Rival Views: How will the RB rankings change?
Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate what changes to the running back position we can see heading into the next rankings meeting after the season:
RUNNING BACK RANKINGS: Running backs | All-purpose backs
FARRELL'S VIEW
Bijon Robinson could be the most talented running back in this class because he’s so versatile and I’ve always been a fan of Zachary Evans. The guys I am watching closely are Kendall Milton and DeMarckus Bowman as each has to answer a few questions. With Milton it’s about speed and with Bowman I want to see him take the next step and dominate by fighting through more tackles and keep adding to his explosiveness. MarShawn Lloyd was very impressive in his opener, so we’ll keep an eye on him as well and this running back class could end up with two five-stars or as many as six. It’s unpredictable.
GORNEY'S VIEW
This could be one of the better running back classes in recent memory and because of more high school games being on television and the ability to see some elite teams play early in the season, there could be some changes coming to the top of the rankings.
It’s hard to know just how talented Evans could be, but he was largely shut down in his season opener because his offensive line at Houston North Shore is just not very good. Every defense is going to key on him, so every time he has the ball it’s going to be difficult sledding for him.
I liked Milton in his game against Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne as the five-star still shows some elusive ability, but he’s definitely growing into more of a ground-and-pound running back. Again, his Clovis (Calif.) Buchanan team is not filled with elite players, so defenses are doing everything possible to stymie him.
The running back I’ve been most impressed with so far early in the season was Lloyd from Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha. The South Carolina commit is ranked eighth at his position and after seeing him against powerhouse Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, he should be higher.
Lloyd is stocky and compact, he’s tough to tackle, he bounces off defenders, he has sneaky speed and he’s a threat to catch the ball downfield. At his size, he can deliver the hits in the SEC, he can hide behind bigger offensive lines and then find holes and if the Gamecocks want to use him as a pass-catcher that would be no problem, either.
There will be a lot of shuffling up and down in the running back rankings but one player I’m going to push for moving up is Lloyd.