Breaking Down the Tape
Reviewing Top Tier RBs Eligible for the 2008 NFL Draft

I'd like to break down the tape of one top tier running back per week each of the next 12 weeks. I'll do this by watching one of their games and commenting on their play in that game, including fakes and blocking assignments, as well as their NFL prospects. My schedule for this feature is as follows:

Remaining Features:

Felix Jones, Arkansas
Ray Rice, Rutgers
Chris Johnson, East Carolina
Tashard Choice, Georgia Tech

Obviously all of the defenses these players play will not be equal, but I still think we can get a good approximation of the skill sets that each of these running backs will bring to the NFL. This list also could be affected by injuries to the players and I will try to juggle it to fit everyone in if that occurs.

Rashard Mendenhall - Jr. - Illinois
Jersey #: 5
Wt: 205
Age on 9/1/2008: 21.22
My Pre-Season Rank: Not Ranked
My Current Rank: #2

Tony Nowak's Take:
Mendenhall has the talent to emerge as one of the best RBs in the country this year, but has a lot to do to prove it. A blue chip 2005 recruit, he stayed in-state with a struggling Illinois program to play with his older brother (Walter, a reserve FB). Rashard has been behind Pierre Thomas and E.B. Halsey the last two years, but both are gone now and he should be the feature attraction this season. Second on the team in rushing with 640 yards last year, he averaged 8.2 ypc thanks to his big play ability (two runs over 75 yards, as well as one catch). While he was featured in a few games and clearly more talented than any other RB on the roster, he was unable to hang on to the role due to ball security. He had four fumbles on just 78 carries. Mendenhall got off to a slow start while other junior runners raced out of the blocks and have risen to prominence to create a buzz about the underclassmen potential in this RB class. However, he should catch them this year and be among the crowd with the credentials to declare early.

Stats (from ESPN):

Break Down the Tape:

1st Play - 1st Quarter - 14:52 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle; there's a decent hole and he gets there pretty quickly; looks to have a shorter stride than the average back; the hole closes and a defender gets him around the ankles; he fights forward and manages to break the tackle, but loses his balance and goes down a couple yards further downfield; shows good determination here

2nd Play - 1st Quarter - 14:12 - Run Fake
Mendenhall fakes the handoff and heads toward a hole in the line; the defense bites on the fake and the QB passes deep downfield for a touchdown

3rd Play - 1st Quarter - 10:55 - Run Right
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes right; heads outside, but a blocked defender is coming up field so he cuts back in pretty smoothly, although with a couple of extra steps; waiting in the hole is a defender, Mendenhall puts a nice quick juke on him and cuts inside; defender barely gets an arm on him as he turns sideways to avoid it, but he gets tackled from behind by a free defender

4th Play - 1st Quarter - 9:10 - Pass Route
Mendenhall goes into a short middle curl route at the snap; QB is sacked

5th Play - 1st Quarter - 7:02 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle; no hole where he is headed so he cuts back to the right; cut is a little slow and sloppy and the hole he saw closes up quickly; he gets minimal gain

6th Play - 1st Quarter - 6:24 - Run Middle
Mendenhall heads up the middle; sees a hole to the right and is heading toward it when a defender appears there; cuts it back to the middle with a pretty smooth cut and rams up into the back of some blockers; shows nice leg drive and determination to gain some extra yards; the cutback decision is interesting, he probably didn't have room in the hole to completely juke the defender, but he certainly would have gained more yards had he rammed his way into that defender instead of going back into the line

7th Play - 1st Quarter - 1:17 - Run Fake
Mendenhall is faked the handoff; it's a pretty nice fake that Mendenhall sells for 3 or 4 steps but then he stops and turns around; should have continued the fake a bit more

8th Play - 1st Quarter - 0:38 - Pass Route
Mendenhall runs a wheel route out of the backfield to the left sideline; pass is complete in the middle

9th Play - 2nd Quarter - 15:00 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle; gets to the LOS pretty quickly, although he's not as explosive as some other backs; nicely avoids a tackle without changing much direction and then heads into the line with his head down; doesn't show great push at the point of contact, but gets the first down

