David Hunter
The NFL Draft is almost a week away and with that comes the hype of players and the drama of who falls to which team. The most consistently hyped position tends to be the running backs, of which several players have developed into stars including Doug Martin, Arian Foster, and Trent Richardson.
I’ve been looking at prospects since the 2006 NFL Draft and have posted various thoughts over the years at The Real TSM Forum. What I have learned is that one can be hit and miss as an evaluator but certain running backs tend to jump out regardless of how they test in shorts. Players like Arian Foster coming out of Tennessee, Steve Slaton coming out of West Virginia, and DeMarco Murray coming out of Oklahoma are a few prospects who caught my eye despite not being as highly lauded as some of their peers.
The following traits are what I look for from a running back in terms of consistency.
#1: Speed. I do not necessarily look for track speed but does the player in question have enough speed on the field to score a 30+ yard touchdown at the NFL level. Arian Foster flashed this ability as did DeMarco Murray.
#2: Power & Toughness. It does not help a running back if he has elite speed but cannot consistently break arm tackles or power through defenders in one on one situations. This is one of the traits that made me think Chris Johnson had the chance to be special immediately compared to a speedster like C.J. Spiller who took time to understand what was necessary for the NFL level. Johnson was known for his speed but impressed me with how often he would take a hand-off right up the middle or break through arm tackles and get 7 or 8 yards as opposed to trying to bounce outside unsuccessfully for a shorter gain.
#3: Diagnose & Hit the Hole. A lot of the prospects I like tend to hit the hole immediately without dancing or delaying too much. Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice, LeSean McCoy, among many great NFL RBs know that you have a finite amount of time before the hole you see gets closed and hitting it immediately could be the difference between a gain of 1 yard or a gain of 6 yards.
With those ideas and traits in mind, let us take a look at a few running backs in the 2013 NFL Draft that I think may prove to be much better talents than fans and media pundits think.
Stepfan Taylor out of Stanford. He is built very well at 5’9 214 pounds and flashed similarities to Arian Foster despite a slow time of 4.63 in the 40 yard dash.
A single run against USC evidenced his ability to out run the defense, break a tackle, and quickly shift to an open hole and hit it.
As soon as Taylor gets the hand off, USC had 8 men in the box with 3 interior defenders getting good penetration.
As Taylor continues, he instantly recognizes the immediate hole is completely plugged and starts to bounce outside away from where the mass of USC defenders are. This tells me he is aware that if he can take it to the right side, he has a chance at a positive run if nothing else. The farthest defender hits the outside shoulder of his teammate being blocked, allowing for Taylor to start to see the opening hole being created.
Taylor does an exceptional job of immediately squaring his shoulders north, hitting the open hole, and letting his offensive lineman take out the defenders to Taylor’s right. In a matter of seconds as a result of Taylor’s recognition and ability, he has turned a possible negative play into a positive into a potentially big play. Also as a result of his decision, he now can dictate whether to go right or left downfield, forcing any deep defender to have to try and play both directions.
He does a great job of shifting his weight and using the strength of his legs to break the arm tackle attempt by the defender in a one on one position. That would have been a solid 8 yard run but his ability to show power allows him a chance at a touchdown now. As he continues, the second defender is going east/west which will allow Taylor the opportunity to cut back across his face mask and force the defender out of the picture.
Now it is off to the races for almost 30 yards and a big play touchdown that was nearly a no gain or minimal gain play from the initial handoff.
Another example can be seen against Oregon. Upon getting the handoff, Taylor has penetration to his left from the edge and a defender penetrating on the interior initially unblocked. The hole is starting to open on the left side.
Stepfan’s burst up the field to the line of scrimmage negates the outside pressure off the edge. The interior linemen are able to drive the defenders, including the initial penetrator inside, hard to the right side leaving Taylor with a one on one match up in which he must break the attempted tackle given that it is right at the line of scrimmage.
He steams through the arm tackle, leaving said defender laying on the ground. Taylor stumbles but has enough forward lean and awareness to maintain his balance using his arm as #44 of Oregon looks to come in with a kill shot. Yet again, Taylor turns what could have been a no gain into at least a 5 or 6 yard run here. Also note that he is deep enough to have a chance at a big run if he can avoid being tackled with at least 6 defenders behind him in pursuit.
He gets great blocks from his offensive lineman on #44 and a teammate down the field on #20. Take note that Taylor is already upright and nearly has his shoulders squared despite stumbling in a crowded area. Depending on the block ahead, he also has a chance to go either left or right.
With 20 yards to go he is again off to the races thanks to his ability to power through arm tackles in one on one situations that turn bad plays into long touchdowns. He again flashes enough speed to outrace 3 defenders the final distance and also beats out the angles of his pursuers.
Mike Gillislee out of Florida looks slighter than his 5’11 208 frame suggests but he too flashes traits that I have noticed in great running backs.
His toughness is one of my favorite aspects of his ability, ignoring the fact that he has enough speed to be a burner at the NFL level. Gillislee rarely goes down easily, fighting for every yard, and willing to lower the shoulder regardless of the situation. His toughness and will near the goal line is a sight to behold.
With that said, let us take a look at a fairly simple run against Missouri. Initially at the hand off, the entire right side of the line of scrimmage is blocked and filled with bodies but Gillislee displays great patience to let a hole develop and then explode through it.
Gillislee uses a great hop step to his right towards the open hole and bursts through it, breaking through the ankle tackle attempt at his feet that would have netted a negative yardage play. Down field, a defender is bearing full steam to where Gillislee should be.
Using his burst, speed, and awareness of angles, Gillislee is able to beat the charging defender by a few steps and also setting up the down field defender at the first down marker to a possible cut back situation for a bigger run.
Gillislee, due to the pursuit of the initial defender I pointed out, steams forward and lowers himself against the two closing defenders a yard after the first down marker. His speed and power has managed to turn a potential negative loss run into a first down.
The best part occurs here as Gillislee’s refusal to go down easily forces 3 Missouri defenders to drag him down to the ground at the 39 yard line, letting Gillislee gain an additional 4 yards from where he initially made contact with the 2 defenders who tried to sandwich him. The ability to initially break the ankle tackle, the speed to beat out the LB in pursuit down the line, and his ferocious running style allowed Gillislee to turn a negligible gain into a big first down run of 15 yards.
Both Stepfan Taylor and Mike Gillislee have flashed traits that the best running backs in the NFL possess. Taylor and Gillislee, despite not running very fast 40’s, possess enough field speed and more importantly power to be backs who have the ability to play all three downs at the NFL level.
Credit to Sam Greenwood/Getty Images North America for Main Article Image
Credit to ESPN for the initial broadcast and Footballman175 for the Youtube video
