Running Back

Alabama

5-9 215

Draft Board Overall Prospect Rank: #20

Draft Board Overall Running Back Rank: #1

Rating: 85 (mid 1st)

40 time: 4.53

4/16/11: His knee problems are worse than previously though and his knee is being described as arthritic. Running backs have a short “life expectancy” anyway and a potential chronic knee problem like this one could make his career even shorter. It’s a shame because he’s such a talented player, but I’m moving him down some. 

3/1/11: Left over from yesterday, I don’t know how I didn’t include him. Ingram’s 40 was decent, 4.58, but he did great in the drills and had the best first 10 yard split of any running back.

2/19/11: Mark Ingram’s career at Alabama started with him as Glen Coffee’s backup. You might remember Coffee as the running back who went in the 3^rd round to San Francisco, retired after 1 year to follow a “higher calling” and then was later arrested for possession of a concealed weapon. Anyway, Ingram rushed for 728 yards on 143 carries in 2008 as Coffee’s backup, and rushed for 12 touchdowns, 2 more than Coffee.

After Coffee went on to the NFL, Ingram jumped into the limelight, with 1992 total yards (1658 rushing, 334 receiving) and 20 total touchdowns (17 rushing, 3 receiving), winning the Heisman as a true sophomore and becoming the first Alabama player to ever win the Heisman, pretty impressive considering their storied history.

Ingram stumbled out of the gate in 2010, missing two games with an injury and ceding more carries to talented young backup Trent Richardson. Ingram rushed for 875 yards and 13 touchdowns on 158 carries in 2010, an impressive 5.5 average and of course those 13 touchdowns were impressive. He caught 53 passes in his final 2 years at Alabama, showing he can help in that facet of the game as well.

In fact, there isn’t really anything he doesn’t badly as a running back. He can run between the tackles, outside the tackles, catch passes, pound it into the end zone. He pass blocks extremely well for his age, which will help him earn early playing time. The one thing that costs rookie running backs playing time early is pass protection.

He’s really a jack of all trades, though a master of none. He doesn’t have breakaway speed, or elite size, but that’s just being nitpicky, because he can be a true 3 down back in the NFL, something that’s really rare in this day in age. 5-10 years ago, he would have been a top 5 or 10 pick. Now he slips because of the lack of need for elite 3 down running backs.

NFL Comparison: Terrell Davis