NFL Expert Claims This Was the Greatest RB He Ever Scouted

College football has produced a litany of great NFL running backs over the past two decades. Of all shape and sizes too. The biggest stars were often different.

That’s what makes the game of football so much fun to watch. Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles are nothing alike in terms of skill set or running style. Yet both found tremendous success anyway because of their work ethic and circumstances. That’s how things can work with that position. There’s more than one way to be productive in the pros.

At the same time certain running backs were even bigger stars in college, if that’s possible. People know who the biggest NFL names are, but they might not have been as big as others at the collegiate level. Bucky Brooks of NFL.com explains this perfectly. When ranking the greatest running backs he ever scouted coming out of college, the name he chose for number one was a surprise. Unless of course people watched him play.

"“Before you @ me on Twitter for placing Reggie Bush at the top of the list, you should check out the highlights from his spectacular 2005 campaign that allowed him to hoist the Heisman Trophy at the end of the season…Bush led the nation in all-purpose yardage per game in 2005 (222.3 yards) and twice finished the Pac-10 Conference leader in that category during his final his two seasons at USC, exhibiting a combination of speed, quickness and start-stop ability that is hard to find in a playmaker at any position. Bush’s remarkable skills reminded me of a young Marshall Faulk and I expected him to make a major impact as a pro after totaling 6,541 all-purpose yards (3,169 rushing yards, 1,301 receiving yards, 1,522 kick-return yards and 559 punt-return yards with 42 total touchdowns) in 39 career games.”"

NFL legacy didn’t live up to the hype

Bush was just magic with the ball in his hands. Unfortunately a lot of running backs like him struggle to find success in the NFL. Why? Mostly because the defenses are much faster and more sophisticated than they are in college. Bush still made some spectacular plays, even rushing for over 1,000 yards twice in his career but he never quite lived up to the billing.

At the same time it’s hard to argue with the entire collage of his football career. He won two national championships, a Heisman trophy and made some critical plays to help the New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl in 2009. Not even some of the all-time greats can say they did that much.