Memphis' Next Sunday Guy
"We feel he’s the next great Memphis running back that will be playing on Sundays."
I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly.
- Kathleen, You’ve Got Mail (1998)
I distinctly remember the feeling that I had in my gut during the fall of 2023 while watching former ODU Monarch Blake Watson eviscerate the esteemed conference that we know as the AAC (not to be confused with that sham of a conference, the ‘ACC’), “Why didn’t anybody tell me they had my boy Cramsey at OC?!” I said.
An error on my part, no doubt. Though to be fair, he had been with the Tigers the year prior (he joined in the 2022 offseason), and the RB1 for Memphis that season was nothing special from a CFF perspective (approx. 10 PPG). Cramsey was previously the OC at one of my favorite programs for CFF RBs—the Marshall Thundering Herd from 2018 to 2021.
During his time in Huntington, WV, Mr. Cramsey had two RBs who saw 250 carries or more in three full seasons (I’m ignoring 2020 for obvious reasons). Brenden Knox took his 270 carries in 2019 and galloped to a jubilous 1387 yards and 11 scores. Rasheen Ali was the designated workhorse in 2021, taking 296 total touches for almost 1750 yards and 24 scores. Awe inspiring indeed.
And it should be noted that in 2018, Tyler King was on his way to certified #VolumePig status after three straight games of: 27 carries-165 yards, 22 carries-195 yards-2 TDs, and 21 carries-125 yards-1 TD before falling to injury in the next outing. He finished the year with 108 carries, 655 yards, and four scores in seven appearances.
So I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised us when Memphis started getting back to what made this program so great in the 2010s under now-FSU head coach Mike Norvell. Evidently, nobody told this program that they’re a lowly G5 organization because these guys kept printing out NFL RBs every other year.
They lost that spirit in the 2020s in my opinion. Prior to Cramsey’s arrival, head coach Ryan Silverfield had yet to have a CFF relevant back at Memphis (we’ll discuss this more later).
Now, they’re coming off back-to-back seasons with a 22+ PPG gangster in their backfield. How times have changed.
And as with any program that’s had a productive runner move on, CFFers subsequently began circling like sharks—foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs—in search of the ‘next great Memphis RB’.
As these things usually go, different camps planted their flags on different players. Some anchored into Greg Desrosiers, the sixth year veteran from the northeast. Others tethered their hopes to the man of the hour—the 5’9, 185 pound prodigy heralding from a magical place called Powder Springs, Georgia.
Personally—and this is just my opinion, why should anyone listen to me—if you find yourself randomly grasping at straws in the dark, lost astray at sea with little to no relevant information to leverage, go with the kid from the southeast over any other region of the US. Particularly if they're from Florida or Georgia (this is just my experience, but I have run some scientifically rigorous experiments that proved fruitful on this topic). I’m from Canada so you know I’m being objective about this—frankly, I have little to no interest in US regionality beyond the confines of the CFF context.
And maybe this article will be a spectacular fail, and I’ll be wrong about my hypothesis; and Desrosiers grabs the proverbial torch and runs with it (I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made this pun but I refuse to stop recycling it).
While that would make me sad and no doubt permanently alter my life for the worse (admittedly, I don’t actually have any shares of either player as of writing this; hopefully, that changes soon), I find myself feeling pretty convicted on Agent Smith.
There are actually articles swirling around out there dating all the way back to 2023 regarding Sutton Smith and his breakout potential as Memphis’ next great thing. In the interest of transparency I will say that I, in fact, was almost caught slipping and referenced one of those articles for this writeup until I saw the date. How embarrassing.
It should be noted that there has been a wildcard introduced into this equation, and that is former MTSU RB Frank Peasant. Remember him? Well, despite what I imagine were some tempting offers from the UFL, he is actually still playing CFB. Good for him.
Peasant was at times the featured back for the Blue Raiders during his five year career. Though he never truly had that nuclear season, 2022 was a solid outing with a total of 1000 yards and 11 scores. Point being, we know he can play at this level.
I mean, truly, had Peasant joined in December instead of this past spring, I imagine we would have been looking at the offseason ADP champ in Memphis’ current backfield group here. Peasant even demonstrated the ability to catch passes in 2022 with 28 receptions, 286 yards and two scores. Not too shabby indeed. I can already envision the VolumePigs article now—it’d probably be published back in like February or some time similar, and titled something unoriginal like “Memphis’ Next Sunday Guy”.
But I digress and seek to redirect the reader’s attention back to the man of the hour—Agent Smith. There’s a reason he’s the topic of today’s article and not Peasant, nor Greg D (that’s right, I’m tired of writing his goofy ass last name).
If you read through the June/July Monthly Round Up article, you already know why, for the rest of you peasants (see what I did there?), I will attempt to catch you up to speed.
One of the quotes that stood out to me while researching information for that article was this one provided by an ON3 Memphis beat writer:
"Sutton Smith is special. We feel he’s the next great Memphis running back that will be playing on Sundays"
This quote was provided on an article where he listed his expected depth chart based on his camp observations. Obviously, he had Smith at RB1 with Greg D behind him. The full quote included this on both runners:
Derosiers will get his touches and [Makari] Bodiford is a pounding bruiser of a back that will be in some packages.
A few things: 1) as always, I acknowledge that what beat writers say is not fact, some really don’t know what they’re talking about, and 2) no mention of Peasant is not surprising given that Franky P was not present during spring ball. However, he would present some level of concern if I was highly leveraged on Sutton Smith shares (or Greg D shares). He won’t be involved early I bet, but he might work his way up the rotation later in the year.
Sure, you think that’s crazy “VP’s full of shit” you say, but of the four runners, Peasant’s really the only one whose done anything worth a damn over the course of a full season thus far in his career. And we’re talking about some dudes who are entering their sixth(!) year of ball… I know, I know, Greg D had some big moments last year, but the point still stands; Franky P is the most productive runner in this room and he made his bones at this level already.
