The Group of Five names that dominate offseason draft chatter earned their hype the loud way, through transfers, viral tape, and preseason lists. The two players PFSN’s Football Debate Club just flagged did it the quiet way: they stayed put and produced.
On the latest episode, host Cam Mellor asked analysts Oliver Hodgkinson and Ian Cummings to name the best Group of Five player nobody is talking about yet. The answers came from opposite sides of the ball, and both carried the same warning for scouts ignoring the non-Power Four ranks.
Lucky Sutton Is San Diego State’s Next Great Running Back
Hodgkinson called it the hardest question of the episode before landing on his guy.
“I absolutely love Lucky [Sutton] out of San Diego State,” Hodgkinson said. “He’s the highest-graded returning non-Power Four running back in [PFSN’s] college football running back impact metric. Over 1,200 yards last season, 10 touchdowns in his first full season of action at San Diego State, 254 carries with zero fumbles.”
By Hodgkinson’s count, that ball security puts Sutton in a group of just five returning backs without a fumble, company that includes BYU’s LJ Martin, a name drawing far more national attention. And it came across a full workhorse load: 1,297 yards and 10 scores on 254 carries, numbers that won him first-team All-Mountain West honors, the conference rushing title, and a Doak Walker Award semifinalist nod, San Diego State’s first since Rashaad Penny in 2017.
“Rock-solid protector, going to have a ton of production in [Sean] Lewis’s offense,” Hodgkinson said.
The lineage matters too. Mellor noted San Diego State has churned out backs since Marshall Faulk, and Sutton, a San Diego native who entered 2025 with 200 career rushing yards, turned down the portal to finish at home as the Aztecs move into the rebuilt Pac-12.
Elijah Green Gives Tulsa a Legitimate NFL Cornerback Prospect
Cummings, PFSN’s NFL Draft analyst, went hunting for traits and found them in the American Conference.
“I’m going to go with Tulsa [cornerback] Elijah Green,” Cummings said. “He had an 84.2 PFSN [cornerback] impact grade in 2025, which is second place among returning Group of Five [cornerbacks]. He allowed a 67 [passer rating] and had a conference-leading five interceptions in 2025 as well. He’s 6’2″, 195. He’s explosive. He’s twitched up. He’s got length. He’s got ball skills.”
Green’s five interceptions led the American Conference and at one point led the nation, earning the sophomore first-team all-conference honors and a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist spot in just his first full season as a starter. A former Oklahoma state champion in the 400 meters, he started all 12 games and added a team-high seven pass breakups.
“I think he’s a guy that has NFL traits, but the elite ball production at the collegiate level is something that you can’t ignore,” Cummings said, adding that Green could have transferred to a power conference program but stayed at Tulsa for the familiarity.
Mellor sided with Hodgkinson and Sutton, while admitting a conflict of interest as the father of a daughter named Sutton. The tiebreaker held up anyway: a 1,200-yard back with a clean fumble ledger entering a new conference spotlight is the safer bet to force his way into the 2027 draft conversation.
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Both picks share the same DNA, though. In a sport where every breakout triggers a transfer auction, Sutton and Green bet on continuity. The scouts who find them first will be the ones still watching the leagues everyone else left.