2021 Purdue Year in Review: Running Back

[BabaYaga]

The season is now over and we take a look back at how the running back room was for Purdue this past year.

 

Coach MasonAsher on the Purdue running back room: I was very happy with how our running backs played last year. I thought that Eduardo did a very good job of moving the ball up the field and took every game in stride. We told him he was going to run the ball up the middle 80% of the time and he did a great job with that. He caught some passes for us too which took a lot of pressure of of our quarterbacks. We have a ton of guys who will be competing for a starting spot next year and I am excited to see how that will come out. We lose three seniors but have a great mix of running backs going forward. Schematically I think this was a unicorn