NCAAF

College Football Market Share Report: Week 11

Jaylan Knighton has had one of the best workloads in college football since Cam'Ron Harris was lost for the season in Miami. Who else's market share stands out as the playoff push continues?

Since many of the 2018 law changes that marked the return of college football daily fantasy, it has been quickly growing. After all, more individuals watched the 2020 National Championship Game than any other non-NFL sporting event.

With so many eyeballs on the games, and some monster statistics put up by the elite players in the sport, it is natural for many to gravitate to playing daily fantasy instead of traditional betting. FanDuel offers college football contests each weekend, which can include Thursday, Friday, and Saturday main slates -- depending on game volume.

College football is a unique challenge for DFS, as a lot of necessary information is not easily found. Often, injury news is reported through the schools themselves and newspaper beat reporters. It can also be particularly difficult to find accurate information on which players are on the field, who has the best usage, and where inefficiencies in the salary cap model may reside.

The latter point is the premise for this piece, which in addition to numberFire's betting guides and daily fantasy helpers, is designed to help you find out which college football players are on the field and seeing work.

With that in mind, let's examine the market shares for players on Saturday's main slate on FanDuel.

Note: Players with fewer than 10 pass attempts, 10 rushing attempts, and 5 targets in the previous week will not be featured but may still be viable in daily fantasy formats. For players returning from off weeks, previous reports will contain their most recent sample. All stats are from PFF.com.

Quarterbacks

Player Team
Name
Week
10
ATT
2021
ATT/G
2021
YPA
Rush
ATT/G
Rush
YDS/G
Taulia Tagovailoa MD 59 37.6 8.09 3.2 15.1
C.J. Stroud OSU 55 34.3 9.76 1.4 7.8
Aidan O'Connell PUR 54 33.8 7.73 0.6 1.1
Sam Hartman WAKE 51 33.4 9.55 1.9 39.4
Will Rogers MSST 48 53.8 6.77 0.7 7.8
Sean Clifford PSU 47 34.7 7.61 2.6 25.8
McKenzie Milton FSU 44 27.4 5.70 1.6 15.6
Chandler Morris TCU 41 18.7 10.57 3.7 33.7
Bo Nix AUB 41 31.9 6.69 3.8 29.6
Brock Purdy ISU 38 28.3 8.24 3.0 32.4
Tyler Van Dyke MIA 34 28.1 9.47 2.4 17.3
Max Johnson LSU 33 33.0 7.28 1.9 10.1
Devin Leary NCST 32 35.3 7.80 1.8 4.3
Spencer Sanders OKST 31 25.0 7.60 8.9 37.9
Payton Thorne MSU 30 27.2 8.83 4.2 23.9
Zach Calzada TXAM 29 26.6 6.51 1.4 10.8
Jack Coan ND 29 26.9 7.76 1.4 8.3
Matt Corral MISS 27 30.9 9.09 6.2 70.2
Skylar Thompson KSU 25 22.7 9.80 2.1 15.0
KJ Jefferson ARK 24 22.2 9.19 7.0 56.8
Jarret Doege WVU 22 31.2 7.79 1.3 6.6
Hendon Hooker TENN 21 20.9 10.09 5.9 62.2
Gerry Bohanon BAY 20 24.6 9.10 5.7 23.0
Stetson Bennett UGA 19 15.1 11.69 2.1 25.3
Cade McNamara MICH 18 23.2 7.97 1.8 4.8
JT Daniels UGA 11 20.8 7.70 0.5 -0.5


Taulia Tagovailoa ($7,700) jumps right off the page as a stand-out value for this Saturday's slate. The Maryland signal-caller flung the pill 59 times in a negative script last weekend against Penn State, and the Terps should be on tap for another as 12.5-point underdogs to Michigan State on Saturday. It should produce better results for Tagovailoa as well; Sparty is allowing 350.9 passing yards per game to their opponents this season. Amazingly, that is the most in all of FBS for the Power 5 school.

Many of the best quarterback options are coming off a bye week and not featured here, but don't ignore KJ Jefferson ($9,400) entirely. Jefferson is a great way to access a Louisiana State defense that is 72nd against the rush and 104th against the pass. Jefferson is a plus target in any matchup because he stacks so well with Treylon Burks ($8,800) with minimal options around the pair for Arkansas. Consistent volume against bad defenses is worth its weight in gold.

