Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the NFL
Speaker 1: Draft Triple Take, presented by u p MC Mike Pursuit
Speaker 1: of Dale, Lolly and Matt Williamson with you yet again
Speaker 1: to continue going over the NFL Draft position by position.
Speaker 1: We've done that already, so we're going over the NFL
Speaker 1: Draft position by position again after further review a double
Speaker 1: take on the Triple Take. Today's installment running backs. And
Speaker 1: if you've been following along at home, you know this
Speaker 1: by now, but in case you're just finding us, uh,
Speaker 1: you might want to know that for the second look
Speaker 1: at things positioned by position, we're not giving you our
Speaker 1: top five candidates. We're going riser, faller, and sleeper and
Speaker 1: uh some some interesting stuff at the running back position.
Speaker 1: Is really with all the positions, this to me is
Speaker 1: a fascinating draft. Maybe doesn't have those uh headliners of
Speaker 1: those players a couple three that everybody's over the moon about,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of talent to be had
Speaker 1: starting at the end of a role. We'll see who
Speaker 1: can get the best fits moving forward. Matt, I gotta
Speaker 1: start with you again on running backs. I was I
Speaker 1: was giving you in Dale a lot of guff in
Speaker 1: one of our recent installments because you guys kept picking
Speaker 1: the same guys and yes, slotting them in the same places,
Speaker 1: but we were We had significant agreement in our third
Speaker 1: mock draft, and our rising running back is the same guy. Okay,
Speaker 1: and you'll like this too. I at the end of
Speaker 1: my write up for Damian Peters, my riser out of Florida,
Speaker 1: I gave an honorable mention to Michigan State's Kenneth Walker.
Speaker 1: I'll pull back the curtain. I mean everyone I like
Speaker 1: honorable mention, recognition for the best, for the best running
Speaker 1: back in the draft. Well, I mean the exact quote
Speaker 1: was an honorable mention. Here goes to Michigan States Kenneth Walker,
Speaker 1: who looks more and more like a Nick Chubb Javante
Speaker 1: Williams clone. That was much nicer things than I said
Speaker 1: about him the first time around. And I'll pull back
Speaker 1: the curtain. I mean, everyone knows the Steelers took a
Speaker 1: running back in the first round this pass draft, so
Speaker 1: running backs whenever we went through him the first time,
Speaker 1: we're probably my last priority. I was thinking into other
Speaker 1: positions first, and I am more respect now for Walker
Speaker 1: now than then when I did my original top five
Speaker 1: I had Pierced who's my riser as my fifth back
Speaker 1: from what I remember, and I like him even more now,
Speaker 1: you know, I think what he does as a tackle breaker,
Speaker 1: the physicality watching him in protection that plays at the
Speaker 1: next level. He's a real handful. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what that Florida was thinking, but he didn't didn't have
Speaker 1: hardly any wear and tear off his body. I think
Speaker 1: his best days are to come. Yeah. Three hundred and
Speaker 1: nine carries in four seasons. Yeah, which it was just
Speaker 1: really surprised to me. Maybe they've been at Smith on
Speaker 1: the bench. I don't know, but you know, he had
Speaker 1: sixteen touchdowns on a hundred nineteen touches last season, teen rushing,
Speaker 1: three receiving. He got a penalty for a personal foul.
Speaker 1: He continued to play without a helmet. It was what
Speaker 1: turned what turned out to be a touchdown run against
Speaker 1: Florida State. He got his helmet ripped off on a
Speaker 1: cutback and then he put his shoulder down at the
Speaker 1: goal line without a helmet and went through two defenders.
Speaker 1: This guy is pretty tough. Reportedly he owns three pit bulls.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing that makes him pretty tough. He runs like
Speaker 1: he's pretty upset that he never got the ball enough
Speaker 1: at Florida and he's trying to take it out on somebody.
Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, there's this I found in
Speaker 1: a story. He was asked why he played in Florida's
Speaker 1: bowl game against UCF even though he had already been
Speaker 1: invited to the Senior Bowl. And you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of guys opted out of the bowl games, not Damian
Speaker 1: Pierce quote because I'm a Gator bro. I mean, I
Speaker 1: had a hard time initially when guys started bailing out
Speaker 1: of bowl games. It bothered me a lot. And now
Speaker 1: I get it. It's a business. They gotta do what's
Speaker 1: best for them. But a guy who's you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a Gator bro, I feel that I appreciate that. I
Speaker 1: know where he's coming from on that it's just another
Speaker 1: feather in his cap. So he's my riser, UH and Dale,
Speaker 1: Thankfully you've got somebody else to talk about. I do.
Speaker 1: And then it's it's another guy who's very familiar to UH,
Speaker 1: a name to a lot of people. But I didn't
Speaker 1: have him in my top five Initially. I bet he's
Speaker 1: a mere white from Georgia, and um, I I didn't
Speaker 1: think he was as fast as he is watching Georgia play,
Speaker 1: you know, he just kind of glides a little bit.
Speaker 1: And then he went out to the combine and ran
Speaker 1: a four four forty like he's got home run speed.
Speaker 1: And then you look at the tape. I went back
Speaker 1: and looked at it again. I'm like, Okay, now I
Speaker 1: I see a little bit more of that. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he was a captain for Georgia on that team with
Speaker 1: with twenty five other pros. Uh you know he was
Speaker 1: he was a captain. Yeah, you know, he just you know,
Speaker 1: he he just if you look at what the Georgia
Speaker 1: backs have done. You mentioned Nick Chubb, There's there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of that there. He's got good size at
Speaker 1: six fourteen. I think there's a lot of eat on
Speaker 1: the bone yet for this guy. And I think that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he's gonna be somebody that could be a
Speaker 1: nice mid round hit. Speaking of forty times, Dale, you
Speaker 1: and I in agreement on the faller, and that's uh.
Speaker 1: Kiren Williams and Notre Dame one of my favorite guys
Speaker 1: to watch, you know, watching them play the games and
Speaker 1: and and looking at the highlights. But uh, boy, the
Speaker 1: combined was not kind, not at all. Did a little
Speaker 1: better on notre names prota. But uh, he's a sub
Speaker 1: two hundred pound guy, five nine a buck ninety four,
Speaker 1: and we had, at least I had emphasized the first
Speaker 1: time we looked at running backs and it's becoming a
Speaker 1: big back league that you know. The trend is for
Speaker 1: these pounding, bruising guys that can also run. And I just, uh,
Speaker 1: if you're Kyren Williams, you better be super fast. And
Speaker 1: apparently he's not. Yeah, he's not that. Yeah you mentioned
Speaker 1: the combine. Um, he was initially listed at like one
Speaker 1: nine or something like that. We came into combine a
Speaker 1: pounds and still ran a four six five Like you
Speaker 1: dropped that way on a fast track where everybody else
Speaker 1: is running four four's and he ran at four six five.
Speaker 1: That that did not bode well for him. Uh, he
Speaker 1: should have been under four or five if you know,
Speaker 1: to be what you know, he looks like, he looks
Speaker 1: like he plays it under four or five. He does.
Speaker 1: But that hundred nine pounds was troubling for me as well.
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's a little light, um even at
Speaker 1: five nine um, you know, so I had him initially
Speaker 1: he is my number four running back. I don't think
Speaker 1: he goes that high. Yeah, I had him in the
Speaker 1: top five as well, and maybe in another year if
Speaker 1: everybody wasn't running at record speed and over and overlook
Speaker 1: it a little more. But yeah, it's it's a track
Speaker 1: meet now, and uh, he's not keeping up, Matt. Thankfully
Speaker 1: you have somebody different. Yeah, what last note on Williams?
Speaker 1: What they say he is the ultimate leader and tough
Speaker 1: guy and all that stuff, but hey, you're small, right.
