Pre-Combine RB Board

[DynoScout]

New to the forum, want to throw out my pre-combine RB board for productive discussion and feedback.
Thanks!

1. Todd Gurley
2. Melvin Gordon
3. Jay Ajayi
4. Duke Johnson
5. TJ Yeldon
6. Tevin Coleman
7. Ameer Abdullah
8. Mike Davis
9. Josh Robinson
10. David Cobb
11. Jeremy Langford
12. Javorius Allen
13. David Johnson
14. Terrell Watson
15. Malcolm Brown
16. Michael Dyer
17. Keith Marshall
18. Karlos Williams
19. Cameron Artis-Payne
20. Trey Williams

-DynoScout

[RightlegTucker]

Very similar to how I see it, which is encouraging (to me at least). You're the first person I've seen who has Yeldon as highly rated as I do, or at least close to it. I haven't had the opportunity to look at some of the "deeper" prospects but my top 10 for the position currently is as follows.

1) Todd Gurley
2) Melvin Gordon
3) Tj Yeldon
4) Duke Johnson
5) Mike Davis
6) Ameer Abdullah
7) Jay Ajayi
8) Tevin Coleman
9) Jeremy Langford
10) Josh Robinson

[jason401]

New to the forum, want to throw out my pre-combine RB board for productive discussion and feedback.
Thanks!

1. Todd Gurley
2. Melvin Gordon
3. Jay Ajayi
4. Duke Johnson
5. TJ Yeldon
6. Tevin Coleman
7. Ameer Abdullah
8. Mike Davis
9. Josh Robinson
10. David Cobb
11. Jeremy Langford
12. Javorius Allen
13. David Johnson
14. Terrell Watson
15. Malcolm Brown
16. Michael Dyer
17. Keith Marshall
18. Karlos Williams
19. Cameron Artis-Payne
20. Trey Williams

-DynoScout

Good list. I'm not a fan of Coleman so he's a bit too high for me, same with Yeldon. But I like the rest.

[DynoScout]

Very similar to how I see it, which is encouraging (to me at least). You're the first person I've seen who has Yeldon as highly rated as I do, or at least close to it. I haven't had the opportunity to look at some of the "deeper" prospects but my top 10 for the position currently is as follows.

1) Todd Gurley
2) Melvin Gordon
3) Tj Yeldon
4) Duke Johnson
5) Mike Davis
6) Ameer Abdullah
7) Jay Ajayi
8) Tevin Coleman
9) Jeremy Langford
10) Josh Robinson

That is encouraging to me as well, thanks. I'm kinda surprised to see someone else who likes Langford as much/more than I do. Thanks for sharing.

[DynoScout]

New to the forum, want to throw out my pre-combine RB board for productive discussion and feedback.
Thanks!

1. Todd Gurley
2. Melvin Gordon
3. Jay Ajayi
4. Duke Johnson
5. TJ Yeldon
6. Tevin Coleman
7. Ameer Abdullah
8. Mike Davis
9. Josh Robinson
10. David Cobb
11. Jeremy Langford
12. Javorius Allen
13. David Johnson
14. Terrell Watson
15. Malcolm Brown
16. Michael Dyer
17. Keith Marshall
18. Karlos Williams
19. Cameron Artis-Payne
20. Trey Williams

-DynoScout

Good list. I'm not a fan of Coleman so he's a bit too high for me, same with Yeldon. But I like the rest.

Thanks. I'm not a big fan of Coleman but I think his dynasty upside is fairly high. Bit too stiff in the hips for me.
Yeldon is basically the same reasoning, Rashard Mendenhall-like to me. Poor footwork at times has jumped out to me.

[HouseBellwood]

I have Buck Allen in the Abdullah/Coleman range, only thing I noticed as significantly different to my board! Worst case I would slot him no.8 above Davis!

[DynoScout]

Interesting, appreciate the note.

[jtcosgro]

I know it's a little off topic, but where would you rank Chubb and Elliot on this list?

[DynoScout]

I like questions like this but it's difficult to say.
If you mean theoretically if they were going pro this class, I'd probably have Elliott 3 and Chubb 5 (w/ Elliott 3).
If you mean I can draft them as devy prospects but have to wait a season or two to put them on my active roster, I would probably still have Elliott 3-6 range and Chubb would be right behind him.