10th Play - 2nd Quarter - 14:34 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle; sees the hole and gets to it quickly; gets caught up in some trash and goes down without a lot of forward momentum; seems to use his body for power instead of his legs by not churning them after contact

11th Play - 2nd Quarter - 13:57 - Run Middle
Mendenhall heads up the middle after the handoff; an unblocked defender comes in from the edge and tackles him for a loss; nothing he could have done there

12th Play - 2nd Quarter - 13:13 - Pass Route
At the snap, Mendenhall heads into the left flat on a pass route; pass is completed downfield

13th Play - 2nd Quarter - 12:17 - Run Fake
Mendenhall fakes the handoff left, as the QB keeps it and runs for 23 yards; average fake by Mendenhall

14th Play - 2nd Quarter - 11:51 - Pass Route
Mendenhall heads out on a short wheel route to the right side at the snap; QB scrambles for a couple of yards

15th Play - 2nd Quarter - 11:42 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and heads toward the middle; a blocked defender dives into the backfield, forcing him to make a quick move left, gearing down a bit; another defender comes in clean and gets him by the shoe before he can move back to the right; he keeps his balance and keeps yanking at the defender, finally freeing his foot; he cuts back to the middle, showing nice speed to outrun a defender; shows a nice powerful stiff arm as a defender tries to tackle him from the left side; cuts back to the middle taking too many steps and runs right into a defender; hits the defender as he spins away and manages to fall forward for a first down; very nice run, showing good wiggle and nice calm in some tight spaces

16th Play - 2nd Quarter - 11:16 - Pass Route
Mendenhall runs into the right flat on a pass route at the snap; pass is completed over the middle

17th Play - 2nd Quarter - 10:30 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle; Mendenhall heads quickly up the middle, although he is not as fast or explosive doing so as the other top backs; he keeps his legs churning as he gets into traffic and again shows nice running in tight spaces, busting out into the second level; he makes a nice clean cut to the left to get outside and gets caught up in more traffic; he keeps churning his legs and spinning around trying to break free but finally goes down under the weight of 3 defenders; nice run

18th Play - 2nd Quarter - 8:01 - Run Middle
Mendenhall goes up the middle; no hole there and some traffic in the backfield so he makes a nice side step and heads to the right; still nothing there and he goes down with a minimal gain

19th Play - 2nd Quarter - 7:18 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block; he engages a defender and does a nice job keeping the defender out of the pocket and not giving up the block

20th Play - 2nd Quarter - 6:33 - Run Fake
The handoff is faked to Mendenhall; he does a pretty poor job of selling the fake, slowing up and looking back toward the QB after only a few steps; the QB keeps the ball and is stuffed; he'll need to improve that in the NFL

21st Play - 2nd Quarter - 0:40 - Pass Catch
Mendenhall heads into the short flat at the snap; the screen pass is thrown to him; he makes a nice catch outside his body as he is moving backward and quickly orients himself; shakes a defender right on his back at the catch and then quickly accelerates into space across the middle of the field; makes a quick juke move but gets taken down by a defender right at the original LOS; nice job with the catch and run to space, just nothing there

22nd Play - 3rd Quarter - 11:46 - Run Fake
Mendenhall runs wide left at the snap behind the QB for the fake while the QB hands it to another RB who gets a good gain up the middle

23rd Play - 3rd Quarter - 11:20 - Pass Route
At the snap, Mendenhall goes to the left flat on a wheel route; pass is complete over the middle for a nice gain

24th Play - 3rd Quarter - 11:11 - Run Right
Mendenhall heads wide right at the snap, ahead of the QB on an option run; pitch is made to him; nice catch looking backwards; he shows nice acceleration once he has the ball secured; makes a quick cut back inside due to some traffic in front of him; too many defenders have read the play and there is no where for him to go; takes a loss

25th Play - 3rd Quarter - 7:31 - Run Fake
Mendenhall is faked the handoff and heads up the middle; nice fake and he carries it out well

