Big 12 Preview: Prolific Passers

For each conference we will list first-, second- and third-team All-Fantasy squads, sleeper and bust sections, and a full inventory of ranked players in that conference. To the right of listed players you will see a parenthetical notation of their positional ranking placement.

All-Big 12 Fantasy Team

1st Team

QB: Pat Mahomes, Texas Tech (2)
RB: Justin Stockton, Texas Tech (7)
RB: Samaje Perine, Oklahoma (18)
WR: James Washington, Oklahoma State (7)
WR: Ian Sadler, Texas Tech (15)
TE: Mark Andrews, Oklahoma (5)

2nd Team

QB: Seth Russell, Baylor (5)
RB: Mike Warren, Iowa State (33)
RB: Johnny Jefferson, Baylor (51)
WR: KaVontae Turpin, TCU (16)
WR: KD Cannon, Baylor (17)
TE: Ben Johnson, Kansas (NR)

3rd Team

QB: Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma (9)
RB: D'Onta Foreman, Texas (66)
RB: Chris Warren, Texas (67)
WR: Allen Lazard, Iowa State (20)
WR: Ishmael Zamora, Baylor (21)
TE: N/A

Sleepers

Mason Rudolph, QB, Oklahoma State (No. 10)

Rudolph isn't a sleeper as much as he's an honorable mention for the third-team All-Big 12 list. Rudolph is an established commodity but one whose value is nonetheless poised to skyrocket in 2016 in light of J.W. Walsh's graduation. Walsh specialized as a running and red-zone quarterback for Oklahoma State last year, depriving Rudolph of 26 touchdown opportunities. Even with that being the case, Rudolph torched opponents for 3,770 yards (8.9 YPA) and 21 touchdowns last year. With Walsh out of the picture, expect a huge junior season from Rudolph and a probable landing spot in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Kenny Hill, QB, TCU (No. 11)

Hill is another player who is more of an honorable mention than a true sleeper, though he's certainly more of a risk than Rudolph. Hill is the favorite to win TCU's ongoing quarterback competition with Foster Sawyer, both because Sawyer has shown nothing at TCU and because Hill has already succeeded as a starting quarterback – in the SEC, moreover. That Hill was somehow benched after throwing for 2,649 yards (8.3 YPA), 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions in his first eight career starts at Texas A&M is less confusing than it once was; you either believe Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray also had it coming, or you can acknowledge something was merely deeply dysfunctional with A&M's coaching apparatus. Hill should still be starting for A&M, so it's exceedingly difficult to imagine him not winning the starting role at TCU.

Shane Buechele, QB, Texas (No. 50)

The odds of a true freshman quarterback standing out in a conference already considerably stocked at the position might seem rather bad, but something interesting is going on with Buechele and the Texas offense in general. For months he has been known as the decisive winner of the quarterback competition there and, particularly given the presence of two veteran previous starters in Jerrod Heard and Tyrone Swoopes, that almost certainly means Buechele has been borderline dominant in Texas practices. So we have reason to believe Buechele is unusually good as a prospect. Combine that with the fact that Texas is installing a Baylor-style offensive scheme this year, and it's hard to not get excited about Buechele's upside, as well as that of Texas in general. True freshman or not, new scheme or not, this is a player who appears quite talented and will log many snaps in an uptempo offense. From volume alone he should be useful in fantasy – if he proves efficient as well, this is a player and team that could shock in 2016.

D'Onta Foreman and Chris Warren, RB, Texas

This is a 'one or both' entry, not 'one of two.' Split workloads aren't ideal for fantasy football, but if the Texas offense truly installs a Tulsa/Baylor-like scheme, there should be enough plays run for both Foreman and Warren to provide standout fantasy production. Indeed, they should be an exciting duo to watch because they are both huge backs around 240 pounds, yet their rushing production to this point has been exceedingly explosive. Foreman totaled 681 yards and five touchdowns on just 95 carries last year (7.2 YPC), while Warren took 71 carries for 470 yards (6.6 YPC) and four touchdowns.

Barry Sanders Jr., RB, Oklahoma State (No. 73)

The sell here probably doesn't need to be too complex. He took a roundabout way, but Sanders is where it feels like he should have been all along, and just in the nick of time. A graduate transfer from Stanford, Sanders always showed explosively as a runner but never earned much playing time with the Cardinal, likely for aesthetic reasons and schematic fit. He arrives to a Cowboys squad that was miserably bad on the ground a year ago, so he probably doesn't need to be that good to emerge as Oklahoma State's top runner. There is some downside here, but Sanders' career average of 5.8 yards per carry implies he's an upgrade over returning runners like Chris Carson and Rennie Childs.

