Shyamalan School of the Arts Blockbusters (Ambinder)

Season Reset: The Blockbusters played 2008's version Cinderella. Despite mediocre talent and moderate point outputs, Ambinder's team bolted to a 3-0 start and a 6-4 record. It would have been a glorious storyline...had his team been a part of the weak and pathetic Bill Martin division. Instead, he was left outside looking in come playoff time, and his season was brought to an uncerimonious end in the opening round of the loser's bracket. Team MVP Percy Harvin is now resurrecting Brett Favre's career one last time, and no true leader was ready to emerge. Ambinder entered this year's draft looking for football players.

Draft Recap: The Blockbusters had QB's coming back in Matt Grothe and Jake Locker, but stocky white guys in the shotgun make me nervous too. After failing to shop either of them, reality set in and Ambinder scooped up Robert Griffin. A wild card perhaps, but Big 12 + QB = output. With a new gamechanger, and feeling relatively safe with his returning RB's, Ambinder gambled. He swapped some later picks and grabbed Tyron Carrier, David Wilson and Andre Debose. Results? Carrier will be battling for catches in Houston, but should still be awesome. David Wilson almost nabbed the starting spot at Va Tech as a freshman. Andre Debose is supposed to be the next Percy Harvin, but not until he recovers from a hamstring injury that might even end his season.

Season Outlook: Ambinder got lots of fresh, young talent in the draft. It's unclear on whether he was drafting for the future, or whether he thought his young guys might produce on day one. But given recent events, it seems he'll have to wait for things to truly pan out. His team has 2 seniors, and one of them is a kicker. The team only has two proven commodities in Harvy Unga and Evan Royster. Nearly every other player on the roster is still waiting to reach their potential. This team should be absolutely tantalizing....in 2010. But this year growing pains are on the horizon. I predict another year on the outside looking in.

Draft Steal: John Brantley (undrafted) No one else wants Tim Tebow's backup?

Draft Bust: Andre Debose (3rd Round) strictly in 2009 terms of course

2009 MVP: Evan Royster

 

Prison Mike's School of Hard Knocks (Mattu)

Season Reset: When I looked at the returning rosters this year, Mattu's roster is the one that made me go "OMG, this roster is so good, lolz, I can't even believe it, WTF." Prison Mike ran up the second most total points in 2008 and embarrassingly returns the bulk of that talent. Sharad's starting lineup of skill players likely existed before the draft even began. The School of Hard Knocks was knocked out early in the playoffs last year, a mild upset in a stacked division. And if such intangibles existed in a paper league like ours, it would be worthy motivation for these players to march through our league like Napoleon through Europe. But they don't so they won't. Which means Sharad will have to do things the old fashioned way.

Draft Recap: Armed with the security of a stacked team, Sharad had the luxury of playing things patiently. The notoriously shrewd owner poked his head around the first few early picks. Finding nothing to his liking, he sat tight at picks 8 and 11, and took out insurance policies on his backfield. Literally. After nabbing John Clay, he took Chris Brown at 11, OU teammate of returning Hard Knockser DeMarco Murray. And for good taste, he monopolized the Sooner backfield by getting dibs on freshman Jeramie Calhoun in the 9th round. Why not right? Mattu also traded down for a pair of 4th round heir apparent RB's in Shane Vereen from Cal and LaMichael James from Oregon. Will ignoring the WR and QB positions end up nipping Mattu in the bud?

Season Outlook: The answer to that question is no, probably not. Of Sharad's 4 receivers, at least 3 of them will probably end up being Top 15 producers in the league this year, if not all 4. And one of them just happens to be all-world Dez Bryant, the clear-cut fantasy stud on the outside. If Sharad has a weakness, it's at QB. Yes, Taylor Potts does inherit the Texas Tech infinite yard system. But is Taylor Potts Graham Harrell v2.0? Or is going to be just....meh, Taylor Potts. And if Taylor Potts happens to go down? Have fun with Jimm-uh, Sharad, and everyone can soon expect an email in their inbox from Mattu shopping one of his 43 RB's. That being said, after being run randomly in a game simulator 250 times, Mattu will walk away with the 2009 championship 74% of the time.

Draft Steal: LaMichael James (4th Round) - because I just watched LaGarrette Blount cold cock a Bronco after Oregon's loss to Boise State, and I get the feeling James is about to see A LOT more playing time this season.

Draft Bust: John Clay (1st Round) Recently relegated to "co-starter."

