College Football Player Props: 2 Saturday Picks for Jarquez Hunter & Tucker Gleason (Dec. 30)
Wesley Hitt/Getty Images. Pictured: Auburn’s Jarquez Hunter.
With opt-outs for the NFL and the transfer portal running rampant in the Orange and Peach Bowls, I’m targeting two minor bowl games in the player touchdown market.
Let's dive into my top player props for Auburn's Jarquez Hunter and Toledo's Tucker Gleason on Saturday's college football bowl slate.
Saturday College Football Player Prop Picks
In the table below, you'll find each of Mike Calabrese's top player prop picks from Saturday's slate of bowl games. Click on any pick or team logo to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Time (ET) | Player Prop |
|---|---|
| 2 p.m. | |
| 4:30 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. | |
Auburn vs. Maryland
Keeping with new tradition, let’s first look at the opt-out situation for the Auburn Tigers. Hugh Freeze and his staff have done a commendable job keeping this roster more or less whole through December.
They’ve avoided any major opt-outs on the offensive side of the football which is critical in a minor bowl game. That includes their offensive line returning for the bowl intact, which is becoming a rarity in college football.
Jarquez Hunter will be the focal point of Freeze’s offense in the Music City Bowl and should receive close to 20 touches in this one. From mid-October onward, Hunter averaged 18 touches per game in SEC play. In those games, he scored multiple touchdowns twice.
He can hit the home run, scoring from 40-plus yards out, and he’s the preferred option in goal-to-go situations. That second factor is a major element of the multi-touchdown play because you don’t want to see a score vultured away by a power back or a quarterback.
Despite 125 carries, Payton Thorne has just three rushing touchdowns all season long. If Robby Ashford and his five rushing touchdowns were getting the start, this would likely be a pass for me, but Thorne has been confirmed as Auburn’s QB1.
The final piece of this puzzle is the Maryland run defense. The Terps finished 95th in Success Rate against the run, allowing multiple rushing scores to Michigan’s Blake Corum and Rutgers’ Gavin Wimsatt in goal-to-go situations in Big Ten play.
Maryland is also down Jaishawn Barham at linebacker.
Freeze has always been a strong bet in bowl season, going 6-1 against the spread and straight up. He takes these opportunities seriously and will lean on his best player to make a statement heading into 2024.
Pick: Hunter To Score 2+ TDs (+175)
Toledo vs. Wyoming
Toledo starting quarterback Dequan Finn entered the transfer portal and is off to Baylor. That opens the door for Gleason, who actually has a decent amount of experience despite sitting behind Finn for three years.
Gleason started two games in 2022 and saw additional action off the bench this season. He has a firm grasp of the offense and is utilized as a dual-threat signal-caller by head coach Jason Candle.
I’m basing this play on his extended playing time in 2022.
He started against Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green while seeing significant action against Western Michigan that year. In that three-game stretch, he scored three rushing touchdowns. And most notably, he carried the ball 34 times.
A bonus here is that Wyoming has been burned by mobile quarterbacks this season. UNLV’s Jayden Maiava scored two rushing touchdowns on 11 carries, while Boise State’s Taylen Green found the end zone as well. Even Texas’ Quinn Ewers took a zone read in for six.
As a run-stopping unit, the Pokes finished 68th in Success Rate and 62nd in terms of tackling, according to PFF. Wyoming is far from a brick wall.
If you could find a first-touchdown number north of +1200, that’s worth a sprinkle as well.
Pick: Gleason Anytime TD (+260)
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