Ameer Abdullah

[bulletbait]

So I'm bored and spend my time watching recruit highlights in my off time at work, and I'd be curious to see other's opinions on my sentiments so far this off-season.

 

If I had to rank our incoming RBs, I would go 1) Ameer Abdullah 2) Aaron Green 3) Braylon Heard

 

Here is my quick analysis of the each of the 3, having seen pretty much any film on them that I can find:

 

Ameer:

 

Positives: Exceptionally nimble in space. Runs with a very low center of gravity, has excellent short area burst. Completely ignores contact, seems like he's made of rubber (He's got a little bit of Barry in him). Good, not great, long speed (I'd say he's probably in low 4.5's, might hit high 4.4's on a good day). Exceptional vision to find a hole or cutback lane. Very good receiver for a RB on both short and medium routes, catches with his hands and can high point the ball to make catches against taller defenders.

 

Negatives: Doesn't have that 2nd gear to totally blow past defenders. Lacks bulk, very small bodied. Has a tendency to keep moving laterally, rather than vertically, which may lead to problems against faster college defenses.

 

Aaron Green:

 

Positives: Good long speed (4.4's), very efficient in his cuts with very good overall agility, little wasted movement. Focuses on getting downfield first. Avoids contact very well. Excellent vision to find the hole or make use of his downfield blockers. Solid pass catcher on short routes.

 

Negatives: Doesn't run through contact that well. He can shrug off an arm tackle, but doesn't have that "it" factor of contorting out of a tackle. Built more like a WR than a RB at this point, but has plenty of room on his frame to add good bulk.

 

Braylon Heard:

 

Positives: Great long speed, if he gets a crease he can take it to the house. Enough agility to get to the hole in the line. Good burst from stop.

 

Negatives: Runs high. Has solid moves to evade defenders, but performs them awkwardly. Often has his feet too close together, allowing him to lose his balance easily and go down. Built thin, not a particularly strong runner. Runs similarly to Taylor Martinez. Great vertical speed, only moderate shiftiness.

 

If I had to slot Ameer into the top 10 on Rivals, and re-rank the top 11 or so in my own opinion (a fair challenge given that I've placed him above Aaron Green at #8), I'd have the top 10 as follows:

 

1. Malcolm Brown - Great speed for a back his size. Absolutely punishing as a runner. Good agility, not great.

2. Devonta Freeman - This guy is like Ameer, but a little faster. Very similar runners.

3. Brendan Bigelow - Flat out astonishing speed. If I had to guess, this kid is running legit 4.3's in high school.

tie 4. Ameer Abdullah

tie 4. Mike Blakely - A lot of what I like about Ameer, I see in Blakely. I think Ameer is slightly faster, but Blakely showed his moves against better competition than Ameer.

6. Aaron Green

7. Savon Huggins - Looks great on tape, but did it against pretty mediocre competition in New Jersey. He looks the part (6' 220) and has great speed. He could easily top this list if he proves it against better competition.

8. Brandon Williams - Good speed, but he's a long strider who is tall and skinny. Needs to put on 20-30 lbs before he fills out his frame properly. Reminds me of a Daniel Thomas type.

9. James Wilder - I just don't get the love. He's got good vision, shows decent strength, but he bumbles through it all. Constantly looks like he is off balance and lacks good long speed. Not a game breaker, but could produce well if given lots of carries.

10. Isaiah Crowell - Repeat what I said about Wilder. Looks slow and plodding, but has the skills to grind out production.

[papio2chi]

Good stuff

 

Nice to have something to think about during the off season...

[PaulCrewe]

 

If I had to slot Ameer into the top 10 on Rivals, and re-rank the top 11 or so in my own opinion (a fair challenge given that I've placed him above Aaron Green at #8), I'd have the top 10 as follows:

 

1. Malcolm Brown - Great speed for a back his size. Absolutely punishing as a runner. Good agility, not great.

2. Devonta Freeman - This guy is like Ameer, but a little faster. Very similar runners.

3. Brendan Bigelow - Flat out astonishing speed. If I had to guess, this kid is running legit 4.3's in high school.

tie 4. Ameer Abdullah

tie 4. Mike Blakely - A lot of what I like about Ameer, I see in Blakely. I think Ameer is slightly faster, but Blakely showed his moves against better competition than Ameer.

6. Aaron Green

7. Savon Huggins - Looks great on tape, but did it against pretty mediocre competition in New Jersey. He looks the part (6' 220) and has great speed. He could easily top this list if he proves it against better competition.

8. Brandon Williams - Good speed, but he's a long strider who is tall and skinny. Needs to put on 20-30 lbs before he fills out his frame properly. Reminds me of a Daniel Thomas type.

9. James Wilder - I just don't get the love. He's got good vision, shows decent strength, but he bumbles through it all. Constantly looks like he is off balance and lacks good long speed. Not a game breaker, but could produce well if given lots of carries.

10. Isaiah Crowell - Repeat what I said about Wilder. Looks slow and plodding, but has the skills to grind out production.

