Illini Football Players You Should Draft in College Fantasy Football

Over the past decade, NFL fantasy football has grown tremendously. On top of the NFL, College football has broken into the fantasy football industry in the past few seasons and is now all the craze. You can play in a season-long league, the traditional fantasy football format, or the daily fantasy sports format which you can find on DraftKings or FanDuel. In this article, I will break down which Illini football players you should target in your drafts this season. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Top Illini Football Fantasy Football Targets

Kaden Feagin, RB

Kaden Feagin showed plenty of flashes last season that he could be a workhorse running back in this Illini offense before going down with an injury. In Weeks 6-8 when Feagin took over as the primary back he saw at least 19 carries in each game. He had three touchdowns during that span while also having 84 yards in all three games. In fantasy football you love volume, and Feagin is going to see that, even in a crowded backfield. Feagin also showed he can be a force catching the ball out of the backfield catching five balls in during weeks 6-8. Feagin is being slept on in drafts and should be the first Illini football player off the board.

Luke Altmyer, QB

Luke Altmyer has had plenty of ups and downs in his first full year as a starting quarterback in the Big Ten. He started off the season slow having just three passing touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. But from Weeks 4-9 Altmyer hit his stride before going down with an injury and being replaced by John Paddock. During that span, Altmyer had three multi-touchdown games and had a total of 10 touchdowns compared to three interceptions.

In fantasy football, you want a quarterback who can pick up yards with their legs as well. That is one thing Altmyer does very well having 282 yards and three touchdowns in nine games. That includes a 100-yard performance against Wisconsin in Week 8. Altmyer is going late enough drafts to where he is a screaming value.

Zakhari Franklin, WR

Zakhari Franklin has the most active receiving yards in college football. He comes over to the Illini via the transfer portal from Ole Miss. Before his lone season at Ole Miss that didn’t go well, he had a tremendous career at UTSA. In 2021 Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney was his OC at UTSA and he thrived. Franklin had over 1,027 yards and 12 touchdowns. Those two know exactly what they want from each other, and I expect to see another big season for Franklin in this Illini offense because of the familiarity in the offense and the volume he will see. Zakhari Franklin is someone you should be targeting late in your fantasy drafts

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