RETURN OF THE MAC: Miami (OH)'s 2000-Yard RB is the Most Underrated Transfer of 2026
Leave it to a gangster like Chuck Martin to pull off the heist of the century.
Return of the Mack! (Once again) Return of the Mack! (Top of the world) Return of the Mack! (Watch my flow)
- Mark Morrison, musician
I know, I know… it’s damn near impossible to identify “the most” anything out of a pool of thousands of transfer transactions, but I do believe this one is undoubtedly one of the very best, if not the best bit of business of the 2026 cycle.
When you’re a MAC enterprise, you don’t need to be told twice that scouting and evaluating under-the-radar assets are a priority. Chances are astronomically slim that one of these programs is landing Daylen “Hollywood” Smothers, or Cam “NIL won’t be the driving factor” Coleman, for example.
No, indeed, you are recruiting from a different pool of athletes in this great conference we call the MAC. That’s what makes it special, in my opinion (among other things; half empty stadiums, lack of beat coverage etc.)
Former Monmouth (FCS) RB Rodney Nelson was one of my favourite RBs to enter the portal in December. He ran for 1802 yards in 2025, scoring 18 TDs on 294 carries (12 games), and accumulated another 229 yards and a score via the air on 30 receptions.
I want the reader to make note of an important thing: he did this in only 12 games, which is not the norm when evaluating FCS players—many of them (LJ Phillips, for ex.), play 14 or 15 games, so this must be kept in mind when comparing output.
Not that it makes a huge difference when comparing players with 1800, or 1900 yards, what’s more important is sort of a box that needs to be checked asking “was the player just productive, or very productive?” Both check the latter box.
Indeed, tracking Nelson’s output into 15 games, our man easily clears 2000 rushing yards, and already did so in total yardage through 12 games alone. He finished the year with a gnarly 6.1 YPC on almost 300 touches, which is fantastic.
I honestly thought he was going to settle somewhere in the upper echelon of the G5 or in the P4 as a #2/3 option. What can I say, some guys just get ‘it’. Maybe Nelson plays CFF in his spare time. Who knows.
But that’s why I view this as potentially the best transfer of the 2026 cycle. It is a fantastic fit for both sides. Nelson, having two years of eligibility left from what I can tell, is probably thinking that if he goes ham in the FBS, then he can cash in on a big pay day in 2027 moving up to the P4 (maybe as a RB1).
This is also his twitter background photo, which is a Dragon Ball Z reference and I view that as a good sign:
He also tweeted this in January (another good sign in my mind):
I won’t pretend to have watched many FCS games this year, but from what I have gathered, my stance is that Nelson is one of the best FCS RBs moving up this year. There is a big three, from my view, of: Nelson, LJ Phillips, and Southern Utah’s TD machine Joshua Dye. Phillips landed at Iowa, we are still waiting for Dye to select a destination (he would be perfect in the new PAC12/MWC, imo)1.
As far as the opportunity at Miami of Ohio, let’s take a look at what might of sold Nelson for 2026.
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 11.1 — OC: NA2 (half ppr)
The first thing to note is that last year’s stud who never was, Kenny Tracy, is out of eligibility. I found it refreshing the way head coach Chuck Martin would talk about the offence in his press conferences during the 2025 season; rarely do we receive the level of candor from coaches that we did through him.
He would bluntly state that there was no secret about what the offence was going to do, and that Tracy was the star who was going to do most of the damage. Unfortunately for all parties involved, Tracy’s last year ended with him taking one snap in his fifth game (mind you, he missed all of 2024 before that).
Prior to his injury, Tracy handled 22 touches per game against non-P4 competition for the Redhawks and scored 35 and 24 CFF points in those two appearances.
When he left, Miami turned to sixth year wonder Jordan Brunson, who absolutely sucked. The offence had no dynamism or explosion, thanks in part to the QB also opting out later in the year; yet somehow Martin willed his Hawks to a 6-2 conference record. Impressive stuff.
Now, you may be scratching your head thinking “Miami of Ohio… not exactly a CFF stud factory in the past… what gives?”, and you’d be absolutely correct.
