College Fantasy Football: 26 stats Eric Froton finds relevant as we approach the 2026 season

The NFL fantasy realm is accustomed to preseason columns that highlight interesting statistics that might sway opinions on various players. With the 2026 College Fantasy Football season almost upon us, here are 26 stats that I find relevant when preparing for your upcoming Yahoo College Fantasy Football drafts.

Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now!

1 - Of the top-10 scoring quarterbacks, six ran for 400+ yards, and all 10 ran for 200+ yards.

2 - Oregon TE Jamari Johnson ranked 37th overall among P4 tight ends with 45 targets in 2025. Despite splitting the TE workload with 2026 first-round pick Kenyon Sadiq, Johnson ranks No. 1 among all returning TEs with 16 Explosive (15+ yard) receptions.

3 - Despite being plagued by poor QB play at Michigan State, Indiana WR Nick Marsh racked up an astounding 28 missed tackles on just 58 receptions for a nation-leading 48.3% missed tackle rate.

4 - Texas A&M WR Ashton Bethel-Roman leads all returning wideouts with 40+ regular season targets with an average of 23.0 yards per catch and 4.2 fantasy points per touch. If he can improve upon his 46.5% catch rate, Bethel-Roman could be a viable sleeper.

5 - NC State-to-USC WR Terrell Anderson leads all returning 50+ target P4 wideouts with an ultra-efficient 12.5 yards per regular season target. He could very well wrest the WR1 role from Tanook Hines this year at USC, but is being drafted several rounds behind him.

6 - Texas-to-Oklahoma transfer Parker Livingstone quietly ranks 2nd among all 40+ target P4 WRs with 3.93 fantasy points per touch. He's also one of only 3 returning P4 receivers to throw a touchdown pass last year. Miami's Malachi Toney and NC State's Teddy Hoffman are the others.

7 - Raise the bar to 75 targets, and Colorado-to-Arizona State standout WR Omarion Miller leads all Power Four returnees with an average of 3.38 fantasy points per touch. He has a path to take over Jordyn Tyson's high-volume role at ASU, but has to compete with BC transfer Reed Harris for targets.

8 - Kentucky TE Willie Rodriguez paces all returning P4 tight ends who received 20+ targets with an 11.2-yard average depth of target. He flexed out on 63% of snaps and ranked third among Power Four returners in wide rate.

9 - Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy is the nation's top returning bell cow, leading the P4 with 256 regular season carries (306 total) and 23.0 fantasy points per game in 2025. Just three returning rushers averaged 20 fantasy PPG at the P4 level, the others being injured Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy and Rutgers RB Antwan Raymond.

10 - Speaking of Hardy, he averaged 6.4 yards per carry on 257 attempts last season…Jamal Roberts averaged 6.2 yards per carry on 123 attempts. Of the two, Roberts finished with a better breakaway percentage (Roberts: 50.1%, Hardy: 47.8%). Roberts was also the clear receiving back, out-targeting Hardy 24 to 7. Roberts is a lock-down every week starter until Hardy returns from his injury.

11 - Despite receiving just 26 touches last year, Notre Dame starting RB Aneyas Williams averaged a sensational 2.21 fantasy points per touch last year, which easily tops all returnees despite limited opportunity. For perspective, the two next closest rushers in FP/touch are Jordan Washington (1.57) and Oregon battering ram Jordon Davison (1.45).

12 - The most efficient rushing quarterback with 50+ pass attempts last season was Texas Tech's Will Hammond, who averaged 6.95 yards per rush last year.

13 - Mississippi State phenom Kamario Taylor leads all such returnees in fantasy production, averaging .93 points per touch. Taylor could be a supernova if he can improve upon his 1.4% plus throw rate.

14 - Georgia QB Gunnar Stockton led all P4 signal callers with a 65% YAC rate on an 8.0 ADOT (59th in P4) as OC Mike Bobo prefers to get his receivers the ball in space rather than hunt downfield.

15 - Iowa State-to-Penn State QB Rocco Becht leads all returnees in both air yard % (63.7%) and Plus Throw Rate (24.1%). He's barely being drafted in Yahoo Standard leagues despite Penn State playing arguably the easiest schedule in the Big 10.

16 - In 2025, 23 RBs scored 10+ rushing TDs. Of those 23, only 14 return to college football (12 to their 2025 teams). Lacy is the only returning P4 RB to score over 20 TDs.

17 - Only 18 returning RBs finished with 20+ receptions in 2025. Of the top-10 ranked RBs in Yahoo, four finished with over 30 receptions in 2025.

For his part, the powerful Baugh closed strong, following former HC Billy Napier's dismissal, recording 17+ fantasy points in his last six contests and earning at least three targets per game in nine of his last 10 appearances.

18 - Of those four runners, only two finished with over 1.20 yards per route run.

19 - In the seven games where he managed to play a full complement of snaps, Minnesota RB Darius Taylor scored 20+ points in five of them. In the other two he still posted respectable 13.7 points against Oregon and 15.9 vs. Purdue.

20 - Dierre Hill only had 90 total touches in 2025 (74 ATT, 16 recs). He only averaged six touches per game, but still finished with an impressive 792 total yards. Hill is one of only two returning RBs with 70+ carries to finish with a breakaway percentage (carries of 15+ yards) of over 60%.

21 - Of the 12 returning P4 wideouts with over 90 targets, only four finished with a reception rate over 70%.

Of those four receivers, only two had an ADOT over 10.0 yards.

Que'Sean Brown transferred from Duke-to-Virginia Tech, and is barely being drafted in Yahoo Standard Leagues, while Smith is Julio Jones 2.0 and a top-three overall selection.

22 - Trinidad Chambliss, Marcel Reed, Arch Manning, Demond Williams and Bear Bachmeier are the only returning P4 QBs to throw for over 3,000 yards and run for over 500 yards. Arch Manning, Conner Weigman and Devon Dampier are the only returning P4 QBs to throw for 20+ TDs and run for 10+ TDs.

23 - Texas A&M's Mario Craver finished the 2025 season at Mississippi State with 85 targets, while KC Concepcion had 101 at A&M. With Concepcion gone to the NFL, Craver has the opportunity to make a massive leap in production in 2026. He finished second among P4 receivers with 3.25 yards per route run, first in yards after catch per reception (9.7), and 10th with 15.5 yards per reception.

24 - NC State RB Hollywood Smothers finished as RB19 among P4 rushers last season on 197 total touches (160 rushing attempts and 37 receptions) in 11 games. He departs for Texas, but RB Duke Scott siphoned 121 touches (106 rushing attempts and 15 receptions) from Smothers and leads the NC State backfield this year. With Smothers gone, Scott has the potential to finish as a top-10 P4 RB.

25 - Kendrick Raphael handled an eye-popping 62% of Cal's rushing opportunities, which was the second-heaviest rushing load in FBS. Raphael hit his stride in ACC play, finishing on a torrid streak scoring 17.5+ points in eight of his last nine games while earning at least four targets in each contest. Last year, SMU HC Rhett Lashlee gave RB1 Tomarion Harden 44% of the team's carries, so it will be interesting to see how heavily Raphael is used in 2026.

26- Texas Tech TE Terrance Carter led all P4 tight ends with 24 tackles on 58 receptions last year for a sterling 43% missed tackle rate. His 24% target share ranked third among returning Power Four tight ends, while his wide-rate alignment ranks top-10. Carter has league-winning upside.