26th Play - 3rd Quarter - 6:57 - Pass Catch
Mendenhall heads out the left flat at the snap on a screen route; pass is thrown to him and he makes a nice catch with his hands; a defender comes in and Mendenhall makes a great juke back inside and then outside to completely fake out the defender; really nice move; after the fake he accelerates again pretty quickly, running out of an ankle tackle; finally gets tackled from behind after a nice gain downfield; very impressive catch and run

27th Play - 3rd Quarter - 6:14 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block; does a decent job helping out a lineman, but nothing that special; QB scrambles out of the pocket and Mendenhall takes off as a pass option; when QB tucks the ball to run and goes past Mendenhall, he is not in position to block the defender on him, but still turns and subtly trips the defender; very good, no look trip, you can even see a Michigan coach on the sideline making the penalty flag throwing motion; QB gains an impressive amount of yardage; very nice, smart play by Mendenhall, from the blocking to the pass route to the subtle block, very NFL looking

28th Play - 3rd Quarter - 5:43 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and heads up the middle; huge hole there and Mendenhall gets up to speed pretty quickly; makes a man miss who is coming late to the hole by speeding up and using his off hand; into the secondary before a DB goes low and knocks him down; really shows his north-south style here, as a more lateral back would likely have tried to avoid the DB

29th Play - 3rd Quarter - 5:20 - Run Middle
Mendenhall heads up the middle once again; this time he needs to weave through some holes to get to the second level; he does a nice job making a cut outside followed by a cut inside to do so; he really does a great job keeping his momentum going when he makes cuts like these; he doesn't break down and make a large lateral move, but he just weaves back and forth like a train on a track; of course he can't escape some situations as well doing this as a back with a breakdown lateral move, but keeping his forward momentum and power going is probably more important to his running style anyway; back to the run, he makes a final step plant cut up field just stretching away from a diving defender and then lowers his shoulders and plows ahead to get as much as he can as the defenders close in; very nice run that a quality defensive team knew was coming, but couldn't stop

30th Play - 3rd Quarter - 5:03 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block as the pass is completed short right

31st Play - 3rd Quarter - 4:22 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes an inside handoff and heads up the middle crossing toward the right side of the LOS; can't get through all the traffic there and goes down at the LOS; not a well designed play, in my opinion

32nd Play - 3rd Quarter - 0:08 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle; nothing much there and he runs into a blocker at the LOS; does a nice job powering his way through a small crack and churning his legs to get several more yards into a pile of bodies; twists at the end and almost comes out of the pile, but can't quite do it and goes down

33rd Play - 4th Quarter - 15:00 - Run Middle
Mendenhall goes right up the gut again; just running downhill through a smallish hole; powers ahead for a nice gain through some traffic and arm tackles, again showing that making some small cuts can really help; he really runs very well in tight spaces, which is a key to being successful at the next level; he also takes very small, short steps, which is bad in a sense because it slows up his acceleration, but it's good because it allows him to change direction in small doses with little gear down, which fits his running style very well

34th Play - 4th Quarter - 14:33 - Run Middle
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes up the middle on a 3rd and short; makes a small cut in the backfield to get to a hole and then bursts through it almost untouched; gets hit solidly from the side by the middle linebacker, but keeps his balance and still stretches to gain more yards as he goes down

35th Play - 4th Quarter - 14:13 - Run Fake
Mendenhall is faked the handoff up the middle and sells it very well; the outside WR has a ton of separation but the pass hangs up and is incomplete

36th Play - 4th Quarter - 14:05 - Pass Route
Mendenhall goes into the right flat at the snap; pass is complete to the short middle

37th Play - 4th Quarter - 13:44 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block, but the QB rolls the opposite way and he never engages anyone

38th Play - 4th Quarter - 13:38 - Run Fake
Mendenhall is the pitch man on an option run right; QB keeps the ball and gains little yardage

39th Play - 4th Quarter - 8:12 - Run Left
Mendenhall takes the handoff and goes to the left side of the line; heading toward the edge, but sees a hole near the end of the line and cuts back inside; gears down a little bit too much to make the cut as is expected because it's a larger angle cut; gets back to up to speed pretty well before getting caught up in traffic and going down

