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Originally Posted by Cochise
Where will he be drafted?
I mean, no disrespect, I would expect you to think he was the greatest thing since sliced bread since that's your team, but what's the word on him? Is he going to go in the first round?
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He could have declared after last season, and he would have gone in the first round. After agonizing over the decision and, incidentally, talking about it with Matt Leinart at the Wooden Cup ceremony in LA (both were finalists for the college award; Will Shields was a finalist for the pro one), he eventually announced at a press conference that it was the NFL versus Memphis, and, "Memphis won hands down."
Kiper had him right up there with Benson, Caddy, and Brown in the 2005 draft, and listed him as the #5 overall player and top running back for 2006.
He is the personification of "all-purpose back." He is an amazing runner, his vision and balance are incredible beyond the telling of it, he has a combination of speed and strength (and SPEED... and
STRENGTH) that is simply indescribable... in short, he's okay.
In addition, Memphis lost 27 seniors, including the best QB in school history, the top WR, and four starting offensive linemen. On the first series of the season, junior QB Patrick Byrne went down for the year. In the third game, redshirt freshman QB Will Hudgens went down for the year. True freshman Billy Barefield didn't cut it, and with WR-turned-QB Mo Avery starting in the 35-20 win over Houston, Memphis has started 5 different QBs in 7 games, stretching back to the GMAC Bowl. Memphis is also missing upwards of 10 other starters, most of them long-term. Despite this, he's carried the whole team on his back, even with the target everyone has had on him from the national attention and Heisman hype.
Oh, and not to overload you with "he's so great," but he really is, off the field, as well. He's a good student and an exceptionally great representative of the school and the city.