There's been some buzz around Jaguars' second-year running back Travis Etienne lately. A report yesterday (from a site called JaguarReport, so not exactly an unbiased source) says he "looks like his old self" from an explosiveness standpoint. Etienne missed his entire rookie season due to a Lisfranc injury.
That report can be found right here; it also talks about various other Jaguar-related observations. Rose-colored glasses or not, better to hear positive reports than negative, and figure out how to adjust your draft board later.
Etienne's old self is of course pre-NFL, his four years at Clemson. That was a pretty impressive career, which included some Heisman votes in two of his years and a four-year yards from scrimmage total that was the most in the history of the ACC. It was 15th in NCAA history.
That information can be found at College Football Reference. To keep from getting too historical, I limited the numbers to the last 30 years. By that measure, Etienne comes in 12th.
In the list below, active players are in bold. Some of those guys aren't actually on rosters, however. Table suggests that putting up big numbers in college can yield some stars, but also some guys who don't stick around the league for long.
COLLEGE YARDS FROM SCRIMMAGE, 1992-2021 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Yds | From | To | School | |
Donnel Pumphrey | 7444 | 2013 | 2016 | San Diego State | |
Ron Dayne | 7429 | 1996 | 1999 | Wisconsin | |
Ricky Williams | 7206 | 1995 | 1998 | Texas | |
DeAngelo Williams | 6749 | 2002 | 2005 | Memphis | |
Jonathan Taylor | 6581 | 2017 | 2020 | Wisconsin | |
Royce Freeman | 6435 | 2014 | 2017 | Oregon | |
Mewelde Moore | 6423 | 2000 | 2003 | Tulane | |
Justin Jackson | 6298 | 2014 | 2017 | Northwestern | |
Damion Fletcher | 6206 | 2006 | 2009 | Southern Mississippi | |
Cedric Benson | 6161 | 2001 | 2004 | Texas | |
Travis Prentice | 6118 | 1996 | 1999 | Miami (OH) | |
Travis Etienne | 6107 | 2017 | 2020 | Clemson | |
Ito Smith | 5984 | 2014 | 2017 | Southern Mississippi | |
Dontrell Moore | 5800 | 2002 | 2005 | New Mexico | |
Myles Gaskin | 5788 | 2015 | 2018 | Washington | |
Garrett Wolfe | 5752 | 2004 | 2006 | Northern Illinois | |
Montee Ball | 5738 | 2009 | 2012 | Wisconsin | |
Larry Rose | 5715 | 2014 | 2017 | New Mexico State | |
Elijah McGuire | 5695 | 2013 | 2016 | Louisiana | |
LaMichael James | 5668 | 2009 | 2011 | Oregon | |
LaDainian Tomlinson | 5654 | 1997 | 2000 | TCU | |
Michael Hart | 5606 | 2004 | 2007 | Michigan | |
Darren Sproles | 5588 | 2001 | 2004 | Kansas State | |
Charles Sims | 5573 | 2009 | 2013 | West Virginia | |
Marshall Faulk | 5562 | 1991 | 1993 | San Diego State | |
Jarvion Franklin | 5537 | 2014 | 2017 | Western Michigan | |
Ken Simonton | 5516 | 1998 | 2001 | Oregon State | |
Kareem Hunt | 5500 | 2013 | 2016 | Toledo | |
Avon Cobourne | 5498 | 1999 | 2002 | West Virginia | |
Kenneth Dixon | 5452 | 2012 | 2015 | Louisiana Tech | |
Robbie Rouse | 5441 | 2009 | 2012 | Fresno State | |
Dalvin Cook | 5399 | 2014 | 2016 | Florida State | |
Michael Turner | 5392 | 2000 | 2003 | Northern Illinois | |
Denvis Manns | 5312 | 1995 | 1998 | New Mexico State | |
Taurean Henderson | 5299 | 2002 | 2005 | Texas Tech | |
Ameer Abdullah | 5278 | 2011 | 2014 | Nebraska | |
Warrick Dunn | 5273 | 1993 | 1996 | Florida State | |
Ray Rice | 5260 | 2005 | 2007 | Rutgers | |
Lance Dunbar | 5257 | 2008 | 2011 | North Texas | |
Montel Harris | 5256 | 2008 | 2012 | Temple | |
Demarco Murray | 5256 | 2007 | 2010 | Oklahoma | |
Matt Forte | 5250 | 2004 | 2007 | Tulane | |
Tyrell Fenroy | 5231 | 2005 | 2008 | Louisiana | |
Bobby Rainey | 5224 | 2008 | 2011 | Western Kentucky |
Another report I saw recently said that Etienne's been doing a lot of work as a pass catcher. He himself said he'd like to be the next Deebo Samuel, so presumably not playing primarily wideout, but doing a lot of both. I'd like to see him definitely master one thing at the NFL level, either running or receiving, before getting too heavy a workload at both.
The Jaguars seem to have plenty of pass catchers right now, both from high-priced signings (Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Evan Engram) and also holdovers (Marvin Jones, Laviska Shenault), as well as a couple of other veterans (Laquon Treadwell, Jamal Agnew) with uncertain roles. Running back looks iffier, with James Robinson coming off a torn Achilles, and the other backs on the roster either late-rounders or undrafted guys (Snoop Conner, Mekhi Sargent, Ryquell Armstead).
So it feels like the easiest path for Etienne to help the team and fantasy teams will be moving to the top of the running back depth chart. If I'm selecting him, it's with the idea he'll at the very least be a busy third-down back, but potentially at least splitting early-down carries. I think I'll need to see or hear more in the preseason before drafting him where I'm seeing him go in early drafts, despite that nice college production.
--Andy Richardson