t-100. Oregon State RB Jermar Jefferson
5-foot-10, 217 pounds
Yahoo Sports draft grade: 5.71 — starter potential
TL;DR scouting report: Nicely built back who lacks extra gear but consistently churned out long runs in impressive three-year career
Games watched: Hawaii (2019), Cal (2019), Cal (2020), Oregon (2020), Stanford (2020)
The skinny: A 3-star Rivals recruit, Jefferson started nine of 12 games as a true freshman in 2018 and was named Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year after setting the school mark for rushing yards by a true freshman (1,380). Suffering through a chronic ankle injury and splitting carries with Artavis Pierce in 2019, Jefferson’s production fell off (685 rush yards, eight rush TDs).
Jefferson finished his career with a brilliant 2020 season — 858 yards, seven TDs rushing in six games — before declaring early for the 2021 NFL draft.
Upside: Averaged 5.7 yards per carry and one rushing TD per game in his career, despite not playing behind overly talented offensive line. Collected 15 100-yard rushing efforts in 27 games (21 starts).
Good vision to anticipate and find holes — a run-to-daylight back. Excellent short-area quickness and fairly elusive for a back pushing 220 pounds. He can make defenders miss in tight quarters and does a great job of turning 3-yard losses into positive plays. Squeezes out extra yards with nice contact balance with a compact, sturdy frame and by keeping his feet alive.
Collected 78 runs of 10-plus yards and seven runs of 45-plus in 514 career rushes. Low mileage with fewer than 600 carries and has shown to handle a medium-sized load (14 games with 20-plus carries).
Reliable safety-valve receiver who dropped one career pass, caught 43 of his 49 targets and averaged a healthy 9.3 yards per reception.
Downside: Ball security is concerning. He had six fumbles in 559 touches, including three in 144 touches in 2020. Bit of a singles hitter as a runner who pops an occasional home run.
Limited usage as receiver — asked to catch only screens, bubbles, swing routes, etc. Had one one career catch more than 10 yards downfield. Targeted only 25 times in final 17 college games.
Doesn’t possess breakaway speed despite penchant for big plays. Could stand to run with more force and pop behind his pads. He's not really a power back for his size. Lacks great open-field creativity as a runner.
His injury history must be vetted as Jefferson was plagued by ankle and foot injuries in 2019. Missed possible showcase game vs. Utah for COVID-related reasons. Might fall into the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none category.
Best-suited destination: Jefferson profiles as a change-of-pace runner who can develop his third-down ability over time.
Did you know: Jefferson’s father, Herb, was a 5-foot-7, 165-pound wide receiver at Sonoma State in the early 1990s (where he was a teammate of future Cowboy Larry Allen) who played semi-pro ball as a QB into his 40s.
Player comp: Jefferson is somewhere on the Joshua Kelley/Mike Davis spectrum
Expected draft range: Rounds 4-5