College Football DFS: Thursday Slate, Week 7

Written by

John McKechnie

Published on October 14, 2021

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Position-by-Position Breakdown

Quarterback

There's good reason to go with Memphis' Seth Henigan at quarterback and not even bother with using a QB in the Superflex spot. This is not a slate with strong QB options as Navy (81%) and Georgia Southern (62.8%) rank inside the Top 15 in run play rate. Sometimes quarterbacks from those teams are viable because of their rushing production, but that's not really even the case here. Georgia Southern's Justin Tomlin has just 50 total rushes for 116 yards and two scores in four games and just one game with more than 35 rush yards. Navy's Tai Lavatai is getting healthy rushing volume with 45 carries in his last two games but it has amounted to just 110 yards. If you're looking for a non-Henigan option or a second quarterback to add to your lineup, though...

Jake Bentley ($6,900 DK; $8,600 FD) South Alabama vs. Georgia Southern

Georgia Southern's pass defense is arguably the unit to target on this slate as it's allowing 337.2 passing yards per game at 9.0 YPA along with 3.3 passing touchdowns. And that's while dodging any truly elite passing teams to skew the numbers.

That bodes well for Bentley, who enters Thursday having completed 66.7 percent of his passes at 7.6 YPA. He has just four touchdowns and two picks through

DFS Tools

Matchup Info

Target Data

Position-by-Position Breakdown

Quarterback

Jake Bentley ($6,900 DK; $8,600 FD) South Alabama vs. Georgia Southern

That bodes well for Bentley, who enters Thursday having completed 66.7 percent of his passes at 7.6 YPA. He has just four touchdowns and two picks through four games, but this is a matchup that can help him significantly improve those numbers. He has one of the most talented receivers in the country, Jalen Tolbert, as his disposal as well. With a soft matchup in an offense that is drawing Vegas' second-highest implied total on the board, Bentley is a viable pivot off the slate's runaway No.1 QB, Seth Henigan.

Running Back

AJ Phillips ($6,000 DK; $8,500 FD) South Alabama vs. Georgia Southern

Philips is catching my eye with reports that some of South Alabama's other top backfield options like Kareem Waker and Terrion Avery both ailing to varying extents. In his 2021 debut Saturday against Texas State, Phillips racked up 74 yards and two touchdowns. Even if Walker and/or Avery play, it could be in limited fashion and Phillips is showing to be capable of handling the bulk of the backfield work. Phillips isn't the value one might expect after just one solid game but this is a two-game slate short on options. Even so, Phillips is a running back to target Thursday against what is statistically the worst run defense on the slate.

Brandon Thomas ($6,500 DK; $10,000 FD) Memphis vs. Navy

Before opening the slate I would have expected Thomas to be the RB1 on the board and be salaried closer to the $7K mark on DraftKings. He is the clear leader of the Memphis backfield with a 41 percent market share of the carries who averages 6.4 yards per carry and already has six rushing scores. That type of command on a backfield is hard to ignore on such a small slate, and with the spread at just 10.5, this might not be the type of blowout setup where Memphis can afford to go away from Thomas much Thursday.

If you need a pivot in the Memphis backfield, the best bet would be on Rodrigues Clark at $3,800. He was a 500-yard rusher last season who is second on the team in rushing production this season with 42 rushes for 283 yards (6.74 YPC) and three scores.

J.D. King ($3,400 DK; $5,600 FD ) and Jalen White ($3,300 DK; $5,700 FD) Georgia Southern @ South Alabama

Logan Wright is the clear leader of the Southern backfield but at a certain point, you need to go off the beaten path and "get different" on a slate this small. Again, Georgia Southern is decidedly run-heavy so there are carries available behind Wright and quarterback Justin Tomlin. King, a former Oklahoma State running back, missed the first three games of the season but has 21 carries for 115 yards and a score over the last three weeks. He seems to be getting into the mix and has the type of track record, including 1,429 yards and 13 scores in 19 games between 2019-20, that should instill some confidence in this play.

With White, he's a powerful back at 215 pounds who ran all over Arkansas State for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He and Logan Wright combined for over 350 rushing yards and four touchdowns in that outing. That was White's lone big showing, however, and he doesn't have more than four carries in any other game against FBS competition. King is my pick between these two if I'm going for a dart but White has undeniable upside. It's just that his role is so far from a guarantee that it's hard to have heavy exposure to him Thursday.

Wide Receiver

Calvin Austin ($9,300 DK; $12,00 FD) Memphis vs. Navy

There's not much to say here. Austin is one of the best fantasy options in the nation, not just at receiver. He's the highest salaried player on the board Thursday and with good reason. 12.5 targets per game at 11.2 YPT with a 36.4 target share will do that. Fade at your own risk.

Looking elsewhere in the Memphis passing game, Eddie Lewis is an interesting GPP dart. He checks in at $3,000 on DK and $5,200 on FD. Lewis just saw a season-high eight targets against Tulsa last week. It resulted in just two grabs for 23 yards, but that helps keep his salary down going into this game. He has played over 85 snaps in each of the last two weeks and the targets are starting to come. Sean Dykes ($5,600 DK; $9,000 FD) is viable in cash and tournaments thanks to his target floor (15% share) and explosive per-target production at 14.1 YPT.

Jalen Tolbert ($7,500 DK; $9,500 FD) South Alabama vs. Georgia Southern

As mentioned, Georgia Southern has the worst defense on this slate and can be gotten through the air or on the ground. Tolbert, meanwhile, keys the South Alabama passing game by averaging 12.7 YPT on a 29.5 (8.6 T/G) target share. No one else on South Alabama averages more than 8.0 YPT and only one other receiver has a target share north of 20 percent. Jalen Wayne and Caullin Lacy both see healthy amounts of targets but their lack of efficiency (0 touchdowns on 40 combined catches, both under 7.0 YPT) make them considerations on DK only thanks to the full PPR scoring.

Khaleb Hood ($4,400 DK; $6,500 FD) Georgia Southern at South Alabama

It's not the most prolific passing offense to target but again our options are limited tonight. Beggars can't be choosers and so on. Hood has the third-highest target share of any pass catcher on the slate at 28.2 percent. That hasn't exactly translated into lofty production as Hood is catching less than 50 percent of his targets at just 4.7 YPT. Still, he's clearly the top option in the Georgia Southern passing game as no other receiver or tight end draws more than 12.2 percent of the targets. Hood has the target floor to keep him playable on this slate.