Early NFL Draft Scouting: Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliott

Don’t be surprised if after three years of having no running backs selected in the first round we have back to back years with Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon going in the first round in 2015, and Ezekiel Elliott of Ohio State leading the charge in 2016.

Elliott, the sophomore catalyst of a National Champion and possibly dynasty Ohio State Buckeyes team, is one of the best backs I’ve scouted as a young player along with the likes of Gordon and Gurley.

When I watched Gurley in 2014, I just remember thinking that there was simply no one who could tackle this guy very easily. He looked like a man among boys, and that’s exactly what Ezekiel Elliott looked like last season, just in his own unique way.

With a few ‘underwhelming’ games to start the season, Elliott established himself as the lead back for this Ohio State team in their fourth game of the year against Cincinnati, one that I studied prior to writing this piece.

But if you truly want a glimpse of greatness, you need to watch Elliott’s 2015 CFB Playoff run, in which he was absolutely dominant. He ran for 220, 230, and 246 yards in the Big Ten Championship, CFB Playoff first round, and the National Championship game, and added eight rushing touchdowns and multiple runs of 80 yards or more.

In a word, Elliott was dominant.

Just watch him absolutely wreck the Oregon Ducks. This is almost hard to watch. If you’re an Oregon fan, avert your eyes.

Observations

• My word, where do you start? First of all, Elliott is incredibly powerful. At 225 pounds, he is a bear to try and tackle, especially when he gets a full head of steam going North and South. He doesn’t often get taken down with a simple arm tackle. You have to wrap this guy up, and sometimes, even that’s not enough.
• Elliott, even as a young back, does such a good job of finding cutback lanes and showing phenomenal vision. He’s got to make quick decisions in that read-option offense that Urban Meyer employs, and he makes decisive cuts, finds the lanes, and knows how to move the chains.
• For his size, Elliott has great speed, and that is what makes him a first round back in my opinion. We see big guys like Carlos Hyde rack up huge chunks of yards all the time, but how often can they break away 80 yard runs against NFL athletes on teams like Wisconsin and Alabama?
• Elliott has phenomenal balance. You’ll see him get hit up high, and he will simply bounce off the tackle, re-direct, and explode back upfield.
• Ball security. Elliott wraps the ball up and holds on tight. With the volume of carries he was receiving late in the season, it’s a testament to his strength.
• Between the tackles and in the open field, Elliott has great quickness and change of direction ability. He plants his feet, hops side to side with ease, and has excellent explosiveness in the short area.
• You don’t see it throughout the whole year, but Elliott has really good hands out of the backfield You can see that on display in that Cincinnati tape above. He even makes a sick one-handed catch.

Overall

This guy is just a natural runner with size, speed, power, vision, quickness — you name it. He’s got it. He’s such dominant player that it’s going to be interesting to see how defenses key in on the Ohio State offense this year. As we saw in the CFB Playoff and college postseason in general last year, it didn’t really matter how you defended Ohio State, they were going to put up a lot of points.

I’m not ready to put him on the level of Todd Gurley quite yet, but I think Elliott is a sure-fire first round pick if he comes out after this year. He is an absolute star.

Next: Big Ten West Division Preview