At 6-foot-6 and 261 pounds, Oklahoma’s Jermaine Gresham is easily one of the biggest weapons in college football. Fantasy owners know all about the Sooner, as he was among the top five fantasy tight ends last season and should be the first one off the board this year.

As a whole, the tight end position is one of the weaker ones in the draft. Options such as BYU’s Dennis Pitta, Arizona’s Rob Gronkowski and Arkansas’ D.J. Williams are excellent fantasy prospects, but after Texas A&M’s Jamie McCoy at No. 9, there is a bit of a drop. If you are drafting in a 12 team league, Gresham could come off the board as early as round three, while Pitta, Gronkowski, Williams, Hernandez and Slate will likely come off the board in rounds four, five and six.

If you miss out on one of the top nine tight ends, be sure to monitor the waiver wire early in the year. Sleepers like Notre Dame’s Kyle Rudolph or USC’s Anthony McCoy could develop into fantasy starters.

Be sure to keep in mind all rankings will change as needed throughout the offseason and a major update will be posted before August.

Rank	Player	Team	08 Fantasy Pts	Bye Weeks	Returning QB?*
1	Jermaine Gresham	Oklahoma	178.1	4	Y
2	Dennis Pitta	BYU	175.9	9	Y
3	Rob Gronkowski	Arizona	129.5	5, 9	N
4	D.J. Williams	Arkansas	122.8	2	N
5	Aaron Hernandez	Florida	71.1	5	Y
6	Cody Slate	Marshall	125.1	9	N
7	Garrett Graham	Wisconsin	96.3	8, 13	Y
8	Jason Harmon	FAU	—	2, 6	Y
9	Jamie McCoy	TAMU	101.5	2	Y
10	Ed Dickson	Oregon	84.2	7, 13	Y
11	Mike McNeill	Nebraska	92.0	5	N
12	Kyle Rudolph	ND	50.7	6	Y
13	Andrew Jones	Missouri	22.2	5	N
14	Richard Dickson	LSU	64.9	7	N
15	Tony Moeaki	Iowa	21.3	13	Y
16	Josh LeDuc	EMU	84.6	4	Y
17	Jamari Grant	FAU	101.2	2, 6	Y
18	Ben Wooster	WF	43.1	12	Y
19	Andrew George	BYU	60.9	9	Y
20	Greg Boone	Va. Tech	56.3	8	Y

Bye Week Key -

Week 1 - Sept. 5
Week 2 - Sept. 12
Week 3 - Sept. 19
Week 4 - Sept. 26
Week 5 - Oct. 3
Week 6 - Oct. 10
Week 7 - Oct. 17
Week 8 - Oct. 24
Week 9 - Oct. 31
Week 10 - Nov. 7
Week 11 - Nov. 14
Week 12 - Nov. 21
Week 13 - Nov. 28

* Returning starter at quarterback = projected starting quarterback in Athlon's 2009 National magazine that started at least seven games or final six games in 2008

2009 draft kit

2009 kickoff
Quarterback rankings
Kicker rankings
Running back rankings
Team defense rankings

Coming later this week

Top 200

Coming later this summer

Player profiles
Sleepers
Position battles
Strategy features
Mock draft
Freshmen/JUCO reports
Keeper watch

Follow us at Twitter: AthlonFantasy

Check out u-sports.athlonsports.com for more information on college fantasy leagues for the 2009 season.

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