3^rd quarter

11:10: Gray cuts for a few.

10:55: Awesome straight line speed on an outside run by Gray, finds a hole for a huge gain and shows great acceleration and speed for 31 yards.

5:42: Gray takes a shovel pass for 14 yards in space.

3:47: Osemele on Porter again, struggling again.

3:43: Osemele with a huge pancake of a guy about to give chase on his quarterback trying to flee the pocket.

3:16: Osemele wins the matchup with Porter this time.

3:00: Osemele helps blow open a nice seam on a short quarterback run.

2:05: Gray with a nice spin move followed by great downfield explosion to turn a broken play into 12 yards.

1:49: Gray showing excellent patience and vision to wait for and find a hole. 8 yard again.

1:12: Gray with a pickup of few yards to convert 3^rd and 2, he’s so good at changing directions.

4^th quarter

14:20: Gray up the middle for a few yards.

13:25: Gray can’t turn nothing into something on 3^rd and 1. Too many defenders in the backfield.

12:58: Gray stuffed by multiple guys on 4^th and 1.

8:05: Gray catches one out of the backfield for a few.

6:28: Osemele can’t block Porter again.

5:53: This time Osemele blocks Porter.

5:09: False start by Osemele.

4:18: Osemele in on a double team on Porter, but doesn’t see the cornerback blitz, which he should have picked up as he was on a double. Sack.

3:45: Gray for a few on an outside run against a stacked box. Good job staying in bounds with the lead late.

3:01: Gray makes a nice cut, breaks a tackle, and again doesn’t go down on first contact.

2:25: Gray picks up 5 up the middle on first down. This time his cut can’t break it.

1:40: Gray stuffed by a couple guys for a short gain.

1:01: Gray stuffed for no gain against a stacked line.

0:00: Cyrus Gray the highest rated backup running back in college football for good reason. He’s a backup to a great running back in his own right, Christine Michael. He has a history of success as a starter, 200 carries for 1133 yards and 12 touchdowns, 34 catches for 251 yards and a touchdown. He’s still having a great season as a backup, 134 carries for 646 yards and 7 touchdowns, 16 catches for 147 yards after this game. Also, with all of the running back committees in the NFL, it’s good to see a college running back who has success in a college running back committee and is okay with being in one as long as his team is winning. He and Christine Michael are reportedly very good friends.

Gray showed off his abilities in this game. He’s not the biggest guy at 5-10 205, but he’s got good speed and he’s very tough to bring down. He has great patience and vision and cuts well. He can catch out of the backfield as well. He’s a typical shifty back and would fit well in a zone blocking scheme at the next level. I don’t know if he’ll be anything special at the next level, but he’s someone who can split carries with another back and give you good production. He had a good game today with 125 yards on 21 carries and 3 catches for 35 yards, though he was hardly playing a great defense. He looks like a 3^rd rounder.

As for Osemele, he really struggled with Sean Porter’s quickness. Osemele is a former guard playing tackle at 6-5 345 and he looks like he belongs back at guard in a power blocking scheme. He’s not athletic enough to play tackle at the next level. He doesn’t get low enough and he has trouble with quicker guys. However, if a guy can’t beat him off the snap, Osemele does very well. He’s also an excellent run blocker, which I why I feel he’d fit as a guard much better.

He was considered a potential first round prospect as a guard coming into the season, but his stock is slipping now that he’s struggle as a tackle. I still feel he has late 1^st-early 2^nd round abilities as a guard and could be a steal if he slips into the 3^rd round or so after a poor year at left tackle. He reminds me a lot of someone like Mike Iupati.