Jonathan Dwyer - RB - Georgia Tech - Best College RB? (1 Viewer)

[TitusIII]

Most draftnicks have Dwyer as the best, or very close to the best, NFL RB prospect in college football. I watched this highlight video (that I'll post below) last night, and I'm not quite sure what to think. He obviously looks like a beast, but do you think GTech's somewhat gimmicky offense makes him look a little better than he is? Will his running style work in the NFL. He just looks, well, different than most RB's, but he clearly has nice speed/acceleration, even if he does look a bit odd.

Any and all info is greatly appreciated, thanks for responding/watching the video

Oh yeah, the soundtrack to Dwyer's scouting/highlight video is slightly loud, turn the volume down low if you don't like techno.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFbcSM6XHec

 

[TitusIII]

Just watched it again, the run at the :45 second point made my jaw drop. I guess I'm pretty much sold on this guy being a top 15 pick in the 2010 NFL draft, but I'd love to see more opinions, especially from y'all in ACC land.

 

[Lott's Fingertip]

I don't follow college football, so these are just my impressions from this highlight reel.

Very good size and power. Very good speed, especially considering his size. Good lateral movement. Only a few catches in the video, but hands look fine. Balance looks good.

Doesn't have any better than average initial burst. This is an important trait; Dwyer reminds me of Brandon Jacobs in this regard. They don't have that "instant-on" speed, they build up to it. But their top end speed is very good for their size. Not a deal-breaker, his positives probably outweigh this trait.

The biggest defect is that this video mostly shows him not getting hit either at all or until he is up to speed. There are a few that showcase his power and balance, and a couple that show his change of direction and lateral shake and bake, but 3/4 of his runs in this video are cakewalks. thus is the nature of youtube highlights.

 

[TitusIII]

I don't follow college football, so these are just my impressions from this highlight reel.Very good size and power. Very good speed, especially considering his size. Good lateral movement. Only a few catches in the video, but hands look fine. Balance looks good.Doesn't have any better than average initial burst. This is an important trait; Dwyer reminds me of Brandon Jacobs in this regard. They don't have that "instant-on" speed, they build up to it. But their top end speed is very good for their size. Not a deal-breaker, his positives probably outweigh this trait.The biggest defect is that this video mostly shows him not getting hit either at all or until he is up to speed. There are a few that showcase his power and balance, and a couple that show his change of direction and lateral shake and bake, but 3/4 of his runs in this video are cakewalks. thus is the nature of youtube highlights.

Excellent, thank you for responding, Jacobs seems to be a fine comparison. You are dead-on regarding youtube highlights. Some schools will hype their prospects with professional quality/from the pressbox angles and post them on youtube, but I don't see any for Dwyer. If anyone has a link, please post it.

 

[Darker Knight]

he seems small and slow. He did not look good after contact and it did not look like he can run away from anyone....."skinny legs"...also did not look good between the tackles.

 

[Lott's Fingertip]

6'1" 235 lbs

Are you watching the same guy? Or are you being sarcastic?

 

[BlueBandit24]

I'm very high on Dwyer and think by the time next year's draft rolls around he may be the best running back prospect since Peterson. His game reminds me a little bit of Jonathan Stewart; they're both big backs who possess the speed and agility to make big plays but they're also powerful enough to grind it out between the tackles. Pass blocking might be an issue since Georgia Tech seldom throws the ball, but I really think Dwyer is the class of the 2010 running backs.

 

[TitusIII]

I'm very high on Dwyer and think by the time next year's draft rolls around he may be the best running back prospect since Peterson. His game reminds me a little bit of Jonathan Stewart; they're both big backs who possess the speed and agility to make big plays but they're also powerful enough to grind it out between the tackles. Pass blocking might be an issue since Georgia Tech seldom throws the ball, but I really think Dwyer is the class of the 2010 running backs.

I promise this is the last time I "bump" this thread, but thanks for posting and I agree with everything you wrote.

 

[offdee]

I chose Dwyer in our Dynasty draft back in April that allows 1 college player per roster. Grabbed him at 1.04 and below is a copy and paste of my comment in the message board thread after my pick.

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I see a special runner when I watch Dwyer....great combination of size and speed that will translate beautifully at the next level. He's a mirror image of Jonathan Stewart and glad to have him as the new Chosen One!

 

[tdmills]

As effective as Dwyer is currently in college, I will bring up the durability issue. He seems fine now, but in that offense he takes a hit on almost every play. Will that limit his NFL career and wear down sooner rather than later?

