Big Board ranking: #66

Positional ranking: #6

 

Overview

Position: RB

College: Texas

Class: Sophomore (RS)

Age: 20

 

Measurables

Height: 6’0 3/8”

Weight: 216 lbs.

Arm length: 31 1/2″

Hand size: 9 1/4″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: N/A

10-yard split: N/A

Vertical jump: N/A

Broad jump: N/A

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Smooth and gliding runner. Great speed and acceleration. Will finish runs with power. Excellent overall pacing as a runner. Very comfortable behind a lead blocker. Knows how to take angles through the second level into the open field. Impressive peripheral vision when he gets through the line of scrimmage. Follows his blockers in space. Terrific feet and balance. Light feet to step by low tackle attempts. Exceptional ability to throttle down and reaccelerate. Instantly gets back to running after skips and hops. Has suddenness making cuts. Very effective dead-leg juke cut. Tremendous natural ability to evade defenders. Makes safeties miss as the final line of defense. Outstanding stiff arm in the open field. Great ability to make penetrators miss and shuffle cut to the hole. Consistently runs off the back of his blockers on runs to the edge. Doesn’t unnecessarily bounce runs. Effective on shotgun counters. Extremely soft hands. Very dangerous on screen passes. Used on wide and middle screens in addition to normal running back screens. Smooth on out routes from the backfield. Instantly turns into a runner after the catch. Experience lining up outside the numbers. Excellent in pass protection. Will stone opponents and help with strong chips. Has been the lead and backside blocker in split shotgun formations.

 

Weaknesses

A little inconsistent in terms of vision and patience when the blocking isn’t clean. Misses some wider cutbacks on inside runs. Sometimes would like to see him power through a lane rather than looking for a less crowded path. Could be more aggressive attacking the ball in contested coverage. Seems to take shots around the knee as he gets into space. Recovering from a torn ACL suffered in early November.

 

NFL comparison

Melvin Gordon

 

Conclusion

Overall, Brooks is a gliding runner with a very well-rounded game and big-play ability when he gets into the open field. His game is very similar to that of Melvin Gordon, and teams should still consider him in Round 2 despite the torn ACL.