The Rookie Scouting Portfolio (RSP)

Category: Running Back

  • Temple RB Bernard Pierce: All About The Angles

    Temple RB Bernard Pierce: All About The Angles

    Author’s Note: If you haven’t entered the RSP Guess the 40 Contest for a chance to win a free past issue of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, details here. Alshon Jeffrey still hasn’t run, so there’s time. Wednesday night, I Tweeted that there’s little better than watching a good angle blocking scheme in action. It’s like…

  • David Wilson’s Vision: Part IV – Exploring the Gray Area

    If you’ve missed David Wilson Week at the RSP blog you can catch up by reading parts I, II, and III. If you want to start here that’s fine, too. No one is going to write you a ticket for improper blog reading. Ever watch a ball carrier in a football game finish a good…

  • RB David Wilson’s Vision: Part III – Flashes of Refined Play

    This has been David Wilson Week at the RSP blog. In case you missed it, here’s the analysis I have done – and what is still slated – for the Va. Tech runner: Raw Skill in Action – Part I of series Low lights – Part II Flashes of Refined Play – Part III (today’s…

  • RB David Wilson’s Vision: Part II – The Low Lights

    As I explained yesterday, Vision is often poorly defined as an abstract, catchall intangible that is vital to the success of a ball carrier. Vision should be something we actively try to define and despite its intuitive characteristics I believe there are major components of the skill set that running backs learn as late as…

  • RB David Wilson’s Vision: Part I Raw Skill in Action

    To come to be you must have a vision of Being, a Dream, a Purpose, a Principle. You will become what your vision is.   – Peter Nivio Zarlenga Vision is a magical term. Even in the world of business, visionary leaders are seen as semi-fictional characters. For all of his petulance, coldness, and cruelty…

  • RSP Cutting Room Floor: College RB and WR Notes

    RSP Cutting Room Floor: College RB and WR Notes

    If you haven’t noticed, the RSP blog is often my catchall area to write about anything I can relate to football. Nonetheless, rookie evaluation is still far and away the headliner. With the regular NFL season in the books I’ve ramped up my film study of college players. Here’s a few odds and ends about…

  • Boycotting the Corner Store: A Lesson for RBs

    Boycotting the Corner Store: A Lesson for RBs

    Isaiah Pead is an NFL running back prospect for the 2012 NFL Draft. The 5’11”, 198-pound University of Cincinnati senior is agile, and quick. He earns his tuition gaining yards from spread and pistol sets. This morning I’m watching Pead gain 191 total yards from scrimmage and score two touchdowns against NC State. I’m not…

  • The Curious Case of Montee Ball

    The Curious Case of Montee Ball

    Wisconsin has earned the moniker “Lineman U” during the decade for its excellence at the position. One of the unintended consequences with this unit’s excellence is the parade of productive college running backs that underwhelm in the NFL. Ron Dayne, Brian Calhoun, Anthony Davis, P.J. Hill, and John Clay are all examples of players that…

  • RSP Flashback: Lions RB Kevin Smith

    Here is a very brief overview I wrote in the 2008 Rookie Scouting Portfolio about Kevin Smith as an underrated player in the 2008 draft class. Kevin Smith, University of Central Florida: How does a 2000-yard rusher qualify as underrated? When analysts and draftniks dismiss him as a baby-faced junior who is too thin, too…

  • Best Offensive Play of the Year

    Aaron Rodgers is amazing. His back shoulder throws and guided-missile burners through three levels of defenders in the middle of the field can leave you speechless. But for my money, there’s nothing better than the elemental force of a running back winning a battle with a linebacker. Especially when that linebacker is perhaps the greatest…