Perhaps you’ve heard of this second-year receiver for Ohio State named Jeremiah Smith. After looking like one of the best receivers in football as a true freshman, a bigger, stronger, smarter Smith is a terrifying proposition. He was already Ohio State’s WR1, catching 57 balls for 934 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. He should be even better in 2025.
If you’re a college football buff, you may have also heard of a guy named Garrett Nussmeier.
OK. You know who the best players in the sport are entering the 2025 season if you’re reading this. You don’t need to be told that LaNorris Sellers can be a total offense machine at South Carolina, that Nussmeier is going to throw for a ton of yards, that Ryan Williams is going to catch a ton of balls, or that Jeremiyah Love is going to hurdle a bunch of people.
Winning big on the DFS market usually means finding guys who are locks to clear picks that aren’t sitting at the top of your app the instant you open it. Which receivers are going to have major target shares on their teams? Which running backs are going to constantly eat?
Below, you’ll find 10 names. You won’t see household names, or at least what I’m assuming are household names. These are a few of my picks to have breakout statistical seasons in 2025 and be major weapons on the DFS scene.
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Notre Dame wide receiver Jaden Greathouse
2024 stats: 42 receptions, 592 receiving yards, 14.1 yards per reception, 4 receiving touchdowns
Greathouse had more than 60 receiving yards in a game twice during the 2024 regular season. He didn’t record a catch in the win over Purdue, and had 6 different regular-season games with only 1 reception. That role continued into the College Football Playoff. He saw just 1 target in the first-round win over Indiana, then played only 25 snaps against Georgia in the quarters.
In the semifinal game against Penn State, Greathouse played 65 snaps, saw 7 targets, and caught all 7 balls for 105 yards and a score. Two weeks later, in the national championship, he brought in 6 of his 7 targets for 128 yards and 2 more scores.
Excitement for Greathouse in 2025 stems from those 2 Playoff performances. But Greathouse was a big-play weapon in a limited role and one of the most reliable pass-catchers in the FBS. Greathouse caught 79.2% of his targets. According to PFF, that was one of the 12 highest rates in the country. As Notre Dame shifts to a new quarterback, Greathouse offers major upside as a go-to option.
Penn State wide receiver Trebor Pena
2024 stats: 84 receptions, 941 receiving yards, 11.2 yards per reception, 9 receiving touchdowns
Forty-one FBS receivers saw at least 100 targets in 2024. Pena’s 77.8% reception rate was the fourth-highest of the group. The only 3 wideouts with a better catch rate are now in the NFL.
Pena was one of several beneficiaries of a revamped Syracuse passing attack. In his 4 previous seasons with the Orange, Pena caught 26 passes. In 2024, he caught 84 balls. Pena made 18 contested catches, forced 14 missed tackles, and produced 49 first downs.
He joins a Penn State team in desperate need of a go-to option. Tyler Warren drew 135 targets for the Nittany Lions last season. Harrison Wallace III was the only receiver with more than 40 targets. With a veteran quarterback needing a new favorite target, Pena projects as a slot beast. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will try to get him the football, and one of Pena’s best traits is his ability to get open underneath. He could wind up challenging for the Big Ten lead for receptions.
Ole Miss receiver Cayden Lee
2024 stats: 57 receptions, 874 receiving yards, 15.3 yards per reception, 2 receiving touchdowns
Six Ole Miss players caught touchdown passes in 2024. Tre Harris, Jordan Watkins, and Juice Wells combined for 22 of the 31 touchdown catches. All 3 of them are gone. The Rebels hit the transfer portal hard for wide receiver reinforcements, but that won’t change the ceiling for the 5-11 Lee.
Lee produced 20 receptions of at least 20 yards last season. Travis Hunter and Matthew Golden were the only power conference wideouts with more. And when Harris went out of the lineup, Lee took his game to a different level. He had 9 catches for 132 yards against LSU, 5 catches for 127 yards against Arkansas and 4 catches for 81 yards against Georgia.
Maybe the touchdowns continue to get spread around, but Lee should clear 1,000 yards and establish himself as one of the SEC’s top receivers.
Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson
2024 stats: 75 receptions, 1,101 receiving yards, 14.7 yards per reception, 10 receiving touchdowns
With Cam Skattebo moving on from Arizona State to the NFL, the expectation is for quarterback Sam Leavitt to shoulder a larger offensive workload in 2025. That means Leavitt’s favorite receiver could eat well.
Tyson had 3 straight 100-yard outings to close out the regular season, but an injury kept him out of the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff. Assuming health for the 2025 season, Tyson is a Biletnikoff threat. Tyson’s 113 targets last season were the second-most among returning power conference receivers, so the role is already firmly established. If Leavitt takes another step in his development, Tyson should improve upon his 6.3 receptions per game from last fall.
Oregon running back Makhi Hughes
2024 stats: 265 carries, 1,401 rushing yards, 5.3 yards per carry, 15 rushing touchdowns
Hughes finished top-10 in rushing last season, producing big numbers for a great Tulane team. He makes the jump to the Big Ten and joins an Oregon team looking to replace its top runner from a season ago.
The 5-11 back was bottled up a bit over the final 4 games of Tulane’s season, but through the team’s first 10 games, Hughes was often unstoppable. He ran for 128 yards on 21 carries against Kansas State. He ran for 166 yards on 23 carries in a road win over Louisiana. In October, 5 days after carrying the ball 30 times for 195 yards and a score, Hughes ran it another 27 times for 117 yards and 2 scores.
