Last year, we started the Nuclear Option to identify some less obvious players who have the potential to go absolutely ballistic. These players have a wide range of outcomes that could amount to nothing but could also vastly outperform where they go in drafts. Here are some 2025 options that could go NUCLEAR if a couple of things align for them.
The transfer from Texas A&M certainly hasn’t won this job, and no announcement will likely be made until late in the fall. Because of that, the opportunity to get Henderson on the cheap will likely continue. While Henderson isn’t the uber athlete RichRod had with Kahlil Tate (153-1411-12) or Denard Robinson (256-1702-14), he is athletic enough and a better rushing option than Nicco Marchiol.
Owners that wisely invested in Tyler Huff late in drafts were paid off handsomely last year. Henderson was hand-picked by this staff, but that doesn’t guarantee he will win the job. He didn’t take a single snap in 2024. Marchiol has been in this program for multiple years and could have a leadership role. Don’t be afraid to handcuff them together.
Henry was all but gone until the NCAA allowed another season of eligibility for JUCO players. He finished 2024 on an absolute heater with 40 touches for 405 yards and 4 TDs over his last two games. Kevorian Barnes and Rocco Griffin move on, leaving only Brandon High as the real competition for carries. The Road Runners have a chance to be one of the most dynamic offenses in the G5, and this former National JUCO Player of the Year could be a force on the ground and through the air for the Meep Meeps.
Make no mistake, Isaac Brown was incredible as a true FR with over 1K yards to the tune of 4.08 YCO/A and a 60.3% breakaway rate. However, fellow true FR, Duke Watson, was not to be outdone. While he only had 69 carries to Brown’s 163, Watson still somehow managed to top Brown with 4.83 YCO/A and a breakaway rate of 63.3%. Watson (30) also had almost as many missed tackles forced as Brown on a fraction of the carries. Should something happen to Brown, God forbid, we could see Watson go Nuclear in his absence.
It feels like Vandeross III is flying a little under the radar for having finished 13th in the country with 117 targets. He finished the season with an incredible 28 targets and 278 yards of the Rocket’s final two contests. The chances that Vandeross is just starting to get the microwave treatment may have increased with the 113 vacated targets from Jerjuan Newton and an additional 49 from Anthony Torres. It remains to be seen if JV3 can truly go Nuclear at 5-8 and primarily occupying the slot, but his connection with Tucker Gleason appears to be bubbling below the surface.
Green plays a sneaky good spot – the slot in a Fisch/Carroll offense. He followed the staff from Arizona, where he garnered a fair amount of buzz, but failed to record a catch in 2024. This one is definitely a long shot, but the slot under this staff has averaged 115 targets with a receiving stat line of 86/932/9 over the last three seasons. No, that isn’t nuclear, but Giles Jackson went bonkers when Demond Williams became the starter. He was on the receiving end of all five passing TDs from Williams in the last two games. Maybe Green starts and occupies the spot Williams prefers.