[bpatrick]

New to the forum, want to throw out my pre-combine RB board for productive discussion and feedback.
Thanks!

1. Todd Gurley
2. Melvin Gordon
3. Jay Ajayi
4. Duke Johnson
5. TJ Yeldon
6. Tevin Coleman
7. Ameer Abdullah
8. Mike Davis
9. Josh Robinson
10. David Cobb
11. Jeremy Langford
12. Javorius Allen
13. David Johnson
14. Terrell Watson
15. Malcolm Brown
16. Michael Dyer
17. Keith Marshall
18. Karlos Williams
19. Cameron Artis-Payne
20. Trey Williams

-DynoScout

I belive Keith Marshall is staying at Georgia another year after taking a medical redshirt for this past season.

[DynoScout]

New to the forum, want to throw out my pre-combine RB board for productive discussion and feedback.
Thanks!

1. Todd Gurley
2. Melvin Gordon
3. Jay Ajayi
4. Duke Johnson
5. TJ Yeldon
6. Tevin Coleman
7. Ameer Abdullah
8. Mike Davis
9. Josh Robinson
10. David Cobb
11. Jeremy Langford
12. Javorius Allen
13. David Johnson
14. Terrell Watson
15. Malcolm Brown
16. Michael Dyer
17. Keith Marshall
18. Karlos Williams
19. Cameron Artis-Payne
20. Trey Williams

-DynoScout

I belive Keith Marshall is staying at Georgia another year after taking a medical redshirt for this past season.

Wow, I had not heard that. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

[Dookmarriot]

Great thread, glad to see it!

One thing I'd like to know (I'm Canadian and as a result I don't get the same volume of US college coverage here) is why you value a certain RB above another. For instance, both DynoScout and RightlegTucker rate Yeldon highly...why is that? What does he bring to the table that you think will translate well into the pros?

I'm high on Coleman for no other reason that he played behind a predictable offense on a bad team and still got his yards. There's real aggression and effort there. He didn't catch a lot of passes in my mind only because the QB play was so horrible that he wasn't asked to. I can see the argument that he doesn't run "loose" but to me the production in a bad circumstance makes him an attractive draft target.

[RightlegTucker]

I'm personally high on Yeldon because he has great balance, vision, patience, and power. One of the things I look for in College RB's is the ability to create their own yardage, or getting yards that aren't blocked in other words, and this is something I routinely saw in Yeldon's game with his short area quickness and his ability to break tackles. Ajai has also demonstrated this as well, and probably has the most impressive highlight reel out of the 2nd tier backs along with the highest ceiling. The reason I have him at 7 is that he bounces his runs to the outside too much for my liking and does not seem to possess the vision, patience, or nuisance that I have seen in guys like Yeldon or Abdullah.

I'm lower on Coleman than most because I feel for a bigger back he goes down to easily at time times, he doesn't seem to possess the leg drive that even smaller guys like Abdullah have. Furthermore, he doesn't seem to have the lateral quickness requisite of the position in the NFL. Even 'big backs' in the NFL have the ability to side step and move laterally with relative ease, you can seen this ability in guys like Eddie Lacy, Lev'eon Bell, and Jeremy Hill. Coleman seems too tight in the hips for me to ever develop this skill, and on top of that the bigger runs he has had seem to be blocked for him, or to revisit one of my original points I do not see the same ability to create his own yardage that I saw from Yeldon and Ajayi.

To give an example from last year, Andre Williams routinely faced stacked boxes while playing on a bad team but still ran for over 2,000 yards. Despite this gaudy production, I saw a lot of the same problems in his game that I see with Coleman, and although he performed admirably well in his rookie campaign his paltry YPC seems to reflect what I've seen on film. His vision is below average and he does not have the agility to make moves in the hole consistently. He rarely got more than what was blocked for him in college and this trend seemed to continue in the NFL. He is a long strider that goes down to easy upon first contact than he should as a power back because it takes him a couple steps form him to get up to speed. He is not exactly equivalent to Coleman, as no prospect ever is, but I see many similarities between the two.

