Spotlight #1: Pittsburgh G Lucas Nix (switched to Pittsburgh RB Ray Graham after Nix got hurt)
Spotlight #2: Pittsburgh DE Brandon Lindsey
1st quarter
14:23: Nix gets knocked down. He’s hurt. Until he comes back, I’ll spotlight junior running back Ray Graham.
14:06: Graham breaks one tackle on a cut. 5 yard gain.
13:22: Graham with a powerful run on an end around out of the wildcat. He takes advantage of a huge hole and gets north/south right at the right time.
12:25: Lindsey throws off an easy block and goes for a weak tackle on the running back, which gets broken.
11:25: Lindsey gets into the backfield unblocked, but takes a very poor angle to the running back. He doesn’t make the tackle and the back gets a first down.
10:41: Lindsey pushed off a gap on a running play.
8:35: Graham is almost able to break a solid run on first, but he’s stopped with a shoestring tackle. He went down very easily, but he looks very explosive.
7:26: Graham stuffed.
5:45: Graham, one cut and go with an excellent run. He cut a 2nd time in the 2nd level and ran into the referee. If he doesn’t run into him, he could have gone even further on the run. It’s a 16 yard run.
5:14: Just a little background on Graham. He’s a junior in his first year as a starter, so it’s unlikely he’d declare this year. However, he looks to be the next in line of undersized Pittsburgh running backs. First it was LeSean McCoy. Then Dion Lewis. Now Ray Graham. Graham is 5-9 195 with a low 4.5 40. Coming into this game, he has 100 carries for 508 yards and 6 touchdowns in 4 games, with a team leading 21 receptions for 129 yards. He’s faster in game speed than his 40 time would suggest, as I’ve seen so far.
5:01: Lindsey is too overly aggressive on a running play. He went straight for the quarterback and took himself out of the play. Poor instincts.
4:23: Lindsey shows his spin move, but gets nowhere with it.
3:05: Graham dances at the line and is able to break it for another first down. The shifty back now has 55 yards on 6 carries.
0:05: Lindsey again getting blocked well. He didn’t have a good first quarter. Let’s see if he can redeem himself.
0:00: Lindsey gets free of one block, but then gets doubled.
2nd quarter
15:00: Lindsey breaks free and gets a tackle for loss on the quarterback, but it’s called back because of a delay of game penalty on the offense.
10:04: Lindsey immobilized and outmuscled on this last play. He’s getting outplayed.
6:37: Graham finally gets another carry. He’s averaged 25 carries per game this season. Tonight he’s at 7. Perhaps they’re trying to rest him. Let’s see what happens.
5:58: Graham with another run, not a big gain, but I love how quick he cuts. He’s very quick and shifty and tough to find.
5:25: Graham with hands like Spiderman. Pittsburgh’sew’H quarterback throws an accurate pass on a running back curl, but Graham is able to bring it in with 1 hand.
4:05: Graham with a straight run through a hole. Nothing all that impressive here. He just took what was there.
3:33: Graham getting more work here. Another medium sized run.
2:49: Graham catches the ball in the flat, one cut to break a tackle and then another strong spin. He turns nothing into something and almost gets the first on 3rd and 7.
2:25: Graham with a short run.
2:03: Graham catches another pass, breaks a tackle with an explosive cut and then breaks off a big run thanks to a nice block.
1:44: Graham just stays patient and follows his blocker into the end zone for the 13 yard touchdown, dragging some guys with him for the last few yards. Excellent lead block by the full back.
1:29: Lindsey with a quarterback pressure.
0:10: Graham takes the hand off, his blocking fails him, but instead of going down in the backfield, he keeps dancing, cut back the other way and goes for a first down on an outside run on the other side of the field. He’s having a huge game with 102 yards and a score on 13 carries with 3 catches for 28 yards. He’s extremely shifty and quick and runs with great pad level. He’s faster than his projected 40 time would suggest and he runs with good power for his size. He is being helped by Pittsburgh’s offensive front dominating a tired South Florida front because of their hurry up offense, but Graham is also runs well himself. It’s not just his line. He’s breaking plenty of tackles.
3rd quarter
13:40: Lucas Nix will not return to this game. We’ll know more about how this effects his draft stock when we know the severity of the injury.
13:05: Graham with another carry. A good thing to see here, Graham breaks a tackle with pure power. He is able to shake off an uncalled face mask and stay on his feet.
12:28: Graham again, 7 yard carry on a north/south run. He’s not a bad north/south runner for his size.