Geno Lewis, WR, Oklahoma (No. 79)

Lewis was the odd man out in a deep Penn State wideout rotation, but he transferred to Oklahoma as a graduate and will be eligible to compete for a starting role with the Sooners in 2016. With Oklahoma losing Sterling Shepard in the offseason, only Dede Westbrook is an established returning receiver in the offense, leaving shares up for grabs in what should be one of the nation's most prolific offenses. Although he caught just 17 passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns last year, Lewis caught 55 passes for 751 yards and two touchdowns as a redshirt sophomore the year prior.

Derrick Willies, WR, Texas Tech (No. 182)

A former Iowa Hawkeye, Willies arrives to Texas Tech as one of the top JUCO wideout recruits of the last class, and as a big target (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) in an Air Raid offense relatively short on proven targets, Willies is an intriguing high-upside prospect this year despite his lack of playing time at the FBS level. Ian Sadler seems locked into one of the lead wideout roles with the Red Raiders, but Texas Tech otherwise lacks other obviously reliable targets.

John Burt, WR, Texas (No. 122)

If Buechele succeeds from Day 1 and Texas' max-tempo scheme functions as intended, at least one wide receiver would have to be a fantasy factor as a result. As the returning top Texas receiver and a player with fine pedigree, Burt stands out as a candidate to emerge at the front. Playing as a true freshman last year, Burt led Texas with 457 yards (16.3 YPC) and two touchdowns through the air, averaging 8.8 yards per target on a team that averaged just 6.9 yards per pass on the year. Along with Burt, wideouts like Collin Johnson and Armanti Foreman are candidates to produce.

Deante Gray, John Diarse and Taj Williams, WR, TCU

This situation is difficult to decode since there are so many viable candidates, but it feels like there should be an opportunity for a clear WR2 role behind presumable lead wideout KaVontae Turpin. Gray is the incumbent in a sense since he was the No. 2 wideout behind Josh Doctson two years ago, but missed the 2015 season due to a spring injury. He's back after catching 36 passes for 582 yards and eight touchdowns in 2014, but his projection is blurred by the arrivals of Diarse, an LSU transfer, and Williams, one of the most hyped JUCO transfers of this recruiting season.

Busts

Derrick Green, RB, TCU

The temptation to hype Green is understandable. Here is a former five-star recruit widely regarded as the top running back in his class, transferring to play in one of college football's most high-power offenses as it attempts to replace 1,000-yard rusher Aaron Green, who's since headed to the NFL. The problem is that Green struggled with weight issues at Michigan, where he was basically a non-factor on a team lacking standout runners. Gary Patterson is an unbelievably good coach, but it's hard to imagine he's capable of getting a substantially better return out of Green than Jim Harbaugh was at Michigan.

Rushel Shell, RB, West Virginia

Wendell Smallwood is off to the NFL after leading the Big 12 in rushing yardage last year, seemingly opening up the opportunity for Shell to establish himself as the Mountaineers' next workhorse runner. A former top recruit, Shell's general pedigree does nothing to discredit the idea. But Shell simply hasn't been good enough at the collegiate level to warrant a workload substantially bigger than last year's, when he ran for 708 yards and eight touchdowns on 161 carries (4.4 YPC). For Shell to average just 4.4 yards per carry while Smallwood averaged 6.4 yards per carry on a much bigger carry volume is a bad look, and there's a good chance that redshirt freshman Kennedy McCoy will take up too big of a workload for Shell to emerge as a true workhorse in his senior season.

Ranked player inventory

Baylor: QB Seth Russell (5), RB Johnny Jefferson (51), RB Shock Linwood (117), WR KD Cannon (18), WR Ishmael Zamora (21), WR Chris Platt (68)

Iowa State: QB Spencer Lanning (65), RB Mike Warren (33), WR Allen Lazard (20)

Kansas: RB Ke'aun Kinner (85)

Kansas State: QB Alex Delton (96), QB Jesse Ertz (100), RB Charles Jones (158), WR Byron Pringle (110)

Oklahoma: QB Baker Mayfield (9), RB Samaje Perine (18), RB Joe Mixon (71), WR Dede Westbrook (22), WR Geno Lewis (79), TE Mark Andrews (5)

Oklahoma State: QB Mason Rudolph (10), RB Barry Sanders (73), WR James Washington (7), WR Jhajuan Seales (107)

TCU: QB Kenny Hill (11), RB Kyle Hicks (113), WR KaVontae Turpin (17), WR Deante Gray (55), WR John Diarse (200)

Texas: QB Shane Buechele (50), RB D'Onta Foreman (66), RB Chris Warren (77), WR Collin Johnson (105), WR John Burt (122)

Texas Tech: QB Pat Mahomes (2), RB Justin Stockton (7), WR Ian Sadler (15), WR Dylan Cantrell (142), WR Derrick Willies (182), WR Reginald Davis (202)

West Virginia: QB Skyler Howard (21), RB Kennedy McCoy (74), RB Rushel Shell (90), WR Shelton Gibson (40)