It's Never Too Early to Look Ahead to 2026...
VP highlights a collection of players he believes will be in the top scorer/1.01 draft mix of 2026 CFF leagues.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
- Benjamin Franklin, polymath
I know, I know, the CFF season just ended, but I couldn’t help my degenerate self yesterday, and thus began speculating on the NEXT CFF campaign. This article is mostly just fun and pure speculation, but I do think a lot of the things here are plausible.
Oh and by the way, just as a reminder, I am running a 50% off discount right now on VP subscriptions for those interested…
OKLAHOMA STATE RB Caleb Hawkins
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or simply not playing CFF this season—which would be strange—you’ve probably had the sick misfortunate of being torched by North Texas freshman RB Caleb Hawkins at some point. This dude has been raw dogging it since his breakout on September 20 with no signs of slowing down. Oh, to be young again.
Dig this: Hawkins punched in 16—yes, 16(!!)—TDs in the month of November alone. That’s some 2023 Ollie Gordon-ish. In fact, it’s better. Hawkins is, as the kids say, “that guy”. The alpha. The Chad. The guy she tells you not to worry about before he drops a fucking 50 bomb on your head on his way to your league’s playoff, taking your trophy and your main squeeze with him just for good measure.
How does someone like this stay in *checks notes*, some place called Denton??? The answer is he doesn’t. I don’t know if he’s going to follow his former head coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State, but I think that would be a great fit, and it would also align with my Ollie Gordon comparison which I know is very important to him. I know this because I’ve had numerous conversations over the phone with both Hawkins and Morris. Some of you may or may not know, but I have notification settings in my VP command center that alerts me every time a new RB hits 30 or more carries, and immediately provides me with their personal phone line and contact details.
Anyways, long story short, I’ve discussed a few things with Mr. Hawkins and I believe he sees the vision. The Big12 is the perfect next step in his career. We all know he can dunk on those unsuspecting nerds in the G5. BIG12 defences aren’t much better, but it will add some legitimacy to his NFL aspirations, and more importantly, he will be with a coach who understands his skillset and how to utilize him to maximum potential.
Should Hawkins find himself in Stillwater, you could be looking at the 1.01 draft pick in almost every CFF draft right here. Yes, there will be some risk associated with the move up, but this guy has been so dominant that I think he skews more toward the Ahmad Hardy variety than the Makhi Hughes/Marcus Caroll etc. type. I guess we’ll see…
MIZZOU RB Ahmad Hardy
Some chalk here. Hardy is a true sophomore so he has to come back, otherwise he’d very likely be off to the NFL following his monster 2025 campaign. Hardy is in rarified air, I tell you, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a shareholder of his in CFFNate’s Dynasty league.
He’s one of the few G5→P4 RBs that made that transition successfully. Seriously, close your eyes right now and think about how many successful G5→P4 RBs you can name in your head. You probably can’t even get to five!
Not only is Hardy (likely) returning to Mizzou (could always transfer elsewhere), his head coach and probably OC are also returning. Indeed, this is a very common and popular 1.01 profile in CFF circles. A top returning RB with the same infrastructure around him. He definitely feels like one of the perceived ‘safer’ options compared to other players that are more so projections (like Hawkins, should he follow Morris to OKST). I put the word safer in quotations because as we know, no-one is ever safe in CFF.
BYU RB LJ Martin
It was a banner year for those who stuck to the LJ Martin fan club (nearly 1500 total yards and 10 scores). Indeed, it was starting to get a little bit lonely over here after another injury-filled season in 2024; however, the 2025 campaign proved he could not only withstand a substantial workload, but be highly productive doing it. His most notable performance being a 32 carry, 222 yard banger vs. Cincy, and then a three score performance in the CFF championship week. Unreal.
He can leave for the NFL, and may very well choose to do so given his injury history, but he might also not like his draft evaluation enough, and word through the grape vine says BYU has mucho NIL dollars.
Auburn QB Byrum Brown
The ink hasn’t even dried yet, so you may not be aware, but former USF head coach Alex Golesh is apparently headed to Auburn to be their next head coach. I’d imagine he’ll retain interim coach DJ Durkin as DC, and mostly be asked to import his fast paced offence to the War Damn Eagles.
With that, there are many intriguing options here. First, Ashton Daniels made a deliberate decision to retain another year of eligibility, whether he plays that out at Auburn is another question, though his skill set matches similarly to what Golesh had with Byrum Brown and Hendon Hooker at Tennessee. Secondly, there is the freshman, who scored six goddamn tuddies in week 13, Deuce Knight. He also appears to have the requisite skillset to excel in Golesh’s offence, but all we know about him is that he can torch those FCS nerds down there at Mercer.
