Waiver Wire Watch, Players to Pick Up Week 1

Welcome to this year's first installment of the waiver wire watch. Throughout the college football season, I'll pick two guys from every conference who either caught my eye in the previous week or who have a favorable match-up in the near future. As always, I'll get to any questions or comments you have in the comments section below.

AAC

Blake Barnett, QB, USF: The Bulls' signal caller last year, Quinton Flowers, was atop fantasy projections and owned in most leagues. With Flowers gone to graduation, Barnett enters as a graduate transfer into an ideal situation. While he doesn't have the mobility Flowers does, he is former five-star recruit and will be commanding an offense which has scored an average of 38.3 and 43.8 points per game over the last two seasons. It also helps that Elon, Illinois and East Carolina are opponents in three of South Florida's first four games.

Terence Williams, RB, Houston: Graduate transfers have made a huge impact on the college fantasy game. Williams is yet another familiar name in a new place as he comes over from a crowded Baylor backfield in an effort to replace the Cougars' top rusher, Duke Catalon. Mulbah Car will also be in the mix, but expect both of them to have huge weeks against a suspect Rice defense in Week 1. Houston then has Arizona, Texas Tech and Texas Southern in what should be a great start to the season for Williams.

ACC

Hunter Renfrow, WR, Clemson: Renfrow isn't the most talented receiver on Clemson's roster, but that doesn't mean he can't make an impact on fantasy teams, especially in deeper leagues. The Tigers' best receiver is Tee Higgins and last season it was Deon Cain. Renfrow actually led the team in receptions in 2017 with 60 catches compared to Cain's 58 grabs. I would still expect Higgins to record more big plays and touchdowns with Renfrow exhibiting a high floor in PPR formats.

Stephen Louis, WR, NC State: The Wolfpack have one of the easier schedules to begin the season with most of the other ACC teams going against premier competition. With the exception of the West Virginia game which could be a shootout in Week 3, NC State will play James Madison, Georgia State and Marshall. Louis will be second fiddle to Kelvin Harmon, however, Ryan Finley is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the country and will find a way to get Louis involved.

Big 12

Jovani Haskins, TE, West Virginia: Everyone knows the Mountaineers are loaded at wide receiver with David Sills, Gary Jennings and Marcus Simms, but we may be underestimating their desire to use a pass-catching tight end. Haskins is a sophomore transfer from Miami who can stretch the field and is available in pretty much all leagues. Don't be alarmed if senior Trevon Wesco appears in the starting line-up as he will be a specialized H-back blocker.

Trey Sermon, RB, Oklahoma: The thought behind this recommendation comes from the prediction that Oklahoma will be blowing out many of their opponents. It's fairly likely that starter Rodney Anderson will have productive games versus Florida Atlantic and UCLA, but it's just as likely he doesn't play in the second half of those games. Expect Sermon to see plenty of snaps in the Sooners' first two games behind one of the best offensive lines in America. He's also a great player to own in tandem with Anderson or if you want to hold a valuable handcuff to one of your opponents' best fantasy contributors.

Big Ten

Donovan Peoples-Jones & Grant Perry, WR, Michigan: The Wolverines number one receiver, Tarik Black, suffered a broken foot in practice. This elevates Peoples-Jones and Perry as the top receiving threats in an offense which is expected to take a step forward with quarterback transfer Shea Patterson. Jim Harbaugh is far too good a coach to average just 25.2 points per game, meaning there should be plenty of touchdowns to go around for both Peoples-Jones and Perry.

Kyle Penniston, TE, Wisconsin: Penniston enters the season as the starting tight end as Zander Neuville is dealing with a hamstring injury. The tight end position is extremely crucial in Wisconsin's offense, evident from Troy Fumagalli who was the Badgers leading receiver with 46 catches for 547 yards and four touchdowns last season. Wisconsin is also without their top two receivers in Quintez Cephus and Danny Davis, thus Penniston may receive more targets than he would normally garner in the first few weeks of the season.

Conference USA

Steven Williams, QB, Old Dominion: At just 18 years old, Williams is a sneaky fantasy play during the first month of the season. The Monarchs open the season versus Liberty, FIU and Charlotte who all have underwhelming football teams. Old Dominion is certainly nothing special themselves and that's why Williams could be an intriguing source of fantasy production as the left-handed quarterback showed some promise to end his freshman campaign. During a three-game winning streak in 2017, the freshman had zero turnovers and completed 71% of his passes. He also has some dual threat ability with 92 rushes for 263 yards and three touchdowns.