Wilder will be playing defense at FSU before he done. Nothing about him was overly spectacular on the offensive side of things. Mike Blakely might have been the best RB out there at the end of their football seasons. Brown is a bruiser, but a lot of the same things were being said about Alonzo Whaley's bro Chris and look how that ended up working out for the kid. Hershel Sims may put up the best numbers in college when it is all said and done.

[bulletbait]

 

If I had to slot Ameer into the top 10 on Rivals, and re-rank the top 11 or so in my own opinion (a fair challenge given that I've placed him above Aaron Green at #8), I'd have the top 10 as follows:

 

1. Malcolm Brown - Great speed for a back his size. Absolutely punishing as a runner. Good agility, not great.

2. Devonta Freeman - This guy is like Ameer, but a little faster. Very similar runners.

3. Brendan Bigelow - Flat out astonishing speed. If I had to guess, this kid is running legit 4.3's in high school.

tie 4. Ameer Abdullah

tie 4. Mike Blakely - A lot of what I like about Ameer, I see in Blakely. I think Ameer is slightly faster, but Blakely showed his moves against better competition than Ameer.

6. Aaron Green

7. Savon Huggins - Looks great on tape, but did it against pretty mediocre competition in New Jersey. He looks the part (6' 220) and has great speed. He could easily top this list if he proves it against better competition.

8. Brandon Williams - Good speed, but he's a long strider who is tall and skinny. Needs to put on 20-30 lbs before he fills out his frame properly. Reminds me of a Daniel Thomas type.

9. James Wilder - I just don't get the love. He's got good vision, shows decent strength, but he bumbles through it all. Constantly looks like he is off balance and lacks good long speed. Not a game breaker, but could produce well if given lots of carries.

10. Isaiah Crowell - Repeat what I said about Wilder. Looks slow and plodding, but has the skills to grind out production.

Wilder will be playing defense at FSU before he done. Nothing about him was overly spectacular on the offensive side of things. Mike Blakely might have been the best RB out there at the end of their football seasons. Brown is a bruiser, but a lot of the same things were being said about Alonzo Whaley's bro Chris and look how that ended up working out for the kid. Hershel Sims may put up the best numbers in college when it is all said and done.

 

Good point on Wilder. That's one thing I hate about Rivals, though. Why rank Wilder as your #2 RB when everyone knows he's unlikely to ever touch the field at that position?

 

RE: Brown, him and Whaley may be comparable in size (though Chris is a couple inches taller than Malcolm, I believe), but they are very different runners. They have pretty similar long speed (low 4.5's), but Malcolm is on a whole other level when it comes to "wiggle." Whaley and "agile" would never be spoken in the same sentence. The most you'd get out of him is a slight hiccup in order to perform a shallow cutback through the hole. Brown, on the other hand, is much niftier on his feet and maintains his balance better through contact. That's not to say that he'll have any better luck in college than Whaley did, but he's at least a different breed of back.

[ADS]

 

If I had to slot Ameer into the top 10 on Rivals, and re-rank the top 11 or so in my own opinion (a fair challenge given that I've placed him above Aaron Green at #8), I'd have the top 10 as follows:

 

1. Malcolm Brown - Great speed for a back his size. Absolutely punishing as a runner. Good agility, not great.

2. Devonta Freeman - This guy is like Ameer, but a little faster. Very similar runners.

3. Brendan Bigelow - Flat out astonishing speed. If I had to guess, this kid is running legit 4.3's in high school.

tie 4. Ameer Abdullah

tie 4. Mike Blakely - A lot of what I like about Ameer, I see in Blakely. I think Ameer is slightly faster, but Blakely showed his moves against better competition than Ameer.

6. Aaron Green

7. Savon Huggins - Looks great on tape, but did it against pretty mediocre competition in New Jersey. He looks the part (6' 220) and has great speed. He could easily top this list if he proves it against better competition.

8. Brandon Williams - Good speed, but he's a long strider who is tall and skinny. Needs to put on 20-30 lbs before he fills out his frame properly. Reminds me of a Daniel Thomas type.

9. James Wilder - I just don't get the love. He's got good vision, shows decent strength, but he bumbles through it all. Constantly looks like he is off balance and lacks good long speed. Not a game breaker, but could produce well if given lots of carries.

10. Isaiah Crowell - Repeat what I said about Wilder. Looks slow and plodding, but has the skills to grind out production.

Wilder will be playing defense at FSU before he done. Nothing about him was overly spectacular on the offensive side of things. Mike Blakely might have been the best RB out there at the end of their football seasons. Brown is a bruiser, but a lot of the same things were being said about Alonzo Whaley's bro Chris and look how that ended up working out for the kid. Hershel Sims may put up the best numbers in college when it is all said and done.

 

Good point on Wilder. That's one thing I hate about Rivals, though. Why rank Wilder as your #2 RB when everyone knows he's unlikely to ever touch the field at that position?

 

RE: Brown, him and Whaley may be comparable in size (though Chris is a couple inches taller than Malcolm, I believe), but they are very different runners. They have pretty similar long speed (low 4.5's), but Malcolm is on a whole other level when it comes to "wiggle." Whaley and "agile" would never be spoken in the same sentence. The most you'd get out of him is a slight hiccup in order to perform a shallow cutback through the hole. Brown, on the other hand, is much niftier on his feet and maintains his balance better through contact. That's not to say that he'll have any better luck in college than Whaley did, but he's at least a different breed of back.

