightily at the QB position and that’s held back the talented WR’s production before Week 7, but he burst out against Florida International with 8-223-2 for a massive 42.3 fantasy points. It’s unclear if QB Gavin Hardison will be back soon or not — if he is, that’s a big boost for Akharaiyi, and even if he’s not then he still holds rosterable value. He holds an impressive 2.66 yards per route run and a massive 16.4 aDOT and so despite dropping far too many passes, he’s locked into a high-usage, high-leverage role as long as Smith is out.
RB Quinton Cooley, Liberty
Fantrax Ownership: 10%
Cooley has become a workhorse for the midweek Flames, handling 28 carries for 163 yards and 2 TDs in Week 7 against Jacksonville State. He’s now gone over 100 rushing yards in three straight games and has done so in four of his last five. The Wake Forest transfer is a bruiser whose physicality can’t be matched by most of these terrible CUSA teams and he’s posted strong metrics with an 83.1 PFF rush grade and 3.63 yards after contact per attempt. There are more soft matchups on deck and Cooley might be a weekly starter down the stretch, especially against Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, and UMass.
WR Elijah Sarratt, James Madison
Fantrax Ownership: 3%
JMU has done a fantastic job churning out productive WRs over the last few years and Sarratt looks to be next in line after posting at least 18 FPs in three of his last four games. He most recently dropped 5-105-1 on Georgia Southern and has now scored three TDs in his last four games. I’ll point out that Saturday was the first time all year that Sarratt has seen more than seven targets in a single game this year, so the volume isn’t superb and he’s more TD-reliant than I’d typically like. Still, JMU is an incredible team and they should find the end zone plenty enough with Sarratt a likely culprit for contributing more of those scores.
QB Jason Bean, Kansas
Fantrax Ownership: 10%
I drafted Jalon Daniels everywhere this year so naturally he got hurt almost immediately and returned no value. Why do we play this cruel sport? Anyhow, Bean should be Kansas’ starter going forward as I’ve seen no positive reports about Daniels’ back lately so I’m assuming he’ll be unavailable for a while and possibly the whole season. Kansas is a wagon offensively and Bean is one of the fastest humans in college football, much less one of the fastest QBs. I can’t tell if I love or hate watching him because he throws absolute gas on every throw regardless if the situation calls for more loft and touch. Combined with how fast he runs, he is a one-of-a-kind watch — sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way. He was all good last weekend, dropping 36.3 FPs as a great DraftKings play against Oklahoma State. This is a tremendous offense and even though the next two weeks don’t look great on the schedule for a pickup (Bye, Oklahoma) he should have value for the stretch run (Texas Tech, Kansas State, Cincinnati).
QB Jalen Mayden & WR Mekhi Shaw, San Diego State
Fantrax Ownership: 8% for Mayden, 1% for Shaw
If you need a spot start at QB then Mayden is worth a look. SDSU has been pretty bad this year, but remember that Mayden led the MWC with 8.6 yards per attempt last season and is a capable runner. He gets the matchup of the week against a softer Nevada defense allowing an FBS-worst 8.1 yards per play and 510 total yards per game. The Aztecs just dropped 41 points on another terrible team in Hawaii and Mayden could have a productive day that “no one’ sees coming. Shaw stopped 6-126-1 on Hawaii and should be this team’s WR1 after being injured over the last month but appearing mighty healthy last weekend.