As a runner his isn't explosive like Demarco murray/jahvid best....but he is much better at breaking tackles than the two.

 

[Lott's Fingertip]

As effective as Dwyer is currently in college, I will bring up the durability issue. He seems fine now, but in that offense he takes a hit on almost every play. Will that limit his NFL career and wear down sooner rather than later?As a runner his isn't explosive like Demarco murray/jahvid best....but he is much better at breaking tackles than the two.

He just turned 20 years old, so he will be only 21 when he hits NFL training camp next year. He has had less than 300 touches so far in college, so he will be between 500 and 600 after this coming season.I'm not worried at all about workload.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

he seems small and slow. He did not look good after contact and it did not look like he can run away from anyone....."skinny legs"...also did not look good between the tackles.

Most of his runs are between the tackles with no lead blocker and he usually powers through multiple tacklers.

 

[offdee]

he seems small and slow. He did not look good after contact and it did not look like he can run away from anyone....."skinny legs"...also did not look good between the tackles.

Most of his runs are between the tackles with no lead blocker and he usually powers through multiple tacklers.

You can probably ignore Darker Knight's post. I'm thinking he was being sarcastic, and if he wasn't than he's way off base as everything he lists are Dwyer's strengths.The "cannot run away from anyone" is ridiculous. Watch the video.

 

[tdmills]

As effective as Dwyer is currently in college, I will bring up the durability issue. He seems fine now, but in that offense he takes a hit on almost every play. Will that limit his NFL career and wear down sooner rather than later?As a runner his isn't explosive like Demarco murray/jahvid best....but he is much better at breaking tackles than the two.

He just turned 20 years old, so he will be only 21 when he hits NFL training camp next year. He has had less than 300 touches so far in college, so he will be between 500 and 600 after this coming season.I'm not worried at all about workload.

Its not so much touches as plays.....in a wing T, that dive back gets hit every play....hopefully that clarifies it more.I would relate this issue to all the touches that Cedric Benson had at Texas and then started getting injured in the NFL.

 

[gianmarco]

Very interesting to watch. I honestly haven't seen much of him so this is just going on what I just saw in this highlight video. As you'll see, I'll end up echoing a few of the above statements and add a few others

--Very good top end speed for his size. The reason he looks "different" is because he has a VERY long stride. This is why he's deceptively fast once he gets going.

--On top of his long strides, he has very little wasted movement. In that sense, he has long, gliding slides like Kevin Smith but none of the wasted movement that was a knock on Smith heading into the NFL.

--However, he has VERY SLOW acceleration, IMO. No burst and it seems to take him a while to start to build up that speed. If he's going to have a downfall, this looks to be it. In the NFL, those spaces are going to be much smaller and close in much quicker than what we saw there. Not much to go by to see how he handles those situations but could be a potentially big deal

--He has amazing balance. Does not go down with arm tackles and carries his weight and controls his body VERY WELL

--The thing that stood out the most in that video to me was his awareness and vision. Top notch. This is the one thing that will help him the most in the lack of acceleration department. If he can buy himself a little more space as he seems to do in a couple of those runs, he'll be able to build up that speed.

Overall a very intriguing prospect. I'd like to watch him a good bit more to have a better feel. Much like Kevin Smith, I did not like the way he ran at first but I actually got to watch him quite a bit while at UCF and fell in love with how talented a RB he was and how well he ran. A lot of the knocks I read about him last year before the draft were how I felt about him initially which changed after watching him for a while. He was very different from most other RB's. I see some similar things in Dwyer. I actually don't think he's much like Stewart at all in terms of running style and only similar to him in body build. I agree more with the Jacobs comparison but even that is a bit off as Jacobs is more of a power runner than Dwyer seems to be.

ETA--Another part to go along with the long strides and the slow acceleration is that I don't see a lot of the small, quick steps when in the hole. At the same time, his legs always seem to keep moving. I really want to see what happens when he gets bottled up. Will his legs go dead and allow him to be tackled because he's not able to build up to speed or will he be able to keep them churning in small little steps and maintain that incredible balance. I really think this is going to be his sticking point. All those things being said, balance is one of the key things I look for in a RB. Guys that don't fall down when they get pushed or have contact are much more succesful, IMO, than guys with lightning speed, power, or change of direction. None of those things work well if a slight breeze knocks you down soon after.

