Groundpounder said:
My concern with Ball is that when I watch his highlights I see alot of gaping holes and not alot of impressive running.
Everyone keeps saying this. I see plenty of impressive running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVgEIMKr0U
:46 - powers through two leg tackles, then stiffarms a d back in the open field for a long TD
1:01 - hurdles a defender at the line, then lands and powers forward for a 5+ yard TD.
1:07 - spin move to pick up a first down and more first and ten
1:32 - breaks several tackles for a long gainer on an outside run turned back inside
2:22 - absolutely destroys a swarm of purdue defenders, turns nothing into a long TD
2:48 - drags four tacklers for a first down
3:08 - nice spin, broken tackle, first down
3:28 - gets hit, keeps his balance, turns the corner, gets tackled again, breaks it, outruns two more guys for the 5 yard TD run
3:46 - juke move for a nice gainer
4:08 - runs into a wall, bounces off, turns the corner, and avoids a tackler plus his own idiot receiver
4:21 - nice catch over the middle, quick spin and a long TD
4:35 - nice stiff arm
4:51 - creates a bunch of yardage
5:00 and 5:08 - two nice sidesteps
5:15 - Avoids multiple bad tackles from behind
5:41 - Giddyup!
5:57 - Spins to break a tackle for the TD
I think people are looking to give all the credit to the blocking so they don't get fooled by another Wisconsin back. And that's fine - it's hard for an armchair scout to say whether a college player is going to be good or not, and it's totally reasonable to develop thumb rules like avoiding Wisconsin RBs or not liking RBs in a class where no RB went in the top 15 picks (both have beEn pretty good rules IIRC).
But saying you watched the highlights and didn't see the talent - that it was all the huge open holes and nothing to do with the player - seems wrong to me. Watch the video, take a look at some of the clips I pointed out, and you'll see his talent on display. Will that talent translate to the NFL? I don't know. It's a lot easier to break tackles and stiffarm or spin your way out of trouble in college than in the NFL. But there's no question that Ball is able to create offense. He's my top player in this year's draft and there aren't many others I even want, and it's because he has both the talent and the situation.