Pac-12 Preview: Costly QBs

For each conference we will list first-, second- and third-team All-Fantasy squads, sleeper and bust sections, and a full inventory of ranked players in that conference. To the right of listed players you will see a parenthetical notation of their positional ranking placement.

All-Pac-12 Fantasy Team

1st Team

QB: Luke Falk, Washington State (7)
RB: Christian McCaffrey, Stanford (1)
RB: Royce Freeman, Oregon (3)
WR: Gabe Marks, Washington State (3)
WR: Juju Smith-Schuster, USC (9)
TE: Darrell Daniels, Washington (21)

2nd Team

QB: Dakota Prukop, Oregon (14)
RB: Nick Wilson, Arizona (19)
RB: Myles Gaskin, Washington (25)
WR: Darren Carrington, Oregon (11)
WR: Jordan Villamin, Oregon State (29)
TE: Kody Kohl, Arizona State (36)

3rd Team

QB: Anu Solomon, Arizona (31)
RB: Joe Williams, Utah (35)
RB: Demario Richard, Arizona State (36)
WR: River Cracraft, Washington State (31)
WR: Eldridge Massington, UCLA (38)
TE: Pharaoh Brown, Oregon (NR)

Sleepers

Soso Jamabo, UCLA (42)

Perhaps best known for narrowing his recruiting list to the University of Phoenix and ITT Tech only to commit to UCLA, Jamabo should have a shot at stepping into the starting running back role in 2016 now that Paul Perkins is off to the NFL. He was the Bruins' second-leading rusher behind Perkins last year, taking 66 carries for 403 yards and four touchdowns (6.1 YPC) while reminding why he was graded as a five-star recruit. Jamabo's ceiling may be a bit limited in the UCLA offense due to the similarly electric duo of Nate Starks and Bolu Olorunfunmi also pushing for carries, so that's the only reason Jamabo isn't ranked higher. All three of the talented runners should provide excellent efficiency at whatever their workloads amount to.

Ryan Nall, RB, Oregon State

Listed at tight end heading into 2015, Oregon State proved so perilously shallow at running back that Nall emerged as the team's best runner in the middle of the season. He heads into 2016 carrying the same distinction, with the Beavers again lacking viable alternatives. None of this is to say Nall hasn't earned his playing time – he was really quite good last year. Granted, 39 of Nall's 73 carries came against two of the conference's weakest defenses in Colorado and Oregon, but Nall still deserves credit for finishing the year with 455 yards and three touchdowns (6.2 YPC) after switching positions mid-season. In any case, there's a big enough running back void at Oregon State for Nall to prove useful even if his rushing average drops by a yard and a half, as it very well could.

Bryce Love, RB, Stanford

The backup to Christian McCaffrey will obviously have a relatively low ceiling, but Love is a supremely explosive player in an offense short on skill position options, and it's possible he could prove productive even as the team's second runner. Backup runners Remound Wright and Barry Sanders are both gone after combining for 17 touchdowns in 14 games last year, and their exits leaves a void of roughly 10 carries per game in the Cardinal offense. Considering Love torched his way to 226 yards and two touchdowns on just 29 carries last year (7.8 YPC), it's understandable to get excited about the chances of him pushing for 12 carries per game. He's also an explosive receiver, as evidenced by his 15 catches for 250 yards and a touchdown.

John Ross, WR, Washington

Ross missed the 2015 season with an ACL tear, but he's poised for a big 2016 now that he's recovered. Ross is a blur with a 40-yard dash rumored to be in the 4.2-second range, and the explosiveness in his 2014 production shows no reason to doubt the claim. Playing as a sophomore, Ross burned his way to 371 yards and four touchdowns on just 17 catches (21.8 YPC), adding two kickoff returns for touchdowns. Now two years older and with an emerging star quarterback in Jake Browning, Ross should quickly reestablish himself as one of the nation's most feared burners at receiver.

Trey Griffey, WR, Arizona

Cayleb Jones, Johnny Jackson and David Richards are all gone after combining for 226 targets last year, opening a big opportunity for Griffey, who needed only 14 targets to total 284 yards and a touchdown in seven games last year. Griffey has yet to break out for Arizona, largely due to injury troubles, but this should finally be the year. The only notable returning Wildcat wideouts (Nate Phillips and Samajie Grant) are both undersized slot targets, leaving Griffey as the only qualified outside receiver at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds. While the previously mentioned trio of Arizona wideouts are gone, quarterback Anu Solomon returns for his third year as starter, setting the stage nicely for a potential Griffey breakout.