2009 MVP: Dez Bryant

 

Heartland University Grazing Steer (McCollough)

Season Reset: Brady has been the king of fantasy college football. Heartland has accumulated a 22-6 all-time record and was by far the strongest team in the league last year, being upset by Weber in the championship game. So maybe that's why Brady launched nothing short of a mid-life crisis when the page turned on the calendar. Despite returning only two 2 skill players and lacking a first and third round pick, Brady revolted and went scorched Earth on the draft, en route to a delusional path of title contention, at least for one more year. Hey, you try telling the Sultan of Brunai that his reign of power comes with term limits. I smell junta!

Draft Recap: Our fearless leader has one card to play: Case Keenum, a junior who will probably lead the league in points for the next two years. Whether it be out of fear, desperation, boredom, or all of the above, Brady played the Ace of Spades for Zac Robinson, Damion Fletcher, a first rounder and a fourth rounder. Still feeling inadequate when compared to General Sherman's rape of the south, McCollough traded DOWN?!? for two picks in the 3rd and 4th round. When the dust settled, Heartland University made 4 trades for multiple picks, claiming the likes of Kris Adams, Roy Helu, Damian Williams, Jermaine Thomas, and almost every QB on Tulsa's roster.

Season Outlook: The Grazing Steer now boast an entirely new starting lineup, built solely from the ashes of last year's breakout star. And don't tell anyone, but Brady actually thinks he can win. So is this a true Phoenix scenario? Has Brady built a title contender strictly from one year's draft? Only time will tell.....and me. I can tell. And I say no. Oh sure, he has probably built a playoff contender, and that accomplishment cannot be overlooked. Heartland may have had the strongest draft of any one team. But the team remains thin at WR should tragedy befall Kris Adams or Damian Williams, and Heartland lacks real star power at RB outside of possibly Damian Fletcher. I bet the Grazing Steer never score under 70 points all year, but they never score over 110 points either.

Draft Steal: Curtis Steele (6th round)

Draft Bust: Randal Cobb (4th round) If he doesn't figure out a position soon, he may end up stuck in weird wildcat purgatory.

2009 MVP: Zac Robinson

 

Upper West Side University (Rosen)

Season Reset: Rosen put together a wonderful season in 2008. He slugged it out in a tough tough Ed Martin division en route to a second place regular season finish and an honorable discharge in the semifinals to Heartland University. If Rosen were an owner in a real league, he'd be some sort of perennial mid-market playoff contender, like the Twins or A's or Jazz or Spurs. This season, Rosen found himself in a position similar to two years ago, where he needed one thing and one thing only. WR's. In 2007, he drafted Jarret Dillard and Michael Crabtree. A resounding success. This year?

Draft Recap: Great minds think alike, because just like in 2007, I found myself repeating the phrase "damnit Rosen that was my guy." I had a real hard time choosing between Damaris Johnson, Jordan Shipley and Mardy Gilyard at Pick #3. I chose youth (remembering that I chose Adarious Bowman over Crabtree in 2007) and Rosen made sure the seniors wouldn't fall any further. In short, I think he got Top 5 talent at picks 10 and 22. And because they're seniors, they need to carry him through the season. His lone QB selection of Jeremiah Massoli looks frightening after a terrible terrible performance in Boise last night, but at least he didn't slug anyone. Rosen drafted two more seniors and two more juniors. Moral of the story: Rosen is going for it now.

Season Outlook: Rosen's top 3 running backs were coming back from last year. If Jahvid Best does what he's supposed to, he should keep Rosen in competition every week. So should his new contingent of receivers. He picked up Lyle Leong from Texas TEch in Round 4, and if he becomes anything even close to Crabtree, that will be enough for the Upper West Side. Let's not forget that his Gator defense might actually be a factor some weeks as well. The only nervous position is now QB. See above. Rosen didn't caught up in the wild transactions of this year's draft, and he didn't need to. He reloaded where he needed to. His WR's may not be Jarrett Dillard and Michael Crabtree anymore, but he's probably done enough to slug out a second place slot once more.

Draft Steal: Mardy Gilyard (2nd Round) Damnit, that was my guy.

Draft Bust: Joseph Turner (7th Round) A lost opportunity of youth for a senior who probably won't see any time on Rosen's roster.