The reason they had Wilder listed as a RB is because he said thats what position he wnated to play in college. FSU will give him a shot, but I'm with you guys he will play OLB when all said and done. Brandon Williams is an absolute stud as well, he might have been the best RB in the state of Texas last year. Him and Herschel will do amazing things for their teams.

[carlfense]

Nice post bulletbait. I love this kind of breakdown.

 

As I've said in other threads, I think they end up as follows: 1. Heard, 2. Abdullah, 3. Green. I didn't go into as much detail as you did. I think Heard has the most power of the three and he looks to have a good combination of burst and top end speed. Abdullah looks incredibly shifty but it doesn't look like he will run away from a lot of people. Green needs to run tougher.

 

It's hard to make accurate predictions from high school highlights played against vastly different opponents. They are more my guesses than anything.

[HuskerFowler]

Ammer has the fastest 100m time in alabama and squats 450lbs.. Aaorn Green benches around 340 and squats in the mid 400s as well. Thats pretty insane for a 180-190lb kid coming out of high school. Ive competed in some power lifing events and those numbers are right on par with the strongest for that weight class. Pretty impressive.

[N Sker]

Big fan of this board! Celebrating my second post...

 

The last time I was really excited about a running back recruit was a guy named "Burkhead". Have to say I haven't been disappointed and still get excited when he's on the field.

 

This group of backs really gets me going. With all the hype around each of them, I don't care who it is who has better measureables or stats I'm just hoping one stands out as much as Rex.

[carlfense]

Ammer has the fastest 100m time in alabama and squats 450lbs.. Aaorn Green benches around 340 and squats in the mid 400s as well. Thats pretty insane for a 180-190lb kid coming out of high school. Ive competed in some power lifing events and those numbers are right on par with the strongest for that weight class. Pretty impressive.

100m times are even less relevant in football than 40 yard dash times. He is run down from behind in his highlights. Those players that ran him down must have been from outside of Alabama?

 

I'm not looking at measurables . . . I'm just going by what my eyes tell me.

[HuskerFowler]

Ammer has the fastest 100m time in alabama and squats 450lbs.. Aaorn Green benches around 340 and squats in the mid 400s as well. Thats pretty insane for a 180-190lb kid coming out of high school. Ive competed in some power lifing events and those numbers are right on par with the strongest for that weight class. Pretty impressive.

100m times are even less relevant in football than 40 yard dash times. He is run down from behind in his highlights. Those players that ran him down must have been from outside of Alabama?

 

I'm not looking at measurables . . . I'm just going by what my eyes tell me.

 

I wasnt commenting on your post, was just displaying some stats and measurables i thought were pretty impressive.

[dylan]

i have no idea which one is the best and i love it. would honestly not be surprised by any of them. if forced to pick one to be special though, i'd go with heard. in any case, what an amazing group.

[PaulCrewe]

RE: Brown, him and Whaley may be comparable in size (though Chris is a couple inches taller than Malcolm, I believe), but they are very different runners. They have pretty similar long speed (low 4.5's), but Malcolm is on a whole other level when it comes to "wiggle." Whaley and "agile" would never be spoken in the same sentence. The most you'd get out of him is a slight hiccup in order to perform a shallow cutback through the hole. Brown, on the other hand, is much niftier on his feet and maintains his balance better through contact. That's not to say that he'll have any better luck in college than Whaley did, but he's at least a different breed of back.

Watch the whole video and I am sure you'll see the same type of RB. This was Chris' highlight tape. He was hyped, only to be another notch on Bevo's Ubber Talented but We Wasted it pole. Of course Chris didn't help himself while in Austin. But again this was Malcom Brown a couple of years ago except with better hands.

[EZ-E]

Brandon Williams is going to be a beast. But there is definately a reason we all coveted Green and that is because he is definately a top 5 running back recruit in the nation.

[bulletbait]

RE: Brown, him and Whaley may be comparable in size (though Chris is a couple inches taller than Malcolm, I believe), but they are very different runners. They have pretty similar long speed (low 4.5's), but Malcolm is on a whole other level when it comes to "wiggle." Whaley and "agile" would never be spoken in the same sentence. The most you'd get out of him is a slight hiccup in order to perform a shallow cutback through the hole. Brown, on the other hand, is much niftier on his feet and maintains his balance better through contact. That's not to say that he'll have any better luck in college than Whaley did, but he's at least a different breed of back.

Watch the whole video and I am sure you'll see the same type of RB. This was Chris' highlight tape. He was hyped, only to be another notch on Bevo's Ubber Talented but We Wasted it pole. Of course Chris didn't help himself while in Austin. But again this was Malcom Brown a couple of years ago except with better hands.

 

I've seen that video before, I guess I just don't agree. I think Malcolm is more physically gifted than Chris Whaley was, coming out of highschool.

[NUance]

Wow! Abdullah has a heck of a highlight video. The guy makes everyone else look like they're running in slow-motion. And he's playing in Alabama 6A, their top class.