Again, this is purely my evaluation, and I'm sure DynoScout can offer some further insight on the subject and a different perspective. But as to things I'm looking for specifically when evaluating college RBs: Vision, Short Area Quickness, Lateral Agility, Burst, Balance, and Leg drive. This is my baseline checklist more or less in descending order and all contribute to the ability to be able "to create yardage". I adjust it depending on what type of prospect I'm evaluating (e.g. I don't evaluate a smaller elusive back like Abdullah in the same manner that I evaluate a power back like Mike Davis) I'm relatively new to college scouting, but the first four attributes I have listed I have found to be absolutely imperative for guys at the next level. Even big backs need the ability to side step guys and move laterally in the NFL, or to be able to "negotiate their way through traffic".

[clarion contrarion]

gordon gurley


ajayi although the fumbling will be an issue & I have to do more work on his pass blocking but electric with the ball in his hands
coleman but he looks very ordinary about 75% of his carries and then BOOM !

duke johnson like what I see but injury risk

josh robinson - watch the kentucky tape and tell me whats not to like
yeldon - frosh tape looks best but miscast as a power runner in bama system



allen - work horse type guy never a star likely a solid 2nd or 3rb
abdullah - prolly too small to be more than a gimmick / 3rd down guy
david johnson - love to see steelers draft him as a compliment to bell his recc skills are terrific
langford really think he is underrated no flashy just effective
cant see myself drafting any guys from here on down - would trade out or pick wr/te but its a long ways to draft day
cobb - looks really ordinary
artis-payne- ben tate lite .... pass
davis - also has gotten worse every year - don't like spurrier rbs at all

[Dookmarriot]

I'm personally high on Yeldon because he has great balance, vision, patience, and power. One of the things I look for in College RB's is the ability to create their own yardage, or getting yards that aren't blocked in other words, and this is something I routinely saw in Yeldon's game with his short area quickness and his ability to break tackles. Ajai has also demonstrated this as well, and probably has the most impressive highlight reel out of the 2nd tier backs along with the highest ceiling. The reason I have him at 7 is that he bounces his runs to the outside too much for my liking and does not seem to possess the vision, patience, or nuisance that I have seen in guys like Yeldon or Abdullah.

I'm lower on Coleman than most because I feel for a bigger back he goes down to easily at time times, he doesn't seem to possess the leg drive that even smaller guys like Abdullah have. Furthermore, he doesn't seem to have the lateral quickness requisite of the position in the NFL. Even 'big backs' in the NFL have the ability to side step and move laterally with relative ease, you can seen this ability in guys like Eddie Lacy, Lev'eon Bell, and Jeremy Hill. Coleman seems too tight in the hips for me to ever develop this skill, and on top of that the bigger runs he has had seem to be blocked for him, or to revisit one of my original points I do not see the same ability to create his own yardage that I saw from Yeldon and Ajayi.

To give an example from last year, Andre Williams routinely faced stacked boxes while playing on a bad team but still ran for over 2,000 yards. Despite this gaudy production, I saw a lot of the same problems in his game that I see with Coleman, and although he performed admirably well in his rookie campaign his paltry YPC seems to reflect what I've seen on film. His vision is below average and he does not have the agility to make moves in the hole consistently. He rarely got more than what was blocked for him in college and this trend seemed to continue in the NFL. He is a long strider that goes down to easy upon first contact than he should as a power back because it takes him a couple steps form him to get up to speed. He is not exactly equivalent to Coleman, as no prospect ever is, but I see many similarities between the two.

Again, this is purely my evaluation, and I'm sure DynoScout can offer some further insight on the subject and a different perspective. But as to things I'm looking for specifically when evaluating college RBs: Vision, Short Area Quickness, Lateral Agility, Burst, Balance, and Leg drive. This is my baseline checklist more or less in descending order and all contribute to the ability to be able "to create yardage". I adjust it depending on what type of prospect I'm evaluating (e.g. I don't evaluate a smaller elusive back like Abdullah in the same manner that I evaluate a power back like Mike Davis) I'm relatively new to college scouting, but the first four attributes I have listed I have found to be absolutely imperative for guys at the next level. Even big backs need the ability to side step guys and move laterally in the NFL, or to be able to "negotiate their way through traffic".

Dude, this is a fantastic post - really appreciate the insight. You've given me a lot to think about!