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Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois
5'11, 224, 4.45
Kyle Allen, 2/19/08
Strengths: Very explosive back, with good speed. His agility is
very impressive., and is very evasive. Has great feet and vision. Hits
the holes hard, and has great patience while waiting for holes to
develop.. Has good hands, and catches the ball well out of the
backfield. Suprisingly quick, good burst, and his acceleration is
underrated.
Weaknesses:
ust
like those before him, could always work on his blocking skills. Has
really only had one exceptional year in college, so consistency is
questioned. Goes down too easily sometimes, so toughness may be a small
concern. May take time to transition to the NFL because of the system
he ran in college.
Projected
Round: 1st
Jared Donnelly, 1/22/08. He really burst onto the scene as a hard runner in the OSU
game despite average stats but for a lot of people, he was someone to
keep an eye on much earlier than that. Consistency is an issue but I
happen to think that some of his inconsistency is due to a somewhat
iffy offense for most of the season. He is a big physical back but
lacks great speed (4.55 40 time) and despite playing in a weak Big 10,
did not have huge numbers against the top teams in that conference. In
all fairness, the main reason that I have him as high as I do amongst
backs is because I am not as high on this class as a lot of people.
Mendenhall should benefit from a class with only two or three standouts
and work his way into either the bottom four or five picks of round
one, or the top four or five picks of round two. Dallas will look, so
will most of the other teams looking at his fellow RB prospects. To me,
if Atlanta takes a QB in round one, Mendenhall would make a lot of
sense in round two (if he is available).
by Imran Tahir,
1/11/08. Rashard
Mendenhall will enter the NFL Draft. A much-ballyhooed recruit from the
Class of ’05, Mendenhall struggled to gain consistent playing time
during his first two years in the Illini football program.
Nevertheless, there was little doubt in his coaches’ minds that if he
remained injury-free and was given the requisite number of carries,
Mendenhall’s explosiveness would translate into substantial results for
his team, providing the Illini with the feared rushing threat that they
have lacked for years. The 2007 season proved to be Mendenhall’s
breakout year, with the burly 225 lb. tailback steamrolling over
numerous Big Ten defenses, earning the Big Ten’s Player of the Year
award in the process. Mendenhall averaged almost 6.5 yards/carry,
recorded two games of over 200 yards rushing, and four more games of
150 yards rushing or more (including a 17 carry, 155 yard performance
against USC in the Rose Bowl). Mendenhall possesses incredible
open-field explosiveness and an almost uncanny ability to turn a small
hole at the line of scrimmage into a 40-50 yard gain. As
physically-gifted as Mendenhall is, he is very adept at shedding
tacklers. To be sure, Mendenhall possesses first-round talent; however,
with other notable RB’s yet to declare for the Draft, it remains to be
seen whether he will be taken amongst the first 31 selections in an
already-deep pool of offensive talent.
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