40th Play - 4th Quarter - 7:34 - Pass Route
Mendenhall does a short route over the middle at the snap; QB scrambles and is sacked

41st Play - 4th Quarter - 6:47 - Pass Route
Mendenhall does another short route over the middle; pass is incomplete longer over the middle

42nd Play - 4th Quarter - 3:43 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block; does a real nice job engaging a rusher and helping to keep the pocket intact; pass is incomplete downfield

43rd Play - 4th Quarter - 3:39 - Pass Catch
Mendenhall heads to the right flat at the snap and the pass is thrown to him; he does a nice job catching the ball as he keeps moving straight ahead; gets up to speed through a hole on the outside and then sees a better path back inside and gears down to make a move back there; the change of direction is nice and he gets back up to speed with little delay; makes a nice lean move to avoid a blocker and then plants his inside foot and turns back up field through a small seam; gets jumped on by 4 defenders but still churns the legs and gets some extra yards; great run and catch

44th Play - 4th Quarter - 3:27 - Pass Route
Mendenhall goes in to the short middle on a pass route; pass is incomplete downfield

45th Play - 4th Quarter - 3:18 - Pass Route
Mendenhall goes in to the short middle on a pass route; pass is complete to the right side of the field

46th Play - 4th Quarter - 3:01 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block; he goes to cut a defender, but does a pretty poor job because he lowers his head too soon and just falls down; defenders jumps over him, but the ball has already been thrown downfield

47th Play - 4th Quarter - 2:54 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block and does a nice job against a defender straight up; he gives up a little bit too soon and looks back for the pass to be thrown; pass is incomplete

48th Play - 4th Quarter - 2:48 - Pass Catch
Mendenhall fakes staying into block and then heads out into the right flat for a screen; makes a nice catch facing the QB; turns quickly and heads inside; sees a defender coming and in and makes a nice jump stop back to the outside; the defender is faked, but his legs trip up Mendenhall as he goes by

49th Play - 4th Quarter - 2:27 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block; he tries to go low and completely whiffs on the defender; he really telegraphed the cut block and his defender then hit the QB causing an errant pass; he'll need to work on that at the next level

50th Play - 4th Quarter - 2:22 - Pass Route
Mendenhall heads out into the right flat on a short pass route; pass is incomplete downfield

51st Play - 4th Quarter - 1:11 - Pass Block
Mendenhall stays in to pass block and does a decent job herding a rushing defender past the QB; pass is intercepted

Final Game Stats:
Mendenhall had 18 carries for 85 yards and 0 TDs. That's a 4.7 yard per carry average with a long run of 13 yards. He also had 4 catches for 26 yards.

Play Chart Breakdown:
51 Total Plays
18 Runs
8 Run Fakes
9 Pass Blocks
12 Pass Routes
4 Pass Catches

Rashard Mendenhall Summary:

Rashard is an excellent running back and a very good NFL prospect. He is a prototypical between the tackles runner, with good balance and excellent power. He really moves well in tight spaces and shows above average short range vision. He takes short steps, which does slow down his acceleration, but it speeds up his ability to change direction slightly without stopping forward momentum. He doesn't move that well laterally, but has excellent wiggle, shrugging off arm tackles. He isn't afraid to run into a small hole and he does a great job leaning forward as he churns his legs which helps add a couple of yards to most of his runs. He also catches the ball nicely and does a good job in space, although he seems almost more comfortable in traffic. He is usually a willing blocker, although he'll really have to work on the cut block. He also shows good football IQ.

Mendenhall is the type of running back that can be successful in almost any system, although he doesn't show great lateral movement so a system that requires him to run sweeps will likely be less advantageous to his skills. He shows the hands to make the tough catches, and is smooth looking back to catch a ball over his shoulder as he runs forward. If he can improve his cut blocking skills, he can be a long term 3 down back at the next level.

Rating System:
Mendenhall would be a 1A in the rating system if taken in the first 2 rounds, or a 2A if taken in rounds 3 or 4.