Raiders
Footballguy
Here is their evaluation of Ryan Mathews, RB for FRESNO ST.
Ryan Mathews | S Hometown: Bakersfield, CA
West High School
Position rank: S # 110
Ht: 5'11" Wt: 190
RATING: 67
Evaluation
Matthews is a disciplined player who maintains good outside leverage as a force player. His effort is solid and he shows a lot of pop when making contact. He has decent body control, stays on his feet and has demonstrated some ability to get to the football. He takes good angles when pursuing from the backside and shows good effort when finishing to the football. He times up his blitzes reacts well on the fly and closes fast to the quarter back. He gets himself in position and is a willing tackler. He plays well in space and shows decent awareness in zone coverage. However, Matthews needs to work on his overall size and strength. He lacks the bulk to take things on at the point of attack. He must develop the ability to use his hands and get extension not allowing blockers to get into his body and control him. Overall, Matthews is a good force player who is fast enough to play on the perimeter. He can benefit from improving his overall agility and power. He must continue to improve his spatial awareness and his ability to run with and cover skilled players. He is a decent running back who has some quickness and power to the hole. His future lies at outside linebacker or strong safety and he could be a contributor on special teams.
Here is what his Bio on the Bulldog site says about him out of Highschool:
The national and California leader in rushing as a senior while playing as a combo of quarterback/running back ... selected second-team All-America ... took snaps in the shotgun formation, making direct runs from that position ... averaged just under 300 yards per game as a senior, tallying 3,396 yards and 44 touchdowns while also leading the state in scoring ... first-team All-State ... his rushing total was a Central Section record ... threw for 851 yards and 11 touchdowns ... had fi ve games of 300 yards or more, including a season high 415 yards against South ... had 374 yards twice (vs. Ridgeview and Centennial) ... averaged 41 yards on his eight kickoff returns ... originally raised in Tehachapi, moved to Bakersfi eld to face tougher competition athletically with his adopted brother ... led the Vikings to a CIF championship in 2005, rushing for 1,104 yards and 18 touchdowns ... also played linebacker for West ...recruited by Colorado and Arizona State ... Pat Hill: "Ryan Mathews is a special football player. He was as dominating as player in the state last year. He was simply unstoppable. He runs very hard. He's a punishing runner who can wear down a defense."
Now here is what he actually did as an 18 year old true frshman last year:
He split carries last year 4 ways and still put up 145 carries, 866 yards, 6.0 ypc and 14 TD's.
Not too bad for a safety! Honestly look at his numbers as a Senior and explain where they get the comment that he is a decent RB?!
The point is this; people give too much credit for what "experts" say about both players coming into and out of college. Often times they will also reject a lot of clear evidence that is in front of them and form bad hunches on players as is the case here. Also, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on this guy, as he will probably one of the op 5 RB's in the country this year as only a Sophomore. He's a Beast baby!
Ryan Mathews | S Hometown: Bakersfield, CA
West High School
Position rank: S # 110
Ht: 5'11" Wt: 190
RATING: 67
Evaluation
Matthews is a disciplined player who maintains good outside leverage as a force player. His effort is solid and he shows a lot of pop when making contact. He has decent body control, stays on his feet and has demonstrated some ability to get to the football. He takes good angles when pursuing from the backside and shows good effort when finishing to the football. He times up his blitzes reacts well on the fly and closes fast to the quarter back. He gets himself in position and is a willing tackler. He plays well in space and shows decent awareness in zone coverage. However, Matthews needs to work on his overall size and strength. He lacks the bulk to take things on at the point of attack. He must develop the ability to use his hands and get extension not allowing blockers to get into his body and control him. Overall, Matthews is a good force player who is fast enough to play on the perimeter. He can benefit from improving his overall agility and power. He must continue to improve his spatial awareness and his ability to run with and cover skilled players. He is a decent running back who has some quickness and power to the hole. His future lies at outside linebacker or strong safety and he could be a contributor on special teams.
Here is what his Bio on the Bulldog site says about him out of Highschool:
The national and California leader in rushing as a senior while playing as a combo of quarterback/running back ... selected second-team All-America ... took snaps in the shotgun formation, making direct runs from that position ... averaged just under 300 yards per game as a senior, tallying 3,396 yards and 44 touchdowns while also leading the state in scoring ... first-team All-State ... his rushing total was a Central Section record ... threw for 851 yards and 11 touchdowns ... had fi ve games of 300 yards or more, including a season high 415 yards against South ... had 374 yards twice (vs. Ridgeview and Centennial) ... averaged 41 yards on his eight kickoff returns ... originally raised in Tehachapi, moved to Bakersfi eld to face tougher competition athletically with his adopted brother ... led the Vikings to a CIF championship in 2005, rushing for 1,104 yards and 18 touchdowns ... also played linebacker for West ...recruited by Colorado and Arizona State ... Pat Hill: "Ryan Mathews is a special football player. He was as dominating as player in the state last year. He was simply unstoppable. He runs very hard. He's a punishing runner who can wear down a defense."
Now here is what he actually did as an 18 year old true frshman last year:
He split carries last year 4 ways and still put up 145 carries, 866 yards, 6.0 ypc and 14 TD's.
Not too bad for a safety! Honestly look at his numbers as a Senior and explain where they get the comment that he is a decent RB?!
The point is this; people give too much credit for what "experts" say about both players coming into and out of college. Often times they will also reject a lot of clear evidence that is in front of them and form bad hunches on players as is the case here. Also, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on this guy, as he will probably one of the op 5 RB's in the country this year as only a Sophomore. He's a Beast baby!
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