CFF Monthly Round Up - March 2023
Summary of the notable events relating to CFF in March
Gather in to the tavern, my friends. Today we launch a new series on the VP platform titled the ‘Monthly Round Up’, in which I will cover at a high level the notable headlines, rumblings, and quotable quotes in College Football and their relevancy to CFF. These will include spring/summer camp rumblings, notable transfer portal news, and injury/suspension events. I will also provide an overview of the content I have published over the month on the VP platform and (if applicable) on other platforms. Eventually, once the season starts I will convert this article to a waiver wire series.
Before jumping in I want to take a moment to acknowledge the CFF community and the VP audience, the support and engagement two months into this deal has been outstanding. I would encourage you, if you haven’t already, to join us over at the Pig Pen (subscribe), Share amongst your friends and Like these articles on the Substack platform, as this engagement helps push my content in their algorithm.
Let’s keep it real right now, I’m an absolute degenerate in this game (and I don’t mean that in a good way). However, one benefit of this degeneracy is the prolific rate of new content produced on the VP platform. It’s the engagement I get from you guys and the growth of the platform that fuels me, so charge me up, baby!
In case you missed it
March was yet another prolific month on VolumePigs as we covered articles ranging from Hawaii to up-state New York. Some of the most popular articles of the month include:
Hawaii's 5'7 Swiss Army knife set to eviscerate the MWC?: RB/WR Tylan Hines
USF Freshman in for MONSTER season in 2023?: QB Byrum Brown
CFF Sell Series - Part 3: Boise State RBs, Tennessee WRs, Minnesota RBs
This FAU Owl may be in for the season of his life in 2023: WR LaJohntay Wester
Oregon Ducks WRs on VP watch with new OC in town: WRs Troy Franklin & Tez Johnson
CFF Sell Series - Part 2 (one-month anniversary edition): Texas WR Xavier Worthy, UNC WR Devontez Walker and FSU RB Trey Benson
Notable spring camp rumblings
Arizona State TE Jalin Conyers
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (not on twitter) you probably have seen the hype out of Arizona State spring camp on TE Jalin Conyers. Here’s yet another tweet from CFF analyst Nate Marchese, spotlighting Conyers’ contested catch ability.
Conyers, a 6’4 265 pound behemoth, is entering his third season of CFB with the Sun Devils. He had a phenomenal end to the season in 2022 catching 30 passes in his final 5 games, tracking to 346 yards and 5 TDs. This uptick in usage coincided with QB Trenton Bourguet taking over as the starter. Conyers has blown up this spring, routinely making spectacular catches and is a mainstay in beat writer headlines.
No matter who ends up starting at QB to open the season, Conyers looks poised to see solid usage in Dillingham’s first season as head coach. Finding TEs that see consistent usage is a precarious task in CFF, so Conyers having this type of spring is a notable event. And who knows? You might be hearing more about Conyers on VP in the near future…
Colorado Athlete Travis Hunter
It appears that the number one player in the class of 2022, Travis Hunter, is taking many of his snaps at WR.
He played out wide some for the JSU Tigers in 2022 (18-190-4), but was mostly used as a DB. With the Deion Sanders regime in full effect over there in Boulder, and a new OC in town with a track record for strong WR usage, Hunter could be a valuable commodity to own in 2023 if he makes the full time move. That being said, there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen, WR Xavier Weaver, TE Seydou Traore and WR Jordyn Tyson are also on the roster and will likely see significant roles in the offence.
Missouri WR Luther Burden
In case you missed my article on Burden a few weeks ago, it sounds like the former five-star will be deployed from the slot this season. This is good news for Burden, as the Tigers’ leading receiver last year came from the slot position (Dominic Lovett), and the usage near the line of scrimmage will allow Burden to utilize his elite after-the-catch ability.
Wisconsin QB Tanner Mordecai
As expected, it appears Mordecai is getting the first team reps in spring camp. With the new OC Phil Longo (formerly of UNC) now in the fold, Mordecai offers intriguing upside in CFF for 2023. Longo’s last QB — Drake Maye, torched CFB last season averaging 32.7 FPG in four-point passing TD formats.
