A second entry in the supplemental drafts series focuses on running backs and some potential late-rounders to rebuild championship teams. The first focused on quarterbacks, and while the below details top running backs to draft, there will be more additions to this series as we enter the draft season for 2025. Let’s dig in.
Chip Trayanum, Toledo
What is dead may never die. Thank you, Chip Greyjoy Tryanum, for gifting us a landing spot that oozes fantasy production. Trayanum has had a circuitous route to Toledo, but the payoff promises to be sweet. A one-time Ohio State, Arizona State, and Kentucky RB/LB, Trayanum has flashed potential everywhere but has yet to secure a backfield for a full season. However, with Toledo losing Jacquez Stewart, Chip is positioned as the lead back entering 2025.
Trayanum’s 2024 was marred by a preseason injury he never quite recovered from, but the potential has always flashed. Efficient in a limited sample, he’s averaged 5.1 yards per carry in his career and has caught the ball when relied upon. His primary competition at Toledo is Connor Walendzak, a 5’11”, 208 lb. back who was inefficient as a rusher (3.6 YPC) but led the team in 2024 with 458 yards. Trayanum brings a big body (235 lbs.), similar to Peny Boone, a profile that Jason Candle has consistently produced for the Rockets. Although limited in usage thus far, Trayanum can catch out of the backfield when called upon.
Before the 2024 season, Candle’s lead rusher ran for 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns in two of the last three years. When there’s “a guy,” that player will tote the rock. Offensively, the team took a step back last year as the offensive line lost all five starters. However, this unit returns three likely starters, including All-MAC RG Ethan Spoth. In addition to better line play and the running back room thinning out, Trayanum is in the perfect spot to see the majority of touches and be productive in 2025.
Target: Rounds 6 – 8
Bryson Donelson, Fresno State
One of the most productive systems in the country, Fresno State, looks for a new rusher to lead the room with the departure of Malik Sherrod to Boise State. Enter Bryson Donelson. A true freshman in 2024, Donelson was excellent when called upon, averaging 6.1 YPC and 21 receptions in limited time. He already possesses the requisite size (5’10”, 205 lbs.) to slide into a feature-back role for the Bulldogs.
Let’s start with the competition. Running back Elijah Gilliam returns, and they add Rayshon “Speedy” Luke to the Transfer Portal. Gilliam had played the feature back role before in the offense when Sherrod was down but could not maintain efficiency (3.9 and 4.2 YPC in back-to-back seasons). Donelson also outsnapped Gilliam down the stretch. In fact, after their bye in Week 12, Donelson led snaps 126 to Gilliam’s 34. It was Donelson’s job, and he was relied on in both phases of the game.
Rayshon Luke, while unique in his speed, has yet to carve out any meaningful role at the collegiate level through three years. He opted to redshirt in 2024 and has not had more than 95 snaps in a season at Arizona. Luke has also battled multiple injuries, potentially reducing what was once his elite attribute. His size, 5’9″, 175 lbs., already limits his role as a feature back, and if he does get touches, expect them to be highly-schemed in space. He is a valuable bit player but not a serious threat to Donelson.
Donelson is in a unique situation, where the backfield is considered murky but likely clearer than most assume at this point in the off-season. Fresno State has consistently produced top-five RB production going back to Ronnie Rivers. However, head coach Matt Entz brings a more rush-heavy system to the Bulldogs that features more QB-rush concepts under offensive coordinator Josh Davis. The offense added EJ Warner late in the cycle, providing a clearer path to touches / red zone work for Donelson. Tentatively, expect more of the same in 2025, with Donelson leading the way. He is a must-target in college fantasy supplemental drafts.
Target: Rounds 3 – 5
London Montgomery, ECU
This series will feature quite a bit from the Pirates as they move into 2025 with an exciting offense built around Kaitin Houser. Montgomery operated as the RB2 behind Rahjai Harris in 2024 and consistently rotated ahead of fellow backup Marlon Gunn (fool me once, shame on you…fool me, you can’t get fooled again.) Starter Rahjai Harris departs, vacating 206 carries and 221 total touches. He was highly productive in his role, accumulating 1,166 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Despite the turnover on offense in skill positions, offensive coordinator John David Baker remains at the helm for the Pirates, keeping the system in place. Hoist the Colors, 247Sports’ ECU board has already tabbed Montgomery as a 2025 breakout.
