Shock Linwood, RB, Baylor: 2016 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Few players in all of the Big 12 will be relied upon as heavily as Shock Linwood. He’s in line for a big year, but will it keep him in the draft’s top-160?

The 2017 NFL Draft will be stacked with pro-ready players and no positional group will feature more talented prospects than running back.

Amongst some of the well-known names like Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey sits Baylor’s own Shock Linwood.

Heading into what will be his senior season, Linwood appears primed for another stat-stuffing, productive campaign. He’ll be leaned on quite a bit, especially with wideout Corey Coleman now in the NFL, not to mention the loss of offensive guru Art Briles, who was fired back in May.

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Will a strong final year as a Bear be enough for Linwood to cement himself as a top-160 prospect in the draft? Let’s take a look.

Vitals

Ht: 5-9

Wt: 200 pounds

Class: Senior

Hometown: Linden, TX

Prospect Video

Strengths

Linwood’s greatest strength is his lateral agility and vision. He gobbles up huge chunks of yardage – had the fourth-most yards per attempt in the FBS (6.78) – on a game-to-game basis partly because of his ability to move fluidly from side-to-side. Despite being a smaller back, the slippery Linwood breaks a ton of tackles and is a chore to bring down in the open field.

Regardless if he’s running inside or outside, the standout Bear explodes to the hole and can accelerate to full speed as quickly as any back in the country. Linwood might not be an every-down player in the NFL, but his agility, quickness, and acceleration are going to get him more than a few looks.

Weaknesses

Baylor’s offense runs a fair amount of read-option, something that’ll put a dent in Linwood’s draft stock. He doesn’t excel at running inside and his abilities are best utilized when out in the open field.

Surprisingly enough, Linwood has barely been used in the passing game throughout his entire collegiate career, recording just 21 receptions over the past three seasons. This is an area of Linwood’s game that isn’t necessarily a weakness, but you’d definitely like to see him get more looks out of the backfield.

Verdict

The Baylor star has all the makings of a quality scat back in the pros.

Linwood possesses explosive traits that’ll translate well over into the NFL and he should be able to find a home within the top-160 selections following a solid senior season, one in which he’ll foreseeably shatter Baylor’s all-time rushing yardage and rushing touchdown records, respectively.

Expect Linwood to be snatched up somewhere between the fourth and sixth rounds of the draft.

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