College Football Fantasy Five: Flying Under the Radar in the ACC for 2023

This article is part of our College Football Fantasy Five series.

College Football Fantasy Five: Underrated ACC Players for 2023

With just over a month to go before we start delving right into college fantasy football drafts, it's time to take stock of each of the power five conferences, as well as the Group of Five, to determine what players should be on your radar in later rounds. It would be easy to go ahead and recommend the highest projected/rated players, but we won't do just that, we'll go even deeper into our projections to recognize some players with huge upside entering the 2023 season.

If you would like to take a peak into the college football player projections yourself, please do so at the link provided. Linking your actual fantasy league using our College Football MyLeagues feature is a huge timesaver during the season when assessing lineups and top free agents each week.

Top Projected Players in the ACC

Quarterback

1.) Drake Maye, North Carolina
2.) Jordan Travis, Florida State
3.) Garrett Shrader, Syracuse

Running Back

1.) Will Shipley, Clemson
2.) LeQuint Allen, Syracuse
3.) Trey Benson, Florida State

Wide Receiver

1.) Jahmal Banks, Wake Forest
2.) Donavon Greene, Wake Forest
3.) Devontez Walker, North Carolina

TE

1.) Oronde Gadsden, Syracuse

College Fantasy Football Tools

• College Football Depth Charts
• College Football Targets
• College Football Custom Rankings
• College Football Futures
• Heisman Trophy Odds
• Underrated SEC Players for 2023
• Underrrated Big Ten Players for 2023

Under The Radar and Undervalued ACC Players for 2023

5.) Johnny Wilson, WR, Florida State

Florida State is locked and loaded to run with Mike Norvell's offense in his fourth year with the Seminoles. They have an elite quarterback in Jordan Travis and Wilson is his top target after catching 43 of 80 targets for 897 yards and five touchdowns during the 2022 season. The 6'7" receiver has long strides and toasted the Oklahoma Sooners in the team's bowl game with eight catches for 202 yards. That's the type of upside that Wilson will flash during the upcoming year. I can't wait to see him go up against the LSU defense right away to begin the season.

4.) Gavin Bartholomew, TE, Pittsburgh

The Panthers had no chance last season at matching the offensive production put up in 2021 with Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison. The team decreased from 487 yards and 41.4 points per game to 406 yards and 31.3 points per game. That's why they made sure to go out and upgrade the quarterback position this time around with Phil Jurkovec from Boston College. He has all the tools to take full advantage of the passing game with receivers Konata Mumpfield and Bub Means. However, I think Bartholomew could be the candidate for the biggest uptick in targets as he's shown a nice trend in his young career with 42 targets in 2022 and 29 targets in 2021. If he can garner anywhere from 60-80 targets, he'll be one of the best at the position in the conference.

3.) Jawhar Jordan, RB, Louisville

There's a lot that has changed at Louisville and much of it benefits Jordan in his upcoming junior season. The Cardinals will move to a more dynamic offense under first-year coach Jeff Brohm and QB Malik Cunningham has moved on to the professional ranks which means a lot more carries for the running backs. Cunningham ranked second on the team in carries with 114 behind Jordan's 142 totes last season. Jordan was sensational to end his 2022 campaign with 100-yard rushing performances in four of his last five games. Although Brohm will favor throwing the ball, he would be smart to also lean on Jordan who ended the year with those impressive performances against defensive-minded teams in NC State, Kentucky and Cincinnati. 

2.) Jalon Calhoun, WR, Duke

If you played college fantasy football last year, you're well aware of the Blue Devils' QB in Riley Leonard as we talked about him all year long. The dual-threat gunslinger is one of the top returning signal callers in all of the ACC. His best playmaker is Calhoun who quietly pulled down 62 of 93 targets for 873 yards and four touchdowns. The reason why Calhoun won't pop on most people's pre-draft list is because he has just five 100-yard games and he's listed at just 5'10". Don't let the small stature fool you though, he has a big-time game, evident from this impressive touchdown catch against Kansas.

 1.) Tyler Van Dyke, QB, Miami

The Hurricanes were disappointing to say the least during the 2022 season. Van Dyke dealt with injuries for the majority of the season and Miami had just 98 total yards versus Clemson in an embarrassing 40-10 loss. Look for HC Mario Cristobal to bounce back in his second year with 19 returning starters, including Van Dyke who looked like an NFL prospect back in 2021 when he helped Miami average over 35 points per game on his way to ACC rookie of the year. Van Dyke will benefit from a new offense in 2023 which should help propel him to be one of the best in the conference if not in the nation. Best of all, there's likely not a ton of fantasy players willing to take this chance two years in a row which means he'll be a great value add to a lot of teams.