Tavares Thomas, RB, Middle Tennessee: Similar to the Monarchs, the Blue Raiders begin the year with a couple of manageable games against Vanderbilt and UT Martin. Thomas with teammate Brad Anderson are known as "Smash and Dash." Even though Anderson is faster, Thomas was just as effective at 5.5 yards per carry on 93 attempts in 2017. The converted linebacker had a knack for scoring with nine rushing touchdowns last year.

MAC

Papi White, WR, Ohio: Opposing teams will be busy crafting defensive plans for Ohio's run game due to quarterback Nathan Rourke's 1,000-yard rushing season in 2017. This could lead to White improving upon the 36 catches for 631 yards and three touchdowns he posted last year. I expect the Bobcats to be the best team in the MAC meaning they will find all kinds of ways to put up points. Andrew Meyer will also be an option in the passing game.

Gus Ragland, QB, Miami (OH): When healthy, Ragland has been one of the most consistent Redhawks over the last two years. The senior is 10-6 as a starter and has one of the most experienced rosters in the country. He's not available in MAC-only leagues, but he could provide some nice value for those deeper leagues where depth at the position is a premium.

Mountain West

Cole McDonald, QB, Hawaii: The Rainbow Warriors were the highlight of Week 0 as they knocked off Colorado State in Fort Collins for the first time since 1988. McDonald was fantastic in his Hawaii debut with 418 yards and three touchdown through the air to go along with 96 yards and another two scores on the ground. The best part about his pick-up will be matchups with Rice and Duquesne over the next month.

Nico Evans, RB, Wyoming: An underrated aspect of Week 0 is being able to watch players I wouldn't necessarily see on a busy Saturday college football slate. Evans definitely passed the eye test as he popped as the Cowboys' best offensive weapon with 206 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries, including a 56-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. Evans could be a sneaky producer in a pro-style offense centered around the run game.

PAC-12

Vic Wharton & Kanawai Noa, WR, Cal: Wharton and Noa combined for 123 catches for 1,659 yards and nine touchdowns in 2017, yet aren't talked about much when considering receivers for fantasy. The Golden Bears return 10 of their offensive starters with matchups against North Carolina and BYU in games that should stay relatively competitive. Pick up one of these senior wideouts if you're in need of some targets in the first couple of weeks.

Jay MacIntyre, WR, Colorado: After watching Colorado State get shredded by Hawaii's new quarterback in Week 0, there's no reason to think the Buffaloes returning quarterback Steven Montez can't find a way to have a good performance in Week 1. If that occurs, MacIntyre will be the most likely option to lead the way at receiver as Juwann Winfree has been dealing with a hamstring injury. If he looks good in the first tilt, he'll have some more favorable matchups in the slot versus Nebraska and New Hampshire.

SEC

Jake Fromm, QB, Georgia: Not often can you have a shot at picking up the quarterback on arguably the best team in college football, but that could be the case with Fromm. Some people have avoided the talented sophomore due to a quarterback battle with five-start recruit Justin Fields and an injury on his non-throwing hand sustained during a boating accident. With all that said, reports from preseason camp point to Fromm working with the first unit and being ready for Georgia's opener with Austin Peay.

Jauan Jennings, WR, Tennessee: The Volunteers open the season in Charlotte versus West Virginia in a game which is currently sporting an over/under of around 61 points. That means both teams will likely be slinging the ball around and Jennings could be one of the top targets. Beyond the first game of the season, Tennessee should handle the non-conference and then be one of the scrappy teams in the SEC who will have to pass the ball to stay in games.

Sun Belt

Wesley Fields, RB, Georgia Southern: The Eagles are one of just a few Sun Belt teams to have a favorable matchup in the first week of the season as they meet up with one of their former FCS opponents, South Carolina State. Georgia Southern has never lost to South Carolina State and Fields is the lead runner in a run-based offense. The senior racked up 811 yards and five touchdowns on 173 carries in 2017.

Aaron Winchester, QB, Georgia State: Winchester is expected to win the starting job for the Panthers and has one of the nation's best weapons in junior receiver Penny Hart at his side. With two of their first three matchups versus Kennesaw State and Memphis, Winchester could be worth a shot in the first month of the season.

Independents

Kelvin Hopkins, QB, Army: Hopkins was recently named the starter for the Black Knights' triple-option offense which should result in plenty of carries for the new signal caller. It's not an amazing matchup with Duke in Week 1, but impending matchups against Liberty and Hawaii make Hopkins worth the stash for the near future.