The days of the option are over. Do you see any NFL teams running it? No.
I dunno if you can discount the option just because no one in the pros uses it. No one in the pro's used the option offense when NU was steamrolling teams in the 70's,80's and 90's. I think the main difference is that the mentality of the high school player has changed. Many kids are thinking about what will help them make it to the next level beyond college ball and learning the option offense doesn't do it for them. The option could be successful again, because football is cyclical. Just look at what is going on in the NFL this season. The 3-4 defense was big in the 70's and 80's, then everyone switched to the 4-3, now the Pats had a lot of success using the 3-4 and now everyone is switching to that. That's just an example. I just don't necessarily believe that the option is dead.
This is kind of funny. The year before Holtz came to Arkansas - mid 70s, perhaps '75 or '76 - he was the coach of the New York Jets. He had Namath as the starting quarterback, and some young, mobile second stringer - can't remember his name, but I think he was also from Alabama. Name might have been Hamilton.
Anyway...Holtz struck on this brillian plan. Have Namath move the team down the field with a balanced attack. When they hit the Red Zone, bring in the mobile quarterback and let him run the Veer - Holtz' favorite offense. The thinking was that since no pro team ran the Veer, defenses would be so befuddled that they would miss assignments and the Jets would score more easily.
Well, that lasted through the preseason, and perhaps a game or two into the regular season. Seems everytime the second teamer took the snap and started sliding down the line, some linebacker's eyes would light up like a kid on Christmas morning. The second teamer lived - the Veer in the pros did not. Holtz said he discovered three things (I'll have to parapharase a bit - I remember the general thrust of the quotes and some of the precise language, but no all of it):
1. "God intended Lou Holtz to coach college football - not the pros".
2. "NFL defenses are bigger, faster and stronger than any college defense - seems obvious in hindsight, but..."
3. "Pro defenses adjust quickly".
Now, I'm not posting this as "proof" that an option attack will or will not work in the pros. I just found it funny when Holtz tried it - and nearly had his quarterback decapitated.