Monday Man Crush: Riley Dodge, North Texas
The coach’s son for the North Texas Mean Green likely turned in the best fantasy football performance of the season in Saturday’s 68-49 thumping of Western Kentucky.
Mean Green QB Riley Dodge completed 24 passes and ran the ball 15 times for a total of 332 total yards. But that wasn’t what was impressive about his performance against the Hilltoppers.
Instead, it was Dodge’s TD total that led to the year’s top individual performance: 7. Yes, that’s right, 7 touchdowns! 4 came through the air, 3 came on the ground.
On the year, Dodge had only scored a total of 65 fantasy points in five appearances. Saturday was clearly an anomaly, and no logical fantasy football player would expect something similar to happen again this week. That said, it was a very cool performance to check out, and his season-long numbers have ballooned to 122 completions and 59 carries for 1513 total yards and 11 touchdowns.
Dodge has an interesting story, believe it or not. The redshirt freshman committed to Texas in 2007 before changing his mind and joining the Mean Green, where his dad became head coach in 2006. He was the ESPN Rise Junior of the Year in 2006.
Riley Dodge likely has walk-on status in your league, and even with his pedigree we cant’t recommend adding him to your squad down the home stretch this season. Before Saturday, his play wasn’t anywhere close to warranting a roster spot in college fantasy football.
Respect his fantasy football performance in week 9, but don’t get your hopes up. Dodge needs an improved offense around him and a little more development before he has value as a college fantasy football sleeper.
