FOURNETTE CARRIES GREAT EXPECTATIONS
when he ran through the drills.”
Most of Fournette’s career has been of the “wow” variety. There was his breakout game against Auburn as a sophomore in 2015 when he gained 228 yards in a little more than a half on 19 carries. On a 29-yard touchdown run, Fournette casually flipped Auburn safety Tray Matthews over his shoulder just as he dodged Auburn safety Nick Ruffin with a cut on a dime.
“That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen,” said Orgeron, who was on the Southern California staff when Reggie Bush played there before he became the second player picked in the 2006 NFL draft.
“Still to this day when I watch that Auburn play, sometimes I can’t believe I did that,” Fournette said.
Said Orgeron, “I’d say he’s the best I’ve ever seen.”
In 2015, Fournette led the nation with 162.8 rushing yards a game, finishing with 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns on 300 attempts along with 19 catches for 253 yards. He was running away with the Heisman Trophy that season before Alabama made him bleed, holding him to 31 yards on 19 carries in a 30-16 loss. Behind a pass-challenged offense again in 2016, he could get only 35 yards on 17 carries in a 10-0 loss to the Crimson Tide.
“He is the closest thing I have seen to a young Adrian Peterson,” said NFL draft expert Mike Detillier of WWL Radio in New Orleans.
Detillier sees Fournette going as high as the fourth pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars and as low as the eighth pick to the Carolina Panthers.
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One might say Leonard Fournette is not exactly worried about the upcoming NFL draft in Philadelphia.
He weighed in at 240 pounds at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in February, which was about 10 more pounds than what he played at in his junior season at LSU in 2016.
He checked in at a sculpted 228 at LSU’s pro day on April 5. Fournette did not bother to do any of the agility drills there or at the combine. His explanation? “Those are things I’m good at,” he said.
And he did have a point as he breezed through individual workouts at running back and wide receiver, which is something he did not play at LSU.
“We’re getting a lot of positive feedback,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “A lot of guys really love Leonard. He looked great in his workouts. He looked fantastic. He looked crisp in the drills he did.”
Fournette showed no signs of a high and low ankle sprain that he suffered shortly before the 2016 season. He played through it in the first four games and suited up in seven games overall, carrying 129 times for 843 yards and eight touchdowns and making 15 catches for 146 yards.
Despite missing two games amid a three-week layoff because of the ankle, Fournette set a school record for yards in a game with 284 on 16 carries with touchdown runs of 78, 76 and 59 yards in a 38-21 win against Mississippi on Oct. 22.
His ankle was obviously bothering him in his last game as a Tiger on Nov. 19 when he rushed 12 times for 40 yards in a 16-10 loss to Florida. His last carry on third-and-goal from the Gators’ 1-yard line in the third quarter with the Tigers down 10-7 was for a 1-yard loss. He was not himself and sat out LSU’s last two games to heal the injury.
“I’m not a doctor, but his ankle looked like 100%,” Orgeron said of his drills on LSU’s pro day. “He cut. He changed directions well. There was kind of a ‘wow’ factor
mock draft has Carolina making a trade with the San Francisco 49ers for the No. 2 overall pick in the first round and taking Fournette.
“I see teams trying to move up to acquire him,” Detillier said. “He has a rare combination of size, power, straight-ahead speed, and he is very intelligent. He can just take over a game, and you also have to think about the fact that he was never surrounded with a strong passing game. And opponents game-planned to stop him.”
Chances are he will never again play for as weak a passing team as he did at LSU.
“Fournette will be a dominant player in the NFL,” Detillier said. “He will need to improve his pass-blocking skills and be a more secure receiver. He does catch the ball well, but at times he will bobble it.”
That is something he has been working on.
“I think he’s the best player in America. I’ve never been a part of a team with a player like Leonard,” Orgeron said.
But it wasn’t a highlight reel or a drill that stays with LSU tight end Foster Moreau.
“The fact that he played hurt all season and played so well was amazing,” Moreau said. “For most of the year, if I hadn’t known he was hurt, I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell because he ran so well anyway, especially in the Ole Miss game. How he played hurt was a true testament to his character and who he is as a man.”
And Moreau added to Fournette’s “wow” factor.
“He was empowering,” he said.