College Football Fantasy Five: 2021 RB Sleepers

Even though there's no FBS college football currently being played, it doesn't mean that we can't start preparing for the 2021 fantasy college football season. It was a slower week on the wire, so I'm going to reveal my top five sleepers at the running back position for 2021.

5.) Terion Stewart, Bowling Green

While Stewart had only 37 rushing attempts in 2020, he was quite dynamic with those opportunities at 8.0 yards per carry which was tied for fourth in the nation for running backs who had at least 6.25 attempts per team's games played. He also had four touchdowns in just three games during this shortened true freshman season. I'm well aware it's a small sample size, but Stewart could be another great running back in the MAC and no one is talking about him quite yet.

4.) CJ Verdell, Oregon

Verdell should be a household name with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2018 and 2019; however, a hand injury held him to just 285 yards in 2020 and that's what fantasy owners are going to look at when assessing him for upcoming drafts. He likely could have jumped to the NFL, yet chose to come back for a big senior season. This upcoming year is a chance to get him on a discount and bolster your fantasy lineup with tough-nosed runs like the run below:

3.) Kobe Lewis, Central Michigan

In just six games last season, Central Michigan ranked 16th in the country with 218.2 rushing yards per game. The MAC is known for their running backs and Lewis played that part in 2020 with three games in excess of 25 fantasy points. He's also shown his value in the passing game with 40 catches on 52 targets over the past two years. 

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2.) Jalen Mitchell, Louisville

Mitchell finished the 2020 season on a hot streak while averaging 6.96 yards per carry over the Cardinals' final four games of the year. He had a standout performance against Wake Forest in Week 15 with 168 yards on 20 carries. With Louisville taking on a crowded quarterback room and losing some serious wide receiver talent to the NFL for the upcoming season, I think it could result in the team utilizing their young back much more often. 

1.) Brittain Brown, UCLA

When Brown announced that he would be returning to UCLA for his final year of eligibility back in January, I had already bookmarked his name on my sleeper list. He was absolutely fantastic with 29 carries for 219 yards against Stanford in last year's season finale and UCLA ranked 12th in the nation with 230.6 rushing yards per game. Demetric Felton has moved on to the NFL and I wouldn't expect Zach Charbonnet to challenge Brown for the bulk of the workload right away.