Ohio State WR Jayden Ballard
OSU’s speedy WR Ballard is turning heads this spring… again. We’ve heard this song and dance before so I won’t get too carried away, but the rumblings are happening; one has to feel that if not now then when for Ballard?
I covered Ballard in my sleeper series article at the beginning of the month. He brings a unique skill set to the OSU room, which — while crowded — does not feature another player with Ballard’s size-speed combo. He could play the Jameson Williams role for this team taking the top off the defence, only, you know, actually getting used.
Illinois RB Josh McCray
The word out of camp is that Bret Bielema wants to get back to a 2-3 man rotation in the backfield, calling last year an ‘outlier’. Here is an excerpt from one report:
Love and McCray figure to be the top two options but offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. has indicated that multiple backs would be used in the offense, meaning Anderson, Laughery or Feagin, an early-enrolling freshman, would have the opportunity to snag some carries.
As good as Brown was a year ago, and he was a Doak Walker finalist who will likely be drafted in next month’s NFL Draft, Lunney would rather not rely so heavily on one back to do all of the heavy lifting.
I wrote about McCray in an early VP article pitching his case for CFF stardom in 2023. It looks like that won’t be the case after all as the staff apparently plans to go with a committee approach. Accordingly, I’ve placed myself in the dog house for my incompetence; the key takeaway? Ignore what I said in that article re: McCray, I would not draft him given this latest info.
Notable Transfers
SMU slot receiver Beau Corrales is transferring to Texas State. I wrote about fellow Bobcat WR Ashtyn Hawkins a week ago, and I think this offence will be fun in 2023 with new head coach GJ Kinne. Of note, perhaps Corrales will be occupying the slot role more often, freeing Hawkins to the boundary. I cover the significance of where the WRs are lining up in this offence in the linked articled above.
North Texas TE Var’Keyes Gumms is in the portal. Unfortunately, sometimes with my articles unexpected events happen in the future — that is, I covered Gumms as a name to keep in mind with North Texas as they brought in air-raid aficionado Eric Morris. It’s still possible that Gumms returns to the Mean Green; something to monitor as the offseason progresses.
Minnesota RB Trey Potts is in the portal. It looked like Potts was in line for a larger workload this season in Ibrahim’s absence, however it turns out he had other plans. For more details on the situation, I wrote about the Gophers’ backfield situation in this article. As with Gumms, it’s worth noting that he could in theory still return to the Gophers for 2023.
Notable injury & suspension news
UGA RB Kendall Milton has gone down with yet another injury, and will be unavailable for spring. He is expected to be good to go for the season, however his absence opens the door for the younger RBs to get valuable snaps. And, with Milton’s injury history, I can’t help but wonder out loud if we should be expecting a larger workload for someone like Branson Robinson, for example. Of note, fellow senior RB Daijun Edwards is also missing time this spring.
Colorado State RB Avery Morrow has been suspended indefinitely from the team. Morrow found his way onto my rosters last season as he reached bell-cow status briefly for the Rams while sporting dual-eligibility on Fantrax (RB/WR). A deadly combination for CFF, it is unlikely he will still have that dual-eligibility this season, but even as a runner he offers some intriguing upside in best-ball formats, particularly. Unfortunately, it appears he has been suspended indefinitely for an altercation on campus. Without more details it’s tough to speculate on the long term outcome, and I would probably avoid Morrow in any draft until more information is known.
Minnesota Gophers WR Dylan Wright is no longer part of the program. This is unfortunate news, as Wright, a former standout high school prospect from Mesquite, TX, has flashed at times for Minnesota. He presents a similar build to former Gopher stud Rashod Bateman. Of note, this means one less mouth to feed in the WR room, perhaps a player like WMU transfer WR Corey Crooms could benefit.
It sounds like neither of Kansas State’s lead RBs — DJ Giddens and Treshaun Ward — will see contact during the spring (DJ Giddens is recovering from surgery, Ward is only doing individual drills). This is unfortunate, as I was hoping to gather more info on this RB hierarchy for the Wildcats this offseason. Without further notice, it looks like a committee seems likely.
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