The world of NFL fantasy football is familiar with preseason articles that showcase intriguing stats which could influence how players are viewed. With the 2026 College Fantasy Football season fast approaching, here are 26 key statistics that are essential when preparing for your upcoming Yahoo College Fantasy Football drafts.
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Among the top-10 scoring quarterbacks, six rushed for over 400 yards, and all ten surpassed 200 rushing yards.
Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson was 37th overall among Power Four (P4) tight ends with 45 targets in 2025. Despite sharing tight end duties with 2026 first-round pick Kenyon Sadiq, Johnson leads all returning tight ends with 16 explosive (15+ yards) receptions.
Indiana wide receiver Nick Marsh managed an impressive 28 missed tackles on only 58 receptions, leading the nation with a 48.3% missed tackle rate despite Michigan State’s struggling quarterback play.
Texas A&M’s Ashton Bethel-Roman leads returning wide receivers with over 40 regular season targets, boasting an average of 23 yards per catch and 4.2 fantasy points per touch. If he can boost his 46.5% catch rate, he might become a sleeper pick.
Transfer Terrell Anderson, moving from NC State to USC, leads all returning P4 wideouts with 50+ targets in yards per target at 12.5, potentially overtaking USC’s WR1 Tanook Hines, though currently drafted much later.
Parker Livingstone, transferring from Texas to Oklahoma, ranks second among P4 wide receivers with 40+ targets in fantasy points per touch (3.93). He is also one of only three returning receivers in the P4 to have thrown a touchdown pass last season.
WR Omarion Miller, who moved from Colorado to Arizona State, leads returning P4 players with 75+ targets, averaging 3.38 fantasy points per touch and could ascend to a high-volume role, despite competition from BC transfer Reed Harris.
Kentucky tight end Willie Rodriguez leads all returning P4 tight ends with 20+ targets in average depth of target (11.2 yards), flexed out on 63% of snaps, and ranked third in wide alignment rate.
Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy tops all returning bell cows with 256 regular season carries and scored 23.0 fantasy points per game in 2025. Only three returning rushers at the P4 level averaged 20 fantasy points per game.
Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy, despite injury, averaged 6.4 yards per carry on 257 attempts, while Jamal Roberts averaged 6.2 yards on 123 attempts and had a higher breakaway percentage and receiving role, making Roberts a must-start until Hardy’s return.
Notre Dame’s starting RB Aneyas Williams averaged an outstanding 2.21 fantasy points per touch despite only 26 touches, leading all returnees in efficiency.
Texas Tech’s quarterback Will Hammond was the most efficient running QB with 50+ rush attempts, averaging 6.95 yards per carry last season.
Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor leads all P4 returnees with 0.93 fantasy points per touch and could explode if his plus throw rate improves.
Georgia QB Gunnar Stockton led the P4 in yards after catch percentage at 65% on an 8.0 average depth of target, thanks to OC Mike Bobo’s preference for getting receivers the ball in space.
Transfer QB Rocco Becht (Iowa State to Penn State) leads all returning players with a 63.7% air yard percentage and 24.1% plus throw rate but is being overlooked in Yahoo Standard drafts despite an easier Big 10 schedule for Penn State.
In 2025, 23 running backs scored 10+ rushing touchdowns, but only 14 are returning to college football, with Kewan Lacy being the only P4 back to score over 20 touchdowns.
Only 18 running backs had 20+ receptions in 2025; among the top-10 Yahoo-ranked RBs, four had over 30 receptions — including Darius Taylor and Jadan Baugh, both showing strong finishes last season.
Out of those four, only two had more than 1.20 yards per route run.
Minnesota RB Darius Taylor scored 20+ fantasy points in five of the seven full games he played last season, with solid numbers in the other two.
Dierre Hill, with only 90 touches last year, amassed 792 total yards and had a breakaway run percentage of over 60%, a rare feat among returning RBs.
Of 12 returning P4 wide receivers with 90+ targets, only four had a catch rate above 70%, and only two of those had an average depth of target exceeding 10 yards.
Only a handful of returning P4 quarterbacks threw for over 3,000 yards and ran for over 500 yards, with Arch Manning, Conner Weigman, and Devon Dampier standing out by throwing 20+ TDs and rushing for 10+ TDs.
Texas A&M’s Mario Craver, transferring from Mississippi State, has a chance for a breakout season in 2026 after finishing second among P4 receivers in yards per route run and first in yards after catch per reception.
NC State’s RB Hollywood Smothers, now at Texas, was RB19 in the P4 last year. With Smothers gone, Duke Scott could rise to a top-10 P4 RB despite previously sharing touches.
Cal’s Kendrick Raphael carried 62% of the team’s rushes last season, the second-highest load in FBS, finishing strong in ACC play, raising questions about how heavily he will be utilized in 2026 compared to SMU’s Tomarion Harden.
Texas Tech tight end Terrance Carter led all P4 tight ends with a 43% missed tackle rate on 58 receptions and a 24% target share, ranking high in wide alignment rate, offering significant upside.
Fan Take:
While these college fantasy football stats don’t directly impact NASCAR, the growing popularity of fantasy sports reflects fans’ increasing engagement with data-driven competition across sports, including motorsports. NASCAR could benefit by adopting more fantasy-focused and analytics-driven platforms to boost fan interaction, ultimately helping grow the sport’s fanbase and viewership.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
