Rice’s Clement Week 1 College Fantasy Superstar (non-BCS)
Each week, College Fantasy Coach will take a look at the top players in college fantasy football, both BCS and non-BCS. * – Weekly fantasy points are based on standard scoring totals from CBSSports.com. Your week 1 non-BCS college fantasy football player of the week is:
Chase Clement, Quarterback, Senior (Redshirt), Rice Owls
- Week 1 Points: 54*
- Stats: 24 completions, 258 pass yards, 87 rush yards, 6 touchdowns
We told you about Clement in our Mid-Major Preseason QB Preview… and he did not disappoint in week 1.
On Saturday in Rice’s season opener against Southern Methodist, Clement’s performance reminded new SMU coach June Jones of the quarterbacks he mentored during his past life at Hawaii. Clement rekindled his connection with wide receiver Jarrett Dillard for three of his TDs… and then proceeded to throw three more. Rice won the game 56-27.
The six TDs Clement threw accounted for 25% of his 24 completions on the afternoon. Already the school’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, Clement’s completions put him alone in second place on the school’s all-time list. He should have the school’s all-time records in every major QB category by the end of his senior season.
Clement’s success seems to be very closely tied to the success of Rice wideout Dillard. The two are on pace to smash the NCAA all-time record of touchdown passes between a duo. Currently, the record is shared by two QB-WR tandems – Tim Rattay / Troy Edwards of Louisiana Tech and Colt Brennan / Davonne Bess of Hawaii currently share the record with 38 scores apiece. After their week 1 performance, Clement / Dillard currently share 35 scores.
If your league has a full player universe (or even just includes Conference USA), then Clement is already one of the top 10 QBs in the game, and there is no reason that he should still be available. Last season, he completed 300 passes for 3377 yards and 29 TDs. He also rushed for 535 yards and scored 8 TDs with his feet. Based on his performance in week 1, its hard to imagine him producing numbers below that in 2008 (barring injury).
The next two weeks, Clement will take to the air and the ground on the road against Memphis and Vanderbilt. While his production should drop a little against an SEC defense in week 3, he should continue to be one of the most dominant players in college fantasy football this season.
Moving forward, Clement is a must-start every week Rice takes the field.