Speaker 1: My father was Isaiah Spiller, and uh, Texas A and
Speaker 1: mvs not. It's not The draft process has not gone
Speaker 1: great for the A and M guys the season. And
Speaker 1: when I watched him the first time, I knew he
Speaker 1: was a big name prospect. And he didn't blow my
Speaker 1: doors off in the first viewing. And he's cut a
Speaker 1: little higher than I like, and I don't see real
Speaker 1: dynamic skills. And then he didn't test great and I
Speaker 1: kind of went and watched a little bit more tape
Speaker 1: and thought, yeah, that's just kind of who he is,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, he ran behind a really good
Speaker 1: old line two years ago, and I think he's fine.
Speaker 1: He's just not I think his name recognition is a
Speaker 1: little bit higher than what he really is. Let's stay
Speaker 1: with you. You can lead us off on the sleeper conversation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if you go to South Dakota State,
Speaker 1: that counts as a sleeper. Um Pierre strong four three
Speaker 1: seven in the forty and he was over two hundred pounds.
Speaker 1: He's not just a little dude. He is a compact,
Speaker 1: smooth guy, has a lot of upside in the receiving game.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have a roll right away. And
Speaker 1: that's not something you say about South Dakota State dudes
Speaker 1: too often. Dale, Uh, You've got but the form sleeper. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got the Zonovan bam Night. Um at a North
Speaker 1: Carolina State five eleven two oh nine ran in the
Speaker 1: mid four fives. Was it was an immediate impact guy.
Speaker 1: He was one of the top running back recruits in
Speaker 1: the country when he came out. He picked NC State
Speaker 1: and he had over seven hundred rushing yards in each
Speaker 1: of his three seasons there. Caught the ball well. He
Speaker 1: in forty eight catches over the last two seasons, and
Speaker 1: Uh also averaged over thirty yards per kick return and
Speaker 1: had three kick returns for touchdowns. The last two seasons.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot there to like for a guy
Speaker 1: who's probably gonna be a late round roundsh guy. Maybe
Speaker 1: get him in the fifth, sixth, even seventh round that
Speaker 1: he can come in and do a lot of different
Speaker 1: things for you. I went with a different guy as well,
Speaker 1: so we're three for three in terms of identifying different
Speaker 1: a lot of backs out there that and you know,
Speaker 1: this is the guy I really wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: when I was researching the position the first time. I
Speaker 1: couldn't get him anywhere near my top five, but fascinating story.
Speaker 1: Abraham Smith of Baylor. Uh. In case people don't know
Speaker 1: who this guy is, He's a guy who in the
Speaker 1: season was playing linebacker for Baylor, and in one season
Speaker 1: he led the Big Twelve in rushing with one thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred one yards. He started out as a running back,
Speaker 1: barely saw the field and got the ball. In two years,
Speaker 1: went to linebacker forty something, tackles in his sack, goes
Speaker 1: back to running back and dominates. I think it's a
Speaker 1: great story. Six ft two and thir pounds. I've mentioned
Speaker 1: to you guys a couple of times the kind of
Speaker 1: man crush I had on the Baylor program this year
Speaker 1: just watching them play. They play a brand of football
Speaker 1: that agrees with me. I think it's they're becoming pretty
Speaker 1: consistent in terms of what they produced. And here's last,
Speaker 1: but not least, this is maybe the whole reason I
Speaker 1: went here. Subconsciously, think of the advantage if you have
Speaker 1: Abrams Smith as you're running back in case there are
Speaker 1: fumbles or interceptions, he'll be a short tackler on their
Speaker 1: because so you know, we'll prevent those defensive scores, you know,
Speaker 1: a bit important. Yeah, you don't have to project him
Speaker 1: as a special teams guy running down and covering kicks,
Speaker 1: those kind of things which you'd like at your backup
Speaker 1: running backs. Yeah, and uh, I think you'll be able
Speaker 1: to deliver. That's gonna do it for our second look
Speaker 1: at running backs. I want to remind everybody that you
Speaker 1: can catch these shows on all of the Steelers social
Speaker 1: media platforms. Thanks for finding us for this one, however,
Speaker 1: and wherever you found us, we will be cranking it
Speaker 1: up again sooner rather than later. So until then, for
Speaker 1: Matt Williamson and Dale Lali, I'm Mike Pursuita. You've been
Speaker 1: listening to the NFL Draft Triple Take, presented by u
Speaker 1: P m C