And let me just clear the air and state that I’m not a Greg D hater (despite the annoying last name). I acknowledge that he’s had some enormous single-game outputs across his career despite terribly shoddy usage—a strange pattern indeed, but perhaps there’s a reason this staff doesn’t give him the touches?
Evidently, they don’t seem very inclined to ever give him more than about 10 touches in a game. I’m not here to say it can’t happen in year six, clearly he’s an explosive player, but based on the quote from the Memphis beat, I think I’d rather take the chance on Smith instead.
Assuming he is a future “Sunday guy” as the writer suggested, he should have nothing to fear from ol’ Franky P. If that is not the case, however, CFFers should mentally prepare themselves now for a scenario this coming November where the forgotten Pensacola bruiser leaps off waivers to be the difference between securing eternal glory and advancing in one’s playoff or being shamefully sent to the showers early. Consider yourself warned.
Again, I can already feel your eye rolls. You don’t believe it, right? Yeah well, every year there are players that emerge in late October or November. Every year there are late season waiver plays that are ‘must haves’ and will be the difference in some teams winning their leagues. Every year there are guys who go on absolute tears in the final stretch after doing nothing all season. This feels like it could be one of those situations if there’s an injury, or if neither Smith nor Greg D gets the job done as lead back.
And of course, there’s always the pesky possibility that there just won’t be a bellcow this year! But let’s try to think optimistically…
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 17.9 — OC: 19.21 (half ppr)
Silverfield was promoted to the role of head coach in 2020 when Mike Norvell took the Florida State job. Previously, he had been the offensive line coach with Memphis since 2016. Prior to that, he spent about half a decade in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions as an assistant OL staffer.
His OC, Tim Cramsey, has been all over the place. Dating back to 2009, he’s been the OC at New Hampshire, FIU, Montana State, Nevada, Sam Houston, Marshall, and now Memphis.
While Cramsey’s recent work at Marshall and Memphis is noteworthy, it should be noted that he’s been doing what he’s been doing at OC for a while now.
Prior to Cramsey’s time at Marshall, he had Avery Corey at Sam Houston (2017), who rushed for 1121 yards and 14 scores in 14 games on an efficient 186 carries. Corey also secured 26 receptions for 226 yards and two more scores on the year.
It was James Butler at Nevada (2016), that led Cramsey’s backfield with 250 carries, 1336 yards and 12 scores. In typical Cramsey RB1 fashion, Butler also secured 37 passes for an additional 381 yards and three scores. He actually finished second on the team in receiving that season.
In his three seasons with Montana State (2013-2015), two of them provided a 1000+ yard rusher with double digit rushing TDs scored.
If you’re keeping score at home, that means dating back to 2013, or in other words within the last 11 full seasons, eight of Cramsey’s RB1s have finished with 1000+ rushing yards, and often over 1200 total yards, and double digit scores.
Despite the immense rushing success, both Cramsey and Silverfield average an almost even 50/50 split in play calling between run and pass plays. They are similarly aligned on pace, with six year averages both at 24 seconds per play, or a total of 70/71 plays per game.
One cause for concern, however, is that Memphis returns a total of 30% of the snaps from last year’s OL, meaning, they’ll be working in some new starters this year.
Sutton Smith (5’9, 185)
2023 RUSHING STATS: 63 - 305 - 3 (6.6 PPG)
Look at him. Does he or does he not strike a resemblance to one of his predecessors mentioned in the intro in Blake Watson? I think so.
Technically, while Sutton Smith’s listed from Powder Springs, he played high school football at one of Atlanta’s biggest programs in Walton, located in a neighbouring area called Marietta. I believe C2C’s very own Chris Kay has a relative who coaches at this program, though I could be mistaken.
As you can imagine—given the landing spot of Memphis—Smith was not a highly sought after recruit on the national scene. He had some good regional G5 interest though, including offers from App State, ECU and of course, Memphis where he signed.
A three star rated player coming out of high school, it’s odd to me that—assuming the listed weight on the team website is correct—he’s only gained five pounds since high school. To me, this is a potential red flag if you’re reading this article with an interest in Devy and/or C2C. I wouldn’t want to be betting on this kid in the NFL, but at the collegiate level, which is the focus of today’s article, I don’t think it’s a big deal. Though, I will say that 185 is still a bit light for my liking and is a concern I have.
Speaking of Watson and his fabled 2023 season, it may interest the reader to know that it was actually Sutton Smith who outperformed him in week one vs. Bethune Cookman. I already know without going back and watching that game that Memphis probably took the starters out in the second half and this is likely where Smith did most of his damage. Nonetheless, in that game, Agent Smith led the team in carries with 18, rushing yards with 115, and he scored twice on the ground with an additional two receptions on four targets for three yards (25.8 PPG).
The reason Smith’s 2023 numbers are provided in the subheader underneath his name is that he basically missed all of 2024. He appeared in one game, and took all but three carries for seven yards.
Smith has a June ADP of 292.1 according to Campus2Canton, and a total ADP of 330 ADP currently. This means he’s going in around the 24th round as of June, so he is really just seen as bestball asset at the moment by the CFF community. I have a feeling that’s going to change soon. If it turns out that he is Cramsey’s guy in that backfield, then his current price is low.
Anybody who's participated in a CFF draft this year will attest to the fact that the RB position typically gets hammered pretty early. The logic is simple—people have determined that there are not a lot of attractive mid and late round options. So, in a year where the player pool at RB appears shallow past the first four rounds, Sutton Smith stands out as a potential league winning late round RB. ◾
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Sample of 2018 to 2024, excluding 2020.