9:04: Lindsay, for one of the first times tonight, is able to get pressure on the quarterback. The quarterback released the ball in time, but it went incomplete.
6:19: Graham catches the ball in space and hops a low tackler to get a first down.
5:52: Graham runs right, nothing there, reverses field, gets some blocks and uses his speed to get a 30 yard gain. He turned nothing into something and he’s been doing that all night. Great instincts and vision. 18 carries for 150 yards and a score with 4 catches for 42 yards.
4:24: Lindsay stays at home on a running play, run inside away from him and he’s able to get over there to assist on the tackle after a pretty sizable run by the running back.
3:16: Lindsay one of three guys on a pressure there, just pushes off the offensive tackle. Poor blocking on the hole by the South Florida offensive line there.
2:04: Graham goes down on first contact at the line.
4th quarter
14:55: Graham targeted, but inaccurate and incomplete when the quarterback was under pressure.
14:17: Graham on a 3rd and long draw and he’s able to get some of the yards back.
13:24: Lindsay blows over the snap, not fooled by a snap handoff and gets to the quarterback on a blitz play.
13:00: Lindsay on another quarterback pressure that forces South Florida’s quarterback to almost throw a pick.
12:37: Graham showing great patience on a run, makes a few cuts and goes for 20 yards.
12:07: Graham finds a big hole and takes advantage of it with an explosive run. 31 yards. Making it look easy.
11:30: I don’t know how he does it, but Graham comes out of a pile of guys at the line within the 10 and is able to score. 23 carries, 220 yards, 2 touchdowns, 4 catches 42 yards. Beast.
10:35: How about the opposing team’s running back? Darrell Scott breaks off two nice runs in a row. The big 235 pounder has 4.4-4.5 speed and the former popular recruit is finally getting a chance to play after transferring to South Florida. He has 75 yards on 12 carries tonight and 348 yards and 5 scores on 53 carries coming into today. He’s in a two headed running back situation, but could be someone to look out for come the 2013 NFL Draft. He did just fumble on this play, so that’s obviously a problem.
10:46: Graham with a rare carry for loss. He didn’t go down on first contact, but he didn’t have anywhere to go.
9:53: Graham given the ball again. He doesn’t get very far again. South Florida is stacking the box because they know Pittsburgh will be running up 41-17 in the 4th.
8:13: Graham with another short carry against a stacked box.
0:00: I wasn’t even going to spotlight Graham coming into this game. I knew about him and how he had been playing pretty well to start the season, but he was a junior in his first year as a starter and at 195 pounds he wouldn’t be a very high pick so I highly doubted he’d declare early. When Lucas Nix unfortunately went down on the first play of the game, I was able to spotlight Graham as a backup plan.
Now not only do I know how good he is, I think there’s a very good chance he declares this year. Running backs have very short careers so they tend to strike while the iron is hot and the iron is definitely hot for Graham. He’s at 734 yards and 8 touchdowns on 126 carries with 25 catches for 171 yards in just 5 games. He’s had 5 good games and has never gone for less than 89 yards in a game. There’s a chance he could come out of this weekend as the country’s leading rusher after coming in to tonight 7th.
He rushed for 922 yards and 8 scores on 148 carries and 24 catches for 213 yards and 2 scores last year as a backup, stealing plenty of carries away from Dion Lewis, the Big East offensive player of the year and a 5th round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in April. Graham could definitely be a day 2 pick at the end of everything.
He doesn’t have great size (5-9 195) or speed (approximately 4.50), but he’s extremely shifty and has great vision and patience and instincts. He also runs faster than his 40 time and breaks more tackles and runs north/south better than his size would suggest. He’s an excellent pass catcher and could, at the very least, be a 3rd down back. He wasn’t asked to pass block a lot, but he can pass catch and route run like a receiver. I was very impressed with him. It’s disappointing that Nix got hurt and I hope he can come back soon and not have this effect his draft status as a borderline day 2/day 3 offensive line prospect, but I’m glad I got to see Graham tonight.
As for the defensive side of the ball, Brandon Lindsey’s stat sheet will say he had a sack, giving him 4 in 5 games. He also had 10 last year, but he didn’t play that well. He flashed at times and had a few nice quarterback pressures, but I’d say he lost his matchup tonight. He didn’t play well against the run and he didn’t generate consistent pressure to make up for it. He came into today widely considered a 2nd round. I’d say he’s more like a 3rd and 4th rounder. He can pass rush pretty well, but he’s undersized and I don’t know if he can be an every down player in a 4-3. I didn’t see him drop into coverage much if at all, so I don’t know about how he projects into a 3-4 either.
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