Thirdly, Golesh goes demon mode and brings in Brown for one more year of carnage. Byrum Brown finished as the CFF player one this year in total points and points per game. He’s been fantastic at the G5 level for multiple seasons, and may potentially receive a poorer draft grade than he would like this offseason. If that were to be the case, trying his hand at SEC ball starts to make a lot of sense, and who better to do it with than his old buddy Mr. Golesh? Not to mention the historical pedigree of this program with dual threat QBs (hello Cam Newton), and the fit just works.
MISSISSIPPI STATE QB Kamario Taylor
Did any of you watch the Egg Bowl this past week? Anything interesting happen before and/or after the game?? Well, something interesting that happened within the confines of the game was Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor looking like a future heisman candidate.
Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit for effect, but Taylor looked good. He looked damn good. His pedigree as an athlete was well known already, but he surpassed even my expectations, rushing 20 times for 173 yards and two scores. This raises the following question: can a Mississippi State player ever top the CFF leaderboards? It’s a long shot that he’d be considered for the first overall pick in CFF drafts, but I do believe Taylor has the type of skillset you want when hunting for future CFF stars at QB.
Similar to players like Byrum Brown and Avery Johnson, Taylor’s passing will be his primary limiting factor. The Bulldogs will also be playing most of their games from behind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for QBs, so long as their teams can remain competitive. Basically, if Taylor and Mississippi State can just do what they did in the Egg Bowl versus most of their SEC opponents in 2026, then—assuming Taylor eviscerates the OOC opponents—this is a player I can see sniffing the top spot of CFF charts in 2026/2027. This one is definitely a long shot, and maybe more of a 2024 Taylen Green-esque commodity, but you never know.
Now let’s have some fun…
BOISE STATE RB Dylan Riley takes over as the undisputed bellcow in Idaho following a Sire Gaines transfer (more on this in a bit). Riley, to me, has officially overtaken Gaines in the pecking order over there and I believe the coaches are frustrated with Gaines.
For a player who seemingly could do no wrong during his freshman year prior to injury, Gaines makes a lot of boneheaded mistakes, such as missed blocking assignments, poor ball security leading to untimely turnovers etc. etc.. Earlier in the 2025 season I lamented as someone who was highly leveraged in Malik Sherrod shares that the staff seems to overlook Gaines’ mistakes, and continues to feed him the ball despite some inconsistent performance.
I don’t exactly know what or when it happened, but somewhere along the line this staff’s patience with Gaines ran out, (maybe when the emergence of fellow sophomore Dylan Riley happened), and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Gaines explore his options.
Sherrod is out of eligibility after this season, and now, in this fantasy world, Gaines has transferred out. Riley remains atop the depth chart, and visions of another Ashton Jeanty in the minds of CFFers propel Riley’s ADP into first round and potential 1.01 contention.
Speaking of, SAN DIEGO STATE RB Sire Gaines has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Lucky Sutton can technically return but he has a long list of injuries in his four year college career, so I would think he’ll leave for the NFL. Gaines is from California, and definitely has the chassis to be a bellcow RB at the G5 level. And as of writing this article, Sean Lewis remains the head coach of the Aztecs, a program with a storied history of elite RB utilization.
Gaines, fed up with the fact that Riley is eating his lunch in Idaho, is going-going back-back to Cali-Cali 🎵 (cue the Biggie Smalls track). Back in his home state, he becomes the RB1 under Sean Lewis. He then proceeds to destroy the MWC on his revenge tour, throwing in a 200+ yard performance vs. his old team Boise because why the hell not.
MICHIGAN RB Antwan Raymond
Picture this: Haynes moves on, and the Wolverines decide to bring in another transfer to ‘compete’ with Jordan Marshall, who is entering the offseason with a shoulder injury. While they like the former Ohio product, they know they need multiple elite backs to execute the style of offence they want, and hence, they go shopping in the B1G for RU’s Antwan Raymond, who was probably the best RB in the conference outside of Emmett Johnson in 2025.
Raymond would probably be highly rated even if he stayed at RU for 2026, but I have to think that some of the bigger programs in CFB will come calling to test his loyalty with the Knights. Despite what certain individuals may have you believe in the state of New Jersey, it is in fact possible to get out of there and start fresh somewhere else.
LSU RB Kewan Lacy
I get the feeling that current Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy isn’t sweating whether or not Lane stays in Oxford. Probably because he knows that wherever Lane goes, his RB1 spot is reserved for Kewan’s iced-out ass.
And I’m assuming that next destination will be LSU, which would be a good fit for Lacy too. Sure, there’s a few notable backs there already, but Lacy is better than those guys (probably).
Knowing CFFers’ luck, since Lacy held up all year despite an incredible workload, he’ll probably break in like, week three, next year #DesmondREID. But you know what they say, scared money don’t make money.
Regardless, whether it’s at LSU, Ole Miss, or freaking Pluto, so long as football is being played and Lane Kiffin is the play caller, Lacy will be a highly coveted and likely, highly productive CFF asset in 2026. ◾
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