Looking at Martin’s past six seasons dating back to 2018 with Miami of Ohio, his highest scoring RB1 ended up with 15 PPG (Jaylon Bester, 2019).
Note that Pat Welsh was hired as TEs coach at CSU, and QBs coach Gus Ragland was promoted to OC.
Though in Martin’s defence, his last two RBs prior to 2025 both cleared 1000 yards rushing (Rashad Amos in 2023, Keyon Mozee in 2024). Amos, in particular, became a strong CFF asset in the second half of 2023.
And in 2025, as mentioned, Tracy was on his way to obliterating Martin’s previous RB1 season high numbers. I think if Tracy is healthy, he finishes with over 250 touches and probably around 18-20 total TDs.
What may be of note is that ever since the insertion of this character named Patrick Welch in 2023 at OC, the production of Miami’s RB1s has been… well, more productive. It was in 2023 that the Hawks produced their first 1000-yard rusher under Martin, then they did it again immediately in 2024, and 2025 likely would have continued the trend.
Indeed, even though Brunson sucked with the touches he received, he did still see 15-23 carries per game.
So it wasn’t for a lack of trying from this staff that a Miami RB did not reach CFF relevance after Tracy’s departure.
Anyways, Tracy and Brunson move on, leaving D’Shawntae Jones and someone named Josh Ringer as the primary comp for touches. Jones is no joke, as he had P4 offers from Kentucky and Syracuse coming out of high school (2024), but—curiously as so many Miami of Ohio RBs have done under this regime—has ballooned up to 245 pounds at last weigh in.
Seriously, what is going on in Northwest, Ohio?? Amos, Brunson… all of their backs are massive, and not necessarily in a good way. Is it intentional? Is the S&C staff just lazy and/or non-existent? I have questions.
Nelson doesn’t have this problem. Not yet, at least. We’ll see what he weighs in come spring ball. I’m not even sure these Miami coaches are going to know what to do with him when he arrives. He’s listed at 5’8, 195 pounds, which is a perfectly fine CFB build, especially in the MAC, but maybe not up to snuff for ol’ Martin and his crew. Fingers crossed he’s at least under 230 pounds come the fall.
Rodney Nelson (5’8, 195)
2025 STATS (FCS): 294-1805-18 + 30-229-1
Outside of Josh Dye, Nelson is probably my favourite FCS promotion at RB. He was very productive at Monmouth demonstrating the ability to run and catch passes, and finished with a strong efficiency on a huge workload.
He is a C/O 2023 prospect and it looks like he only appeared in two games as a freshman, so he is officially listed as a redshirt junior in 2026, meaning he has this year and the next for eligibility.
That’s partly why I think this move makes a lot of sense, and is a smart call from Nelson and his team if what I am thinking is truly the vision here. While everyone else is trying to transfer to the highest level they possibly can, Nelson is one of the rare movers to a destination where he will still be a big fish. Unlike those who have one year left, he can afford to do so.
I’m guessing his size is also holding him back from legitimate P4 interest at the moment. You know the rules, if he’s listed 5’8, he’s probably 5’7.5 at best.
And with that in mind, Nelson really is the antithesis of the typical Miami of Ohio back we’ve become accustomed to under Martin, with the only exception being Keyon Mozee, who’s actually listed at 5’7, 170 pounds.
(This video is bad, but was the best I could find for Nelson. It is his 2024 junior highlights distilled into one minute… I recommend watching the highlights in Bryan’s tweet to get a better read on the player.)
While Mozee did run for 1098 yards in 2024, I am hoping Nelson can be even more effective. Mozee only scored four TDs that season, which was sort of an anomaly, and he only caught one pass on the whole year.
So, his profile was sort of a uniquely bad one, in the sense that he was a small, explosive player who couldn’t catch passes and he didn’t score TDs.
Nelson is bigger (weight-wise, at least), and can catch passes. That alone makes him more intriguing than simply a Keyon Mozee 2.0. ◾
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He has since committed to Ole Miss on Jan. 18.
Sample of 2018-2024, excluding 2020.