CFB: King's Classic Draft Recap

This article is part of our College Football Draft Kit series.

Last weekend, John Laub (@GridironSchol91) organized a college fantasy football draft that was held in person in Canton, Ohio at the King's Classic. Though I wasn't able to make it there, I was still able to participate in the draft alongside some of the best in the CFF industry. 

The setup was as follows: 12 teams, 19 rounds, two quarterbacks, full-point PPR scoring. 

Below you'll find the full results along with commentary on my own draft process and some notable picks

The first pick went as expected, with Malik Willis continuing to be the consensus 1.1 and this industry draft was no different. The rest of the first round was surprising, though. Three quarterbacks went with the first three picks, and four of the first six picks overall were QBs. 

Now, those are all good picks to be clear, and this being a two-quarterback league puts an added premium on the position. Still, I tend to be the guy that waits at quarterback and banks on the depth at that position. 

The other first-round shakeup was at the top of the running back board with Bijan Robinson going before Breece Hall. That's not something I had seen in any of my drafts thus far, and while Robinson has the alluring upside that comes with a former five-star who broke out down the stretch, Hall has already proven his upside over two full seasons. Hall has 2,000-total yard upside and could push for 25 total touchdowns. Not that Robinson is incapable of a season like that, I just think it's more likely that Hall reaches those levels this season. And Hall has less competition for carries, which helps bolster his floor. Mostly, I just want to not screw up my first pick, and while going with Robinson is far from a screw-up, Hall feels like a safer bet to live up to ADP, if ever so slightly. 

As for my pick, I was hoping either Kayshon Boutte or Sincere McCormick would miraculously fall to me at 1.10. Given that this is a room of CFF experts, I knew that was wishful thinking. So I went for the next best receiver on our board, knowing that I could still get a bell cow back with my early second-round pick. Jalen Tolbert ended up being the guy. He looks like an NFL talent playing against Sun Belt competition, and with a target share well north of 30 percent, Tolbert will have the volume stats to make him one of the most productive receivers in all of college football. I was happy to nab him there.

On the way back I got Leddie Brown. I don't often seek him out, but few other backs available offered that week-to-week carry volume floor that Brown offers. Brown is also more explosive than I gave him credit for going into last season as he maintained a 5.1 YPC mark over 199 carries in 10 games. I'll take that against a relatively soft schedule as my RB1. 

More interesting quarterback names came off the board here with Brennan Armstrong, Grayson McCall, and Dillon Gabriel getting things started in the top of the third, while C.J. Stroud also went off the board right after. I believe Gabriel is the most talented of this group, but UCF's switch to Gus Malzahn has me off him at current ADP. Armstrong, McCall and Stroud are in better situations for easy fantasy production. 

If the room was going heavy at QB, I was going to differentiate rather than get in at the end of a position run. With that, I went with two running backs in the third (Chris Rodriguez) and fourth (DeWayne McBride). I may regret taking DeWayne McBride over Romeo Doubs now that I look at the board and how I had to chase receiver for the next few rounds. In a vacuum, McBride is a great fourth-round option. But when you already have two running backs, it's a little greedy. Onward...

We saw a lot of high-profile talent finally come off the board in this cluster of rounds. Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson all had their top receivers go with John Metchie (JD Yonke), Chris Olave (Mike Bainbridge), Garrett Wilson (Natty Chasers) and Justyn Ross (Eric Froton) making the picks. 

Having that run at receiver really added to the pain I was already feeling at that spot as I was hoping that one of them would miraculously fall to me in the fifth. Luckily, Yo'Heinz Tyler was still available -- I would have tilted into oblivion if he wasn't -- so that was a decent consolation. The 6-foot-3 Tyler has a steady role in one of the MAC's best passing offenses and offers a little more red-zone upside than teammate Justin Hall, who checks in at 5-foot-9.  

Next up, I took my first quarterback in Jake Haener. He's a highly accurate (64.7 percent) passer who averaged 8.7 YPA on 38.7 attempts per game last season and he gets his best pass catchers back for this season. Choosing between him and Kedon Slovis was tough, admittedly. 

Looking at the next round or so, some quality running backs were available. Our projections are bullish on BYU's Tyler Allgeier, Arizona State's Rachaad White was one of the most explosive runners in the nation last year, and Tyler Badie is a shrewd play from Bainbridge if he can pick up most of the work left behind by Larry Rountree. 

Rounding things out for this round, Sorenson was a definite target as I continued to chase receiver. He famously scored all of his touchdowns in one game last season, but Sorenson was still strong on a per-target basis (14.9 YPT on 25 targets) and had multiple 40-catch seasons prior to 2020. Sorenson will be a strong PPR option this season. 

Jerek Broussard could go down as one of the biggest steals from this draft. Our rankings have him as a fringe Top 15 running back, and if his workload picks up where it did a year ago, there's a very good chance of that coming to fruition. Kudos to Kevin Brown on that one. 

