2025 NFL Draft Sleepers, Studs: Lesser-Known Programs

John breaks down some of the best small-school players who are considered sleepers ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. These players could become hidden gems.

Unless you're a certain running back who nearly broke the NCAA record for rushing yards in a season and finished second place in Heisman Trophy voting this past season, going to a small school probably has you at least slightly underrated by NFL teams and by the fantasy community.

It's not always true, but it is harder to evaluate players who didn't play against great competition. It's easier to beat defenders who play in less competitive conferences. Whether their talents will translate well to the NFL is a bigger question mark.

It's not like they can't succeed. Sometimes great players simply never make it to a big school. College football teams don't always recruit every good player who will make it to the NFL. But as fantasy football managers, our job is to guess who will be good anyway, so we might as well try. Also, please note that small schools will include teams that get less attention than the big boys, not just those outside the Power 5 conferences.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
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Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

Not a sleeper! But hey, he went to a small school, so that's cool. So, he should at least be mentioned here. He should be a workhorse from Day 1 and is an elite prospect. He's appropriately highly ranked in fantasy drafts. He's a fine pick, though there's always the risk with rookies that they might take time to develop, which is normal.

And the NFL regularly misevaluates players as well. Just look at Marvin Harrison Jr. last season. RBs are a little bit easier to scout, though. I'm pretty neutral about him at his ADP. It seems fair. The landing spot will be a big deal. If he goes to a good offense or lands with a great offensive coordinator/head coach, wheels up.

Brashard Smith, RB, SMU

Smith is a great hybrid running back who has a ton of burst, acceleration, and top speed, and can line up and run routes as a traditional wide receiver. He's one of the best RBs in this year's draft class for fantasy football due to his raw athleticism, short-area quickness, and versatility.

Brashard Smith is a natural accelerator + dynamic weapon between the tackles as a runner. pic.twitter.com/QD6OeJQRbc

— Snoog's Fantasy HQ (@FFSnoog) February 13, 2025

He stands at 5-foot-10 and 196 pounds, so he's still built like a receiver, but he plays with the vision, anticipation, and quick feet to succeed as a workhorse back if he ever gets that role. And Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane did so last season despite weighing in at under 190 pounds, so many size concerns are overblown.

Indeed, Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving is around the same size as Smith, and he also was given a huge workload in the second half of the season. The landing spot will thus be very important for Smith. If he goes somewhere where there's little competition, he could see quite a few touches early on.

The more likely scenario, though, is he goes to a team with another back who it considers to be its goal-line option, and Smith starts with a mediocre amount of touches. He's worth drafting in all of your leagues, though, because his upside is tremendous.

Running back Brashard Smith (former WR) casually motioning out of the backfield to run a double move and put a defender on a poster.

Chess piece ♟️ #NFLDraft2025 pic.twitter.com/KG27l9sJrB

— Unnecessary Bluntness Owner/Coach/QB (@DuncOnDemand) February 25, 2025

He's the closest any player comes to Achane in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Virginia Tech

I suppose I'll have to keep pounding the table for another great prospect you should be picking up in all leagues. And this one in particular will probably rise significantly after the combine. Tuten should run in the high 4.3s, as he has blazing speed. Please don't shred me for this -- I will have finished writing this piece before the combine even started.

Tuten's speed is obvious on tape, and any running back with his blend of size (5-foot-11, 209 pounds), workhorse capabilities (564 carries combined in his last three seasons), and explosiveness should find their way onto your fantasy rosters in redraft leagues if they're available in the middle rounds.

Dynasty Rookie Spotlight ⬇️

Bhayshul Tuten (RB) Virginia Tech

I didn't know a lot about him, but I kept hearing the name Bhayshul Tuten, so I figured it was time for a deep film dive. Boy am I sure glad I did.

Tuten is an explosive running back that can hit his top speed in a… pic.twitter.com/HNkm2gvDpW

— Cornerstone Fantasy (@90stoneFantasy) February 20, 2025

The tape shows an elite prospect who's getting massively underrated. I've said this about a million times now, and I'll have to keep repeating it. If he had simply gone to Ohio State or another big school, he'd probably be the second-ranked RB in this year's class.

Virginia Tech RB Bhayshul Tuten has easy speed: rare acceleration ability and a top gear that even NFL DBs will have difficulty matching.

Zone-centric teams looking for a change of pace back that can change the game with one touch should be all over him on day three. pic.twitter.com/Gzb8ckoGgT

— Derrick (@Steelers_DB) February 18, 2025

Instead, because the logo on his helmet says "VT," you can get him at a deep discount. If he lands on a good team, he could immediately put up week-winning scores, but even if he doesn't, he'll probably start getting impressive volume and producing well by the midway point of the season. He's a good pass-protector, though many want to criticize him for that as if it's even remotely true that he's not.

And he has everything else you want in an RB. He's very elusive (one of the most elusive RBs in the country, in fact), can take tacklers head-on and bounce off them, has the strength to power through half-tackles and remains upright, is a good goal-line option, and is a capable pass-catcher. Do not let him slip through your fingers in redraft leagues and reach a round or two for him.

RJ Harvey, RB, UCF

I'll keep powering through these because you guys will keep reading. The holy trifecta of running backs you will seriously regret leaving your drafts without are Smith, Tuten, and UFC RB RJ Harvey. All three have excellent skill sets. Where Harvey stands out is from a pure prolificity standpoint -- he averaged over 6.0 yards per carry in three straight seasons -- and scored 11 billion touchdowns in his last two years.

Well, 38 rushing and five receiving scores, to be exact. But you don't get there by mistake. Defenses he's faced have had no answer for his combination of burst, short-area quickness, agility, lateral movement skills, vision, and receiving ability. The last one will probably be very important -- he's great at running routes out of the backfield. He also stonewalls defenders in pass protection.

UCF RB RJ Harvey may be as quick as RB in the class, but what makes him special to me is his physicality. The dude knows how to finish a run 🚜

Has some shades of Bucky Irving from his time at Oregon. pic.twitter.com/4FuRhPHflw

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 13, 2025

He's also very difficult to bring down. He doesn't have quite the top speed of the other two backs I mentioned, but I disagree with Yates' assessment that Harvey "may be as quick as RB in the class," whatever that means. He's pretty fast, it's just that for some reason, people sometimes can't seem to see the speed on tape.

I just love watching RJ Harvey pic.twitter.com/EqA95PIhLQ

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) February 22, 2025

Your trifecta of league-winners is above, if they don't land in terrible situations, don't miss a bunch of time or have bad injuries, and get enough volume to produce well. Smith, Tuten, Harvey. Draft all three of them in 100 percent of your redraft leagues and do whatever you can to get a few of them in dynasty. They'll easily outplay their ADPs, and that's a guarantee.

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