2009 MVP: Jahvid Best

 

Southern Michigan University Sharks (Schick)

Season Reset: 2008 was a rough rough year for the Sharks. No team had a worse record or point total. Injuries to Beanie Wells and failure to achieve potential (Josh Freeman, Arian Foster, CJ Gable, Deonte Thompson) had a lot to do with the struggles, but then again, so did lack of talent. Schick probably never had a championship team, nor does he this year. So goal number one coming into this year was to go mine that talent.

Draft Recap: Schick started a trade crazy draft season. He swapped the third pick overall for a second rounder and Juice Williams. Personally, I think that was a great trade for all parties involved. (Hint hint, wink wink.) Criticize if you want, but Schick gave himself the Big 10's top fantasy QB, and someone who may see an even greater rise in production this year. Then he used his two second round picks to gobble up a couple of workhorse backs in Da'Rel Scott and Victor Anderson. Recent fall camp reports are saying that backups may eventually eat up some of their snaps, but we'll just attribute that to "I have such a good team and so many weapons" coachspeak gobbledy-gook for the time being. Schick's smartest finds were probably Jacoby Ford and Brandon LaFell. Those productive seniors should keep him afloat at WR this year, and give him enough for a respectable team this year.

Season Outlook: SMU will get better this year. I put my stamp on it. But that's unfortunately like saying the Detroit Lions or Michigan Wolverines will be better this year. Of course they're going to be better. It's hard to get any worse. Schick's best chances for victories will come early in the season against some of the Bill Martin's weaker competition (excluding the Fighting Mondales). But once he gets to divisional play, his team might start to take some lumps. Each of the teams above him in this preview probably have more talent. Schick's best hope this year is to slug out a few victories and hope his three freshmen in the wings, Seth Doege, Trent Richardson and Terry Hawthorne, become jaw droppers down the road.

Draft Steal: Jacoby Ford (5th Round)

Draft Bust: Craig Cooper (4th Round) Will this guy ever live up to the hype?

2009 MVP: Juice Williams

 

Mississippi Tech (Williamson)

Season Reset: Jacob Williamson is the crazy cousin we all have from down south who we rarely ever see. (I literally have one. Her name is Shalene, she lives in Arkansas, has a tattoo of a bird, and is holding a bottle of beer in every other picture you see of her.) We focused on his differences (boo SEC) before we focused on his similarities (yay football) as he began his fantasy career with an 0-9 season. He has since gone 2-7 and 3-7. He now has our full acceptance, especially after a founding Michigan alumni member went crazy, stole our league fees, then disappeared off the face of the Earth. Nothing beats a little southern hospitality, like when he apologized when he thought he broke a rule, and Bob did not. Unless of course the Wigsplitters, which Jacob has been loading with young stinking talent over the years, finally grows up and becomes world beaters. Then we won't like him anymore.

Draft Recap: Williamson seems to be slowly figuring things out as the talent slowly starts to develop. Having earned the top pick, he made a smart, academic, low-risk, high-reward pick in Bryce Beall. RB was a position of need, and now it's not. Simple as that. Jermaine Gresham seems to be a bit of a stretch for the second round as a tight end, but Jacob probably looked at so many Sam Bradford box scores last year with Gresham on the receiving end of a TD pass, that he thought "why doesn't anyone have this guy." Now he does. Kerry Meier is an excellent senior producer out of Kansas (I know, I look at the Tood Reesing box scores) and Williamson probably struck lightning when Bryce Brown was suspended and then unsuspended and then named "co-starter" as a freshman.

Season Outlook: Any team with Sam Bradford immediately becomes a team that can beat you. Even if the Red River floods and drowns the entire states of Texas and Oklahoma, (what a fantasy!) he still has Jevan Snead. Running back duties will fall on Beall and Nicolas Grigsby to start things off, unless Pete Carroll stops using 7 tailbacks. Should either Joe McKnight or Stafon Johnson finally emerge, the Wigsplitters will be all over it. Gresham's injury now brings depth concerns to the wideout spot. If his injury lingers or his TD output falls this year (which, yeah, I'm almost sure it will) Williamson should probably start shopping by about Week 4. This author predicts the Wigsplitters will be dueling it out with Heartland University for Ed Martin's final playoff opening. Circle Week 6 on your calendars for the showdown gentlemen.

Draft Steal: Bryce Brown (4th Round) Just barely. This could change depending how many times he's suspended.

Draft Bust: Jermaine Gresham (2nd Round) Drafted ahead of sophomore teammate Ryan Broyles, and now battling injury.

2009 MVP: Sam Bradford. Duh.