We are back, fam. We are soooo back! Welcome to the first edition of Pulse of the CFF Nation for 2025. For those new to our community, welcome! My apologies, but you are about to dive into the warped mind of Nate Marchese (@CFFNate). We will discuss five random things each week that mostly pertain to college fantasy football. Let’s hope some of them are relevant, actionable, and accurate. But this is your warning that many of them throughout the season won’t be any of those adjectives.
Bold Prediction- Bad Brad Jackson Is Your CFF QB1
While in Eureka Springs, AR, over Memorial Day, I had the privilege of witnessing the most awesome two-man variety cover band named The Bad Jacksons (pictured) in a basement hotel bar off Spring Street. The guy on the left played piano while the guy on the right got three sheets to the wind as the lead vocals. Because of their name and their dual-threat ability, I couldn’t stop thinking about Bad Brad Jackson as they screamed at the drunk chicks in the bachelorette party next to me. Maybe it was the PBR talking, but I came to the conclusion that Brad Jackson will finish as the QB1.
Currently, Brad Jackson has not even been announced as the starting quarterback for Texas State. Don’t worry. He will be. And he will absolutely crush in this Vertical Option offense (it’s just a rebranding of the Briles Veer-n-Shoot). The Bobcats have a relatively easy schedule aside from Arizona State in Week 3. If he makes it unscathed through that obstacle, the sky (QB1) is the limit for this dual-threat redshirt freshman.
Week Zero Cheat Code?
Not really, but I do think this tip is helpful for your future redraft leagues. Use one of your last draft picks or preseason waiver moves on a Week 0 player. If he pops, great! You might have something there as a late-round flyer. If he doesn’t, kick him to the curb and take a shot on someone else before Week 1. Use week zero as a dress rehearsal for the rest of the season, where uncertainty lies in offenses with strong potential- secondary WR options at Hawaii and WKU, RBs at Sam Houston, or guys with potential. Still, we aren’t sure how much they will be featured, like Xavier Townsend, Josiah Freeman, and Emmanuel Henderson Jr. In case you are wondering…Yes, I recently played Contra on Nintendo. And yes, I used the Konami cheat code.
The Roommate Effect
Many of us subscribe to the “Roommate Effect” when it comes to CFF. That is when there is a synergistic or slingshot impact on CFF production when a WR rooms with a QB. Now, I don’t know for a fact that Rocco Becht and Xavier Townsend are actually roommates, but there is clearly a strong bond between them.
They are both from the same area of Tampa, faced each other in 7-on-7 and high school, and both committed to playing football in Ames, Iowa, together due to their friendship. Townsend flipped and decided to stay home, but Rocco brought him back to Iowa State, and the bond is apparently unbroken as they have spent the entire offseason working out and addressing route timing together. The staff refers to Townsend as Noel 2.0, but Becht might refer to him as roomie.
I Can’t Quit Taylen Green
I want to quit him, but I just can’t. Many of us (and by “many,” I mostly mean Andrew Katz and me) had this same issue with Spencer Sanders. Here is why I am back in on Green (besides the ridiculous athleticism): QBs in their second season under Bobby Petrino often see a HUGE jump. Stefan Lefors saw a pretty solid improvement, but more importantly, Ryan Mallett went ham after redshirting, and Lamar Jackson single-handedly won people league titles in his sophomore season. Coach Neck Brace doesn’t stick around the same spot long, but when he does, his QBs be wild ya’ll.
QB Announcements
Steve Angeli, Syracuse – If Kyle McCord could throw 592 passes with the Orange, LEADING most of its games in a ten-win season against one of the weakest schedules in the country, how many times could Angeli sling it while TRAILING most of his games against a Top 5 schedule? I’m not sure, but it could be absurd.
Chase Jenkins, Rice – Scott Abell comes over from Davidson and brings with him a spread option offensive system with a heavy emphasis on the QB run game. Some around the program compare the scheme to a mix of Nebraska’s option under Tom Osborne and Oregon’s run tempo under Chip Kelly. So basically, Jenkins is what you would get if Tommy Frazier and Marcus Mariota had a baby.