Looking elsewhere, there's a lot of MAC flavor in this section of the draft. Receivers like Skyy Moore and Ja'Shaun Poke are both players who I've targeted in previous drafts, and DeMontre Tuggle was someone I was hoping to have fall to me in the ninth. Preston Hutchinson is another intriguing quarterback option out of the MAC. He displayed some previously unseen mobility last season, racking up eight rushing touchdowns and rushing for 204 yards after entering the year with -13 rush yards for his career. Can he maintain that level of rushing production? That will determine whether this pick is a hit or a miss in the eighth. 

The tight end run also started in this stretch. UCLA's Greg Dulcich was the pick for CFB Winning Edge, and Michael Mayer (Natty Chasers) and Charlie Kolar (CFFInsiders) followed in the 10th. All three are worthy of their draft slots; Dulcich has uncommonly large usage in the UCLA offense, as does Kolar with Iowa State. Mayer is the most physically talented of the bunch and with Notre Dame's lack of proven talent at receiver, he could be in for a huge year as long as the quarterback play is up to par. 

As for my picks, I added another quarterback in Layne Hatcher. Arkansas State retained its offensive coordinator and  Logan Bonner is at Utah State now, which will hopefully put an end to the ridiculous quarterback carousel they were running last season. That said, Florida State transfer James Blackman can't be written off completely, so there's risk here. If Hatcher is the guy, he'll be set up for strong production every week. Beyond Hatcher, I selected Dante Wright, as I tend to do at this stage of the draft. He is extremely talented and has some rushing upside from his receiver spot, leading me to believe he's underrated at ADP. Rounding it out was Re'Mahn Davis, the buzzy transfer from Temple that should have the Vandy backfield to himself. 
 

More tight ends was the theme of this cluster with seven coming off the board. I finally broke down and drafted one in the 13th, going after Virginia's Jelani Woods. The transfer from Oklahoma State steps into a TE-friendly offense that fed Tony Poljan a 16 percent target share last season. Woods is generating some buzz in camp and with Lavel Davis sidelined, it's possible that Woods becomes the go-to target in the red zone. 

Other picks I liked from this range were Trey McBride of Colorado State going to Scott and CK and  Kaleb Eleby of Western Michigan going to the Natty Chasers. Eleby will be at the helm of what could be the second-best offense in the MAC. I also believe Tyler Shough of Texas Tech isn't getting as much respect as he deserves given his ADP. He's very talented and I was surprised to see him and Oregon part ways. Regardless, he'll be turning it loose in Lubbock. 

This is the stage of the draft where things get interesting and drafters start targeting "their guys." This is one of the things that separates CFF from NFL fantasy; there are sleepers with true starter upside to be found way past pick 150. Jalen Mitchell is one of my favorite picks from this group; he impressed behind Javian Hawkins last season and should have the Louisville backfield to himself this year. Hat tip to Bainbridge there. Rakim Jarrett has significant prospect pedigree and if Taulia Tagovailoa can lock in, Jarrett is primed for a breakout. Kennedy Brooks is a sneaky hedge against Eric Gray, and getting him in the 15th is a steal. 

I continued to add at quarterback and tight end in the 14th and 15th, and then went back to the well at receiver in the 16th. I had my eye on Agiye Hall, Alabama's next big thing at receiver, but Kevin Brown had the same idea, unfortunately. So I pivoted to Alabama's next great transfer pickup in Jameson Williams, who comes to Tuscaloosa from Ohio State. He'll be, at worst, the WR3 for what should one of the best offenses in the nation. I'll take that. 

Here's the end game. Time for home run swings or last-minute roster insurance. As I look over these picks I'm amazed by the quality of players that were still available in these rounds. Jadan Blue is a year removed from a 95-catch season. Khafre Brown could make a splash in UNC's revamped receiving corps. Charles Williams a decent bet to push for 20 carries per game. Terion Stewart is a favorite breakout candidate of mine and could return Top 10-Round value. Devon Achane may be the most talented Texas A&M running back pound-for-pound and is an injury away from being sprung into league-winner status.

As for my picks, I started out by addressing quarterback again -- I realized Week 7 could become a serious issue for me thanks to bye weeks so I decided to throw a dart at Braxton Burmeister. He's talented, mobile, and surrounded with impressive pass-catchers. I followed that up with Ben Ratzlaff, who actually was the most productive of the Houston Baptist receivers that are now on Western Kentucky. I understand the love for the Sterns brothers but should there be this big of an ADP gap between them and Ratzlaff? 

Finishing it out, I took Kendall Milton. For my money, he's the most talented running back on Georgia's roster. Whether that translates into useful fantasy production is anyone's guess given that Zamir White, James Cook and Kenny McIntosh are all in the fold. However, in the last round, getting that level of talent is a worthwhile gamble.