He has 2,779 career rushing yards and has averaged 5.3 yards per carry over the course of his career. He doesn’t fumble the football and no returning running back had more yards after contact last season than Hughes. He can break tackles or break chunk runs. In Oregon’s offense, Hughes should regularly approach 100 yards.
Minnesota running back Darius Taylor
2024 stats: 205 carries, 986 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry, 10 rushing touchdowns
The 6-foot Taylor ran for 799 yards in 6 games for Minnesota during the 2023 season. Injuries limited what was an otherwise outstanding debut season. In 2024, Taylor ran for 986 yards and 10 scores. His per-carry clip took a dip, but availability was no longer a question. And he made 54 catches in the pass game.
Minnesota has added several transfer tailbacks to the room, but that shouldn’t cost Taylor his job. He’s an NFL talent in the backfield, and he’ll be on the field so long as he’s healthy. Maybe the touchdowns come down. Maybe the carries come down. But few tailbacks can match Taylor’s receiving production. Only 2 FBS runners had more receptions than Taylor did last year. He had multiple receptions in every game he played in, and he made at least 4 catches 7 times.
Mizzou running back Ahmad Hardy
2024 stats: 237 carries, 1,351 rushing yards, 5.7 yards per carry, 13 rushing touchdowns
Hardy, a transfer from UL Monroe, is a candidate to lead the SEC in rushing next season. A no-star recruit, Hardy posted a 1,000-yard rushing season with wonderful efficiency and scoring punch as a first-year man. He won the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year award for his efforts. He’s shifty, compact, and nightmarishly tough to bring down in the hole. He was 1 of only 7 FBS running backs last season with 1,000 yards after contact and forced 93 missed tackles. Only Ashton Jeanty and Cam Skattebo forced more.
As Mizzou turns the page at quarterback, Eli Drinkwitz could find himself leaning on another every-down back to carry the offense. Cody Schrader averaged 21 carries a game during the 2023 season and produced at an elite level. I think Hardy could see a similar workload out of the Tigers’ backfield in 2025.
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola
2024 stats: 2,819 passing yards, 6.9 yards per attempt, 67.1% completion rate, 13 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions
A former 5-star recruit, Raiola started right away for the Huskers in 2024. That meant taking the good with the bad. Raiola was fantastic early on but showed signs of his youth during conference play. He struggled heavily against Rutgers and was picked off 3 times in a blowout loss to Indiana. Still, Raiola set program records for passing yards (2,819) and completion percentage (67.1%) while leading the Huskers to their first bowl win in nearly a decade.
Heading into his sophomore season, Raiola is working with a new offensive coordinator. Matt Rhule brought in Dana Holgorsen first as an offensive consultant in 2024 and then elevated him to offensive coordinator for the final 4 weeks of the season. Raiola’s best game of his true freshman campaign — 293 yards while completing 74% of his throws — came with Holgorsen calling plays.
Holgorsen’s guiding light this offseason has been making life easier for his quarterback. His predecessor was heavily criticized for a dink-and-dunk brand of football. A more aggressive passing attack in 2025 could see Raiola start to live up to the billing he had as a high school recruit. Particularly early in the season, Raiola could be a “ride the hot hand” kind of option.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza
2024 stats: 3,004 passing yards, 7.8 yards per attempt, 68.7% completion rate, 16 passing touchdowns, 6 interceptions
Over the last 2 seasons, Mendoza appeared in 20 games for Cal. He threw for 4,712 yards and 30 touchdowns. In an offense like Indiana’s, with a schedule like what the Hoosiers have in 2025, Mendoza could be one of the Big Ten’s most prolific quarterbacks.
Kurtis Rourke threw for 3,042 yards and 29 scores in 12 games for the Hoosiers last season. There’s no reason why Mendoza can’t enjoy a similar campaign. He has prototypical size to play the position and was one of the most coveted quarterbacks to hit the market this offseason. Mendoza had to do some seriously heavy lifting with Cal — he had at least 20 completions in 9 of his 11 appearances last season — and that same workload might not be there at Indiana. But Mendoza cleared 250 yards through the air in 7 of his final 8 games and that certainly feels doable with IU. He has All-Big Ten receiver Elijah Sarratt to throw to and a mostly breezy schedule.
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier
2024 stats: 2,768 passing yards, 7.1 yards per attempt, 57.9% completion rate, 12 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions
The passing numbers don’t wow anyone, but the 5-10 Dampier isn’t your standard dropback passer and Utah won’t use him as such. The New Mexico transfer was one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the country last season because of his rushing ability.
Dampier ran 155 times for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Lobos in 2024. He topped 100 yards on the ground in 5 of his final 6 games, punctuated by a 207-yard, 3-touchdown performance against Wyoming. Per Game on Paper, Dampier led all FBS players in EPA per rushing attempt.
Former New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck was hired by Kyle Whittingham this offseason to run the Utah offense. Dampier will have familiarity within the system, and he’ll have a coach who knows exactly how to use him. Utah also brings back all 5 starters on an offensive line that is anchored by a pair of future first-round tackles. I expect Utah to bounce back after a couple of poor seasons, and improved quarterback play will be a big reason why. Dampier is going to eat up yards.
Predicting breakout stars on the DFS scene for the 2025 college football season Saturday Down South.
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