Montgomery, a one-time Penn State recruit, transferred to Greenville last off-season and came on down the stretch, seeing 75 snaps in the season’s final three weeks. Marlon Gunn, his primary competition, saw 46. Montgomery is undersized at only 187 lbs., but undersized backs continually thrive at the Group of Five level, with fewer freaky athletes. The concern for Montgomery is if his shortcomings in pass protection keep him off the field on passing downs. However, he did have double-digit pass snaps in the final three games behind Harris.
Rahjai Harris was excellent at an individual level in 2024, rushing for 0.11 yards over expectation per attempt. While Montgomery lagged significantly, performing as poorly as Gunn did in 2024 is almost impossible. I fell for the high-end recruit with size (Gunn) in the past, but I will not make the same mistake three years in a row. Another note about the rushing yards over expected (RYOE): a player like Montgomery is unfairly punished in blowouts where the xRY/ATT skews higher for the backup. The critical difference is the disparity between Montgomery and Gunn in similar deployments.
A selling point for Montgomery in supplemental drafts is primarily the discount relative to value. Rahjai Harris’s role for the Pirates is incredibly valuable, especially in conference play and with the offense firing under Houser. Montgomery is poised to step into a similar touch share yet will likely be drafted in double-digit rounds as uncertainty around the position looms. He will be a valuable asset, especially as ECU’s running back room has gone unaddressed.
Target: Rounds 10 – 12
Al-Jay Henderson, Buffalo
Pete Lembo’s first season at Buffalo could not have gone better. Going 9-4, including a bowl win over Liberty, Lembo’s team consistently played above their talent level and often found themselves in positive gamescripts. Enter Al-Jay Henderson, the primary beneficiary of an offense outperforming expectations. Henderson, like other supplemental draft targets, saw an early-season struggle to produce give way to massive touch shares down the stretch.
In the first five weeks, Henderson had 39 rush attempts and seven targets, averaging 9.2 touches per game. Henderson averaged 20.2 rush attempts and 2.4 targets per game in the final eight games. His usage down the stretch, combined with the efficiency (0.59 RYOE/Att), gives Henderson a leg up entering 2025. His early season struggles make Henderson a unique value in supplemental drafts; often, drafters hyperfocus on early outcomes, and if the back half of the year holds, he profiles as a bell cow in the Mid-American Conference.
The one concern that may push Henderson down is the uncertainty around the quarterback. Leading passer CJ Ogbonna entered the portal with his newfound eligibility, leaving Jack Shields as the presumptive QB1 entering 2025. Fortunately, all news from fall camp indicated a legitimate battle between the two, and if Sheilds does take over, the dropoff may be minimized.
Target: Rounds 9 – 11
Rickey Hunt, Tulsa
Never wrong, just early. Last year, Rickey Hunt was one of the top selections in supplemental drafts. However, the promise of a starting role slipped away quickly as Northwestern transfer Anthony Tyus took the lead back job. Now, Hunt brings his talents to Tulsa, an offense starved for playmakers with a new head coach, Tre Lamb from East Tennessee State.
Hunt’s 2024 preseason stock was buoyed by a massive Myrtle Beach Bowl game against still-indulging Georgia Southern, where he ran for four touchdowns. However, on a yards-per-touch basis, Hunt kept pace with Tyus, averaging the same expected yards per rush attempt vs expected. Opportunity did not match efficiency, but that’s 2025’s job now. Tulsa has yet to bring in a running back outside of Hunt, although East Tennessee’s leading rusher, Bryson Irby, is in the portal. Tulsa’s Lloyd Avant is also in the portal and unlikely to return in 2025.
Tre Lamb, formerly of ETSU and Gardner Webb, had his rush offense humming in 2024, running for 194 yards per game on the ground. Lamb’s wide zone scheme benefits a speedy RB like Hunt. His history regarding lead-backs is a mixed bag. In 2024 and 2023, his top two rushers were close in carries. However, the lead rusher had more than doubled that of the second back in the two years prior (this was All-FCS level RB Narii Gaither). This profile generally lends itself to backfields where one hasn’t emerged as a go-to guy. Expect Hunt’s outlook for the 2025 season to align with 21/22, given the roster, making him a premier target in the late rounds of supplemental drafts.
Target: Rounds 10 – 12