 

[CBower4545]

Very interesting to watch. I honestly haven't seen much of him so this is just going on what I just saw in this highlight video. As you'll see, I'll end up echoing a few of the above statements and add a few others--Very good top end speed for his size. The reason he looks "different" is because he has a VERY long stride. This is why he's deceptively fast once he gets going. --On top of his long strides, he has very little wasted movement. In that sense, he has long, gliding slides like Kevin Smith but none of the wasted movement that was a knock on Smith heading into the NFL. --However, he has VERY SLOW acceleration, IMO. No burst and it seems to take him a while to start to build up that speed. If he's going to have a downfall, this looks to be it. In the NFL, those spaces are going to be much smaller and close in much quicker than what we saw there. Not much to go by to see how he handles those situations but could be a potentially big deal--He has amazing balance. Does not go down with arm tackles and carries his weight and controls his body VERY WELL--The thing that stood out the most in that video to me was his awareness and vision. Top notch. This is the one thing that will help him the most in the lack of acceleration department. If he can buy himself a little more space as he seems to do in a couple of those runs, he'll be able to build up that speed.Overall a very intriguing prospect. I'd like to watch him a good bit more to have a better feel. Much like Kevin Smith, I did not like the way he ran at first but I actually got to watch him quite a bit while at UCF and fell in love with how talented a RB he was and how well he ran. A lot of the knocks I read about him last year before the draft were how I felt about him initially which changed after watching him for a while. He was very different from most other RB's. I see some similar things in Dwyer. I actually don't think he's much like Stewart at all in terms of running style and only similar to him in body build. I agree more with the Jacobs comparison but even that is a bit off as Jacobs is more of a power runner than Dwyer seems to be.

This is good stuff

 

[Matt Waldman]

I'll be watching a lot more Dwyer from what I taped last year and what I'll tape this year, but the strength, balance, and speed are there. Remember, he's breaking off these runs and accelerating past DBs who were ahead of him on several of these runs. These DBs were from ACC and SEC schools - generally not a slow afoot.

I thought his stride looked a little more like Adrian Peterson than Kevin Smith, especially when he accelerated past defenders at LSU, Georgia, Miami, FSU, and several others AFTER he initiated contact with a player at the edge and knocked him to the ground. He doesn't look as fast as Peterson, but to watch him break a couple of tackles and reverse his field for positive yardage against a very good Miss St. defense is an impressive display of speed and acceleration. So were all these plays where he accelerated past LBs with the angle.

If you're looking an RB to accelerate past a DB positioned 10 yards ahead of him upfield as he breaks the line, I think your expectations of what good speed is, is too high. Dwyer is having no trouble getting past LBs up the middle or on outside runs. It's true that the offensive play calling often gets him to the edge with the option pitch, but that Miss St. reversal of field and some of these quick hitters demonstrate he has enough of a burst.

I can tell you if Offdee didn't draft him at 1.04 in that dynasty draft, I probably would have...

 

[Darker Knight]

he seems small and slow. He did not look good after contact and it did not look like he can run away from anyone....."skinny legs"...also did not look good between the tackles.

Most of his runs are between the tackles with no lead blocker and he usually powers through multiple tacklers.

You can probably ignore Darker Knight's post. I'm thinking he was being sarcastic, and if he wasn't than he's way off base as everything he lists are Dwyer's strengths.The "cannot run away from anyone" is ridiculous. Watch the video.

It was a highlight reel.......RIGHT?

 

[offdee]

he seems small and slow. He did not look good after contact and it did not look like he can run away from anyone....."skinny legs"...also did not look good between the tackles.

Most of his runs are between the tackles with no lead blocker and he usually powers through multiple tacklers.

You can probably ignore Darker Knight's post. I'm thinking he was being sarcastic, and if he wasn't than he's way off base as everything he lists are Dwyer's strengths.The "cannot run away from anyone" is ridiculous. Watch the video.

It was a highlight reel.......RIGHT?

- Size: 6-0, 235lbs- Speed: 4.41 forty, 10.7-10.8 100m (2nd place in the state of Georgia in high school track events)

- Skinny legs:

http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Georgia...LXrIjYoj_wl.jpg

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/the_sweep/posts/15881

- not good after contact:

 

[offdee]

I ended up just catching ESPN"s NFL Yearbook featuring the Atlanta Falcons and I actually see a lot of similarities in style to Michael Turner.

Both are built like bowling balls with a low center of gravity....have great balance, attack defenders and shiftier than you'd think for their size. Both also take a little bit of extra time to get up to top speed, but once the jets are on not many will run them down.

Dwyer isn't quite as powerful as Turner, but has a litte bit better top end speed than Turner once in the clear.

