Looking for a few college football player props to build up your bankroll ahead of the full Saturday slate for college football Week 1?
Action Network's Mike Calabrese has you covered.
Breese is targeting a pair of Tobacco Road superstars to hit it big on the ground on Thursday night, including NC State quarterback Grayson McCall and North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton.
College Football Player Props
In the table below, you'll find each of Mike Calabrese's top college football player prop picks from Thursday's slate of Week 1 games. Click on any pick or team logo to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Time (ET) | Player Prop |
|---|---|
| 7 p.m. | |
| 8 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAF Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | |
Western Carolina – NC State Player Props
QB Grayson McCall Anytime TD (+210)
I mentioned it on Green Dot Daily with Charlie DiSturco, but I believe this game between the Catamounts and Wolfpack could be a high-scoring affair.
Western Carolina racked up 504.1 yards per game last fall. Its attack ran through Cole Gonzales, a Walter Payton Award finalist at quarterback. If he and the Catamounts score 21 points or more in this game, we’re going to get four quarters of McCall and the NC State starting offense.
Nothing can kill a prop or put you behind the eight ball faster than a blowout and a quick hook for the starters. Despite the 32.5-point spread, I don’t project it to be a runaway from NC State — at least not until the fourth quarter.
On the opportunity front, McCall is in the perfect system to rack up rushing touchdowns.
The former Coastal Carolina Chanticleer has 18 career rushing touchdowns, and now he steps into Robert Anae’s system. In Anae's past five years, 28.3% of his team's overall carries have gone to his quarterbacks. That’s the fifth-highest carry share in the country.
Across the last three seasons, his starting quarterbacks have finished with nine, nine and seven rushing touchdowns.
I would play a McCall touchdown prop down to +190. If you want to really let it rip here in Week 1, McCall can be found in the +1600 range to score two touchdowns in this game.
He hit pay dirt twice in his very first college start against Kansas in 2020, so stranger things have happened.
College Football Pick: Grayson McCall Anytime TD (+215)
North Carolina vs. Minnesota Player Props
Omarion Hampton 150+ Rushing Yards (+370)
There’s reason to believe Hampton will receive north of 20 carries in this game.
For starters, North Carolina will be rotating quarterbacks, and it’s likely that offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey is going to let both Max Johnson and Conner Harrell settle in with some conservative play-calling early on in this game.
Lindsey’s offense featured a 50/50 pass-run split last season, and he fed Hampton with 24-plus carries in four games in 2023. In those “carry-plus” games, Hampton averaged 188 yards on the ground.
When given the opportunity, Hampton puts up huge numbers.
Lindsey may have scripted more carries for Hampton than usual with a quarterback timeshare on deck, and that was before he was handed the weather report for Thursday night in Minneapolis. The Twin Cities are going to get pounded with rain and wind as thunderstorms tear through the area.
In a potential monsoon with wind gusts in the 15-20 mph range, I want nothing to do with passing or receiving props. I'm putting all my eggs in the rushing basket. The weather report only increases the likelihood that Hampton gets the ball early and often.
There’s also the Minnesota defensive regression to consider.
The Golden Gophers continue to coast on a defensive reputation they earned under Joe Rossi. With Rossi calling plays, the Minnesota defense finished with a top-25 run defense three times between 2019-22.
But last season, everything fell apart. It allowed 149 yards per game on the ground (64th), and PFF graded it as the 107th-best run defense in America.
The reason for that low ranking is likely its propensity to give up huge chunk runs. The Gophers surrendered eight runs of 30 or more yards last season, highlighting their run-fit issues.
Well, Rossi left this offseason to take the DC position at Michigan State. Corey Hetherman is in at DC for Minnesota, calling plays for the first time in three years.
Time will tell if Hetherman is an upgrade over Rossi, who was a Broyles Award nominee just three years ago.
And finally, it’s time to quantify what we already know; Hampton is a home run threat. He has a breakaway percentage of 36.4%. What that means is that more than a third of his runs end up going for 15 yards or more.
Of bell-cow backs who carried it 225 times or more last season, he had that third-highest breakaway percentage in the country. While his prop line of 95.5 yards is perfectly adequate, it’s time to parlay a few long runs into a payout north of 7-2.
College Football Pick: Omarion Hampton 150+ Rushing Yards (+370)