I'm likely going to pass on Matt Corral ($9,500) this weekend altogether. After injuring his ankle against Auburn, Corral only has 54 rushing yards in two games. His matchup with Texas A&M is a difficult one as well. The Aggies are 23rd in the country (194.7 passing yards per game) as a pass defense. Without the rushing upside and facing a tough defense likely without Dontario Drummond ($7,500), there are too many better alternatives to roster the potential top pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Running Backs

Player Team
Name
WEEK
10
RUSH
ATT
2021
RUSH/G
2021
RUSH
SHARE
WEEK
9
TGT
2021
TGT
SHARE
Jaylan Knighton MIA 32 20.4 38.8% 1 5.1%
Hassan Haskins MICH 27 18.3 43.0% 1 2.7%
Tyrion Davis-Price LSU 23 15.9 59.6% 1 2.0%
Kenneth Walker III MSU 22 21.8 64.5% 3 4.8%
TreVeyon Henderson OSU 21 14.1 45.8% 6 5.2%
Isaiah Spiller TXAM 21 15.7 49.1% 1 10.9%
Breece Hall ISU 19 21.9 73.8% 2 11.9%
Emari Demercado TCU 19 6.9 15.8% 4 2.5%
Zonovan Knight NCST 18 13.1 44.0% 1 4.6%
Abram Smith BAY 18 16.0 42.4% 2 5.6%
Dominique Johnson ARK 17 5.9 14.4% 1 2.4%
Kyren Williams ND 17 17.8 57.6% 7 13.0%
Jaylen Warren OKST 16 21.2 53.5% 3 7.8%
Tank Bigsby AUB 15 15.7 49.8% 5 6.4%
Jashaun Corbin FSU 14 12.1 41.0% 4 11.0%
King Doerue PUR 13 13.1 42.0% 3 5.3%
Justice Ellison WAKE 13 9.6 24.8% 0 1.7%
Trestan Ebner BAY 12 11.2 29.7% 0 6.6%
Jo'quavious Marks MSST 11 9.2 54.2% 7 14.9%
Deuce Vaughn KSU 11 16.9 54.1% 8 24.3%
Christian Beal-Smith WAKE 10 12.0 34.8% 1 2.4%
Devon Achane TXAM 10 10.4 32.8% 1 8.6%
Ricky Person Jr. NCST 10 11.7 39.2% 2 9.2%
Zander Horvath PUR 10 11.0 17.6% 3 2.6%
Jerrion Ealy MISS 10 9.0 21.1% 4 7.0%
Challen Faamatau MD 10 7.7 19.8% 3 3.0%
Noah Cain PSU 10 10.3 36.9% 4 6.4%
Leddie Brown WVU 10 16.9 58.7% 2 12.1%


It always feels like a great Saturday when we have running backs that can be used opposite the other teams' quarterbacks and pass-catchers. Both Kenneth Walker III ($10,500) and Tyrion Davis-Price ($7,200) fit that description as compliments to the aforementioned Maryland and Arkansas passing attacks. Walker III is a given with Michigan State well-positioned, but Davis-Price would normally see a downgrade as a 2.5-point underdog to the Razorbacks. Given, though, that TDP saw 23 carries last week in an exclusively negative script, expect the Tigers to lean on their lead back once again.

Jaylen Knighton ($9,200) has more than a fair salary given his workload that is essentially here to stay. Knighton has 70 of the 82 running back carries for Miami (FL) since Cam'Ron Harris suffered his season-ending knee injury three weeks ago. He'll likely be utilized often again as the Hurricanes are 2.5-point underdogs visiting Florida State. Knighton gets to attack the 68th-ranked Seminoles' rush defense, and in turn, Jordan Travis ($6,800) is a solid flex quarterback bring-back against the Canes' 117th-ranked pass defense.

Early-season darling Leddie Brown ($8,000) has dropped quite a ways from his torrid start. He handled only 10 of West Virginia's 16 running back carries on Saturday in a negative game script, and he'll likely see another as a 6.5-point underdog to Kansas State. This game -- with two solid defenses -- also has just a 47.5-point total, so it appears best to just leave Brown and Deuce Vaughn ($9,600) in the garage until at least next week.