 

[eoMMan]

What song is that?

 

[Ilov80s]

I ended up just catching ESPN"s NFL Yearbook featuring the Atlanta Falcons and I actually see a lot of similarities in style to Michael Turner.Both are built like bowling balls with a low center of gravity....have great balance, attack defenders and shiftier than you'd think for their size. Both also take a little bit of extra time to get up to top speed, but once the jets are on not many will run them down.Dwyer isn't quite as powerful as Turner, but has a litte bit better top end speed than Turner once in the clear.

Very good comparison.

 

[offdee]

What song is that?

My Shooter (short club edit) by Groove Cutter

 

[BoulderBob]

Dwyer is certainly intriguing eh? GM's that can make the correct call on a prospect like Dwyer deserve the all the cash they can get. Is he a hall-of-fame talent, or too big/not quick enough for the NFL? I don't think there is much of a middle ground with Dwyer, he is either going to set the league on fire, or not have a seat at the table.

 

[BigTex]

I ended up just catching ESPN"s NFL Yearbook featuring the Atlanta Falcons and I actually see a lot of similarities in style to Michael Turner.Both are built like bowling balls with a low center of gravity....have great balance, attack defenders and shiftier than you'd think for their size. Both also take a little bit of extra time to get up to top speed, but once the jets are on not many will run them down.Dwyer isn't quite as powerful as Turner, but has a litte bit better top end speed than Turner once in the clear.

offdee, you drafted him at 1.04, who went before him?TIATex

 

[dwarfboy]

He is strong enough to break tackles at the LOS. He is fast enough to run to daylight, and there is often lots of daylight.

The catch is that he rarely if ever has to beat more than one tackler at a time and almost never has to pass block. GT lines up with very, very wide splits. That and the fact they run an option with lots of misdirection means when he gets the ball he usually just has to beat one guy on a island. When they pass it is almost always play action of some sort.

I have GT season tickets and he's fun to watch, but I have questions in terms of how he will do in a pro style offense. That said he was originally recruited by Chan Gailey who ran a typical pro style offense, so Gailey certainly thought he could do what it takes to succeed. He was also recruited by several other schools with a strong tradition of good RBs.

I was going to make a comparison to Michael Turner as well. Might just be the fact I'm from Atlanta. The strong legs mean he's very difficult to bring down, especially by one tackler at a time.

 

[Faust]

How are his receiving skills?

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

How are his receiving skills?

Unproven. Ga Tech barely passes. Dwyer's 8 catches last year gave him a tie for 2nd most receptions on the team. He did average 26.1 yards/rec.

 

[offdee]

How are his receiving skills?

Unproven. Ga Tech barely passes. Dwyer's 8 catches last year gave him a tie for 2nd most receptions on the team. He did average 26.1 yards/rec.

Yep, hard to say....Ga. Tech only had 80 some catches as an entire team last season.But, one moment that really impressed me was his catch at 1:30 on the OP's video link. Showed me something I was unaware of.

 

[offdee]

I ended up just catching ESPN"s NFL Yearbook featuring the Atlanta Falcons and I actually see a lot of similarities in style to Michael Turner.

Both are built like bowling balls with a low center of gravity....have great balance, attack defenders and shiftier than you'd think for their size. Both also take a little bit of extra time to get up to top speed, but once the jets are on not many will run them down.

Dwyer isn't quite as powerful as Turner, but has a litte bit better top end speed than Turner once in the clear.

offdee, you drafted him at 1.04, who went before him?TIA

Tex

1.01 RB- Donald Brown (Colts) Blue Steel1.02 WR- Dez Bryant (Oklahoma St.) Serenity Now

1.03 WR- Arrelious Benn (Illinois) Blue Steel

1.04 RB- Jonathan Dwyer (Georgia Tech) Chosen Ones

1.05 RB- Shonn Greene (Jets) Serenity Now

1.06 WR- Hakeem Nicks (Giants) Pride of Pei Mei

1.07 QB- Mark Sanchez (Jets) Wrecking Crew

1.08 WR- Jeremy Maclin (Eagles) SYD Terrapin

1.09 RB- Jahvid Best (Cal) Weaselicious

1.10 RB- LaGarrette Blount (Oregon) Helmet Heads

1.11 WR- Kenny Britt (Titans) Phoenix Rising

1.12 RB- Andre Brown (Giants) Bear's Lair

1.13 QB- Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) Phoenix Rising

1.14 WR- Brian Robiskie (Browns) Terminator