Busts

Davis Webb, QB, California

Webb may be the most hyped graduate transfer of 2016, as the former Texas Tech starter heads to California with some in the media positing he could give California consecutive first-round picks at quarterback. Nothing of the sort will occur. Webb may be a decent college quarterback, specifically a decent spread college quarterback, but at Texas Tech he struggled with reads, decision making, and accuracy. He has a good arm and he'll throw tons of passes in California's uptempo, pass-happy offense, but Webb's production will be volume-dependent, and turnovers might be a problem after Webb threw 22 interceptions as an 18-game starter at Texas Tech. The fact that California is breaking in an entirely new wideout rotation is another cause for concern. The bottom line with Webb is he should provide some big passing yardage numbers this year, but he's not worth buying at a high price. The hype around him might dictate a high price tag, though.

Josh Rosen, QB, UCLA

Unlike Webb, Rosen really does have a good shot at eventually getting selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. That's the exact reason why he's likely to be overpriced in many leagues. Outside of expert leagues you tend to see quarterbacks drafted too high in general, and it's understandable that most owners – more familiar with the NFL than NCAA – might be drawn to a player like Rosen, who is often referred to as a potential first overall pick. Rosen is a very good quarterback who should have a successful 2016 by almost any measure, but the UCLA offense doesn't figure to offer great tempo, and the running game should be an emphasis with the impressive duo of Soso Jamabo and Nate Starks at running back. I personally would prefer to target Anu Solomon and Jake Browning, both of whom have lesser profiles than Rosen in most leagues yet should provide similar or better fantasy production.

Victor Bolden, WR, Oregon State

Bolden has been hyped up a bit over the last two years, at one point hailed as something like the next Markus Wheaton or even Brandin Cooks, but all the evidence says he's basically just an adequate slot wideout and above average returner. It's at the very least safe to say that Bolden is not especially close to the level of teammate and fellow wideout Jordan Villamin, who had 199 more yards and two more touchdowns than Bolden on the same number of targets in 2015. Bolden might have some utility in Pac-12-only leagues, but he's generally off the radar otherwise.

Ranked player inventory

Arizona: QB Anu Solomon (31), RB Nick Wilson (19), RB Orlando Bradford (176), WR Trey Griffey (71), WR Nate Phillips (97), WR Samajie Grant (176)

Arizona State: QB Brady White (111), QB Manny Wilkins (104), QB Bryce Perkins (109), RB Demario Richard (36), RB Kalen Ballage (113), WR Cam Smith (66), WR Tim White (84), TE Kody Kohl (36)

California: QB Davis Webb (46), RB Vic Enwere (86), WR Demetris Robertson (118), WR Melquise Stovall (177), WR Chad Hansen (185)

Colorado: QB Sefo Liufau (88), RB Michael Adkins (147), WR Shay Fields (67)

Oregon: QB Dakota Prukop (14), RB Royce Freeman (3), RB Taj Griffin (173), RB Kani Benoit (182), WR Darren Carrington (11), WR Charles Nelson (106), WR Dwayne Stanford (151)

Oregon State: QB Darrell Garreston (76), RB Ryan Nall (74), WR Jordan Villamin (29), WR Victor Bolden (135)

Stanford: RB Christian McCaffrey (1), RB Bryce Love (93), TE Dalton Schultz (26)

UCLA: QB Josh Rosen (42), RB Soso Jamabo (43), WR Eldridge Massington (38), WR Darren Andrews (147), WR Stephen Johnson (184)

USC: QB Max Browne (81), RB Justin Davis (62), RB Ronald Jones (77), WR Juju Smith-Schuster (9)

Utah: QB Troy Williams (86), RB Joe Williams (36), WR Tyrone Smith (166), TE Harrison Handley (31)

Washington: QB Jake Browning (41), RB Myles Gaskin (25), WR John Ross (39), WR Dante Pettis (59), TE Darrell Daniels (20)

Washington State: QB Luke Falk (7), WR Gabe Marks (3), WR River Cracraft (31)