Running Back

Virginia Tech

5-9 211

Draft board overall prospect rank: #33

Draft board overall running back rank: #3

Overall rating: 81 (early 2^nd)

40 time: 4.45

3/23/11: Coming into 2010, Ryan Williams was being mentioned as a potential Heisman candidate and someone who could potentially unseat Mark Ingram from his throne atop the running back draft board for 2011. Williams was coming an amazing year, by any standards, especially as a redshirt freshman in the ACC. He rushed for 1655 yards and 21 touchdowns on 293 carries and caught 16 passes for another 180 yards and another touchdown.

He was the whole package at running back. He had good size and speed. His pass catching and pass blocking, for his age, was very, very good. He had a good running style, but then he got hurt in 2010 and kind of faded away. He only managed 447 yards on just 110 carries, with 10 catches for 109 yards, and 10 total touchdowns, thanks to a lingering hamstring problem.

Many draft experts expected him, as a redshirt sophomore with 2 years of eligibility left to return for 2011. Williams was a projected 2^nd or 3^rd round pick and those type of players don’t often come out as mere redshirt sophomores. However, he came out anyway. He proved his health at The Combine, running decent with a 4.55, and excelling in all the drills. He really proved himself to be the whole package at running back once again. He improved on his 40 at his Pro Day, with a 4.45, which is very good for his size.

He’s still looking at the 2^nd round, but he’ll probably go in the top half of the 2^nd round, somewhere in the first 50 picks of the draft. For his age, he’s a very refined and complete player. He doesn’t have a lot of tread on his tires with only 403 carries, which is very good for him. If he can stay healthy, his career could last about a year or so longer than most running backs, because he didn’t take that big of a beating in college.

However, the injury concern is still there. Injury prone running backs are a huge turn off to NFL scouts. There’s also the issue that he flat out didn’t run well even before he got hurt this year. A lot of that can be attributed to his line play, but 40 yards on 20 carries against Boise isn’t good. Neither is 91 yards on 20 carries against lowly James Madison. He came on later in the season with a “vintage Ryan Williams performance” 142 yards on a mere 14 carries against Miami, but he wasn’t really right for most of the year.

NFL Comparison: Joseph Addai