My biggest concern about Javonte looking through some stats was that he's been shut down or a not as great game. Now you can chalk that up to a bad game if you want, and I wanted to look a bit closer at his bad games. In 2020 he had 4 games of less than 100 total yards. I re-watched these games and had a few thoughts during each one.
Vs. Syracuse - 14 carries, 57 yards and 3 TD's. 1 catch for 22 yards
Couldn't find the whole game, or all his touches for this game but I did find the highlights which show his TD runs at least. He had 3 TD runs in this game, 1 he looked very slow and plodded his way in, the other 2 looked very bursty and broke some tackles for some nice inside the 5 yard line runs. Just a ho-hum type of game I imagine but the other games is where the party is. Nothing to be concerned so much here, just an below average outing.
Vs. Virginia - 13 carries, 54 yards and 1 TD. 2 catches for 10 yards
This is actually my favorite game of his. There's about a 20 second window that gives you the glimpse of my favorite moments from him. There's also multiple other moments which are just super impressive. My favorite moments are from 0:38 - 0:58. The first run is a basic 4 yard run, but he's patient running behind his blocker, explodes to the hole when it opens, and it takes 4 guys to bring him down when there's only 2 blockers. The 2nd run is obvious why it's crazy good. Just watch. The strength is so good and he does it again at 1:25. There's another catch in this game at 3:58 which is just super impressive to me as well. I love this game for Javonte even if the stats aren't incredible. This just gives me more of a safe feeling than anything rather than a concern.
Funny enough that same game has my least favorite moment that gives me a red flag for Michael Carter but this isn't about him.
Vs. Notre Dame - 11 carries for 28 yards. 2 catches for 10 yards
His O-line looked completely dominated and had very little opportunity to do anything. I saw a bunch of good reads that he got whatever he could. Nothing glaring stood out other than slightly slower feet, probably because of the pressure he's faced with no time to get going. Clearly his worst game of 2020.
Vs. Western Carolina - 3 carries for 8 yards and 1 TD. 3 catches for 48 yards
It's very clear that he was used sparingly in this one. His routes were 2 swing passes out to the flat and 1 out and in over the middle. The out and in was a pretty poor route, but an amazing catch, a better route and that could have been a TD. They were up 35-3 at halftime and played the backups. Not concerned at all about the light workload.
Looking back at these games, all it did was quell my concerns. He's my #1 RB for 2021 because of the pass catching, strength, quickness and burst. He has all the tools, built for a feature role, broke out early at 19, and very productive. He'll be 21 in a few months, a year and 2 months younger than Etienne, basically 2 years younger than Harris.
Both were good pros.