Wide Recievers

Player TEAM
NAME
WEEK
9
TGT
WEEK
9
TGT
SHARE
TGT/G 2021
TGT
SHARE
2021
REC
YDS
SHARE
Jaxon Smith-Njigba OSU 18 35.3% 7.1 20.9% 28.0%
David Bell PUR 16 31.4% 11.3 23.7% 33.3%
Chigoziem Okonkwo MD 15 27.3% 4.4 12.0% 9.3%
Jahan Dotson PSU 15 34.1% 12.0 34.5% 37.3%
A.T. Perry WAKE 14 31.1% 7.3 22.9% 29.3%
Makai Polk MSST 12 25.5% 10.6 20.2% 21.5%
Chris Olave OSU 11 21.6% 7.6 22.2% 19.6%
Jaquarii Roberson WAKE 11 24.4% 8.3 26.0% 29.3%
Charlie Kolar ISU 11 28.2% 7.1 21.2% 18.9%
Charleston Rambo MIA 11 35.5% 9.3 26.8% 31.0%
Tay Martin OKST 10 35.7% 7.9 27.2% 30.9%
Jayden Reed MSU 10 34.5% 6.9 26.8% 32.2%
Dannis Jackson MISS 9 34.6% 3.2 7.0% 8.4%
Garrett Miller PUR 9 17.6% 4.8 5.0% 4.1%
Xavier Hutchinson ISU 9 23.1% 8.0 26.8% 29.6%
Jalen Wydermyer TXAM 9 33.3% 6.3 22.2% 21.9%
Tyquan Thornton BAY 8 42.1% 7.6 31.9% 34.3%
Jack Bech LSU 8 29.6% 5.8 17.7% 15.9%
Treylon Burks ARK 8 33.3% 7.4 32.5% 41.6%
Parker Washington PSU 8 18.2% 6.6 18.8% 19.9%
Taye Barber TCU 8 20.5% 3.6 13.6% 16.1%
Cornelius Johnson MICH 8 33.3% 5.3 21.2% 23.0%
Brennan Presley OKST 8 28.6% 5.3 20.7% 18.3%
John Rhys Plumlee MISS 8 30.8% 3.1 8.1% 6.9%
Andrew Parchment FSU 7 18.4% 5.0 13.7% 13.9%
Shedrick Jackson AUB 7 17.9% 5.3 16.2% 14.3%
Marcus Fleming MD 7 12.7% 4.2 7.5% 6.2%
John Samuel Shenker AUB 7 17.9% 3.9 11.8% 14.8%
Cedric Tillman TENN 7 35.0% 5.4 21.4% 24.2%
Jaray Jenkins LSU 7 25.9% 3.8 11.6% 12.0%
Derius Davis TCU 7 17.9% 4.2 16.1% 15.5%
Velus Jones Jr. TENN 7 35.0% 5.3 21.0% 25.5%
Malik McClain FSU 6 15.8% 3.0 12.3% 9.5%
Quincy Brown TCU 6 15.4% 2.5 8.5% 4.3%
Adonai Mitchell UGA 6 23.1% 3.6 14.7% 11.6%
Ainias Smith TXAM 6 22.2% 6.1 21.4% 21.0%
Jaylin Noel ISU 6 15.4% 3.4 10.0% 5.2%
Jackson Anthrop PUR 6 11.8% 5.1 12.1% 11.1%
Rakim Jarrett MD 6 10.9% 6.2 16.8% 18.9%
Kevin Austin Jr. ND 6 21.4% 6.2 20.2% 22.6%
Key'Shawn Smith MIA 6 19.4% 6.0 15.3% 14.1%
Jeremy Ruckert OSU 6 11.8% 3.9 10.1% 8.1%
Quentin Johnston TCU 6 15.4% 7.0 23.7% 26.6%
Milton Wright PUR 6 11.8% 5.7 13.4% 12.3%
Porter Rooks NCST 6 21.4% 3.0 8.9% 9.4%
Ben Sims BAY 5 26.3% 3.7 15.5% 13.8%
Carlos Carriere MD 5 9.1% 4.6 6.9% 7.7%
KeAndre Lambert-Smith PSU 5 11.4% 4.8 13.7% 16.7%
Taylor Morin WAKE 5 11.1% 3.8 11.8% 13.0%
TJ Sheffield PUR 5 9.8% 4.6 8.4% 6.0%
Kobe Hudson AUB 5 12.8% 5.2 15.9% 17.6%
Michael Mayer ND 5 17.9% 7.9 22.7% 21.0%
Keyshawn Helton FSU 5 13.2% 3.5 12.8% 15.8%
Ke'Shawn Williams WAKE 5 11.1% 3.2 10.1% 9.8%
Sam James WVU 5 23.8% 4.6 14.6% 15.9%
Julian Fleming OSU 5 9.8% 2.7 2.6% 1.2%
Jaden Walley MSST 5 10.6% 5.7 10.9% 13.0%


As 20.5-point favorites over Purdue, the Ohio State wideout situation that has frustrated me (and likely others) all season appears to be not even worth considering. Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($7,800) popped due to the injury of Garrett Wilson ($8,600) to see 18 targets against Nebraska when his season-high in targets entering last week was 7. Wilson is expected to return this week, but Smith-Njigba could have an expanded role given his positive play last week. Chris Olave ($9,100) also doesn't have a great season-long target share for his salary. Personally, it's too hard to know where the ball is going in what could be a half of playing time to even bother here.

Market share concerns kept me away from Wake Forest last weekend. In hindsight, that was a mistake; Wake and North Carolina played one of the most embarrassing defensive games in ACC history on Saturday. Still, A.T. Perry ($9,200) and Jacquarii Robinson ($9,000) both paid off with 15 and 11 targets in that pristine environment against the Tar Heels. This weekend with North Carolina State may be a different story. NC State is just 60th in the country in total yards per game (404.2) and plays per game (71.2), so they may struggle to keep pace. With elevated salaries, the Demon Deacons are also hard to get correct.

As discussed last week, if using Oklahoma players in your lineups, the Baylor bring-back on the other side can be tricky, but Ty'Quan Thornton ($8,000) is the place to go. R.J. Sneed ($6,900) saw a massive, 11-target performance in Week 9, yet he followed it up with 2 targets in Week 10. Sneed has seen three or fewer targets in three of his nine games this year, and Thornton has seen eight or more in five of the same nine games. He's higher-salaried, but also far more consistent. However, it's worth noting both could have opportunities in a negative script against the 122nd-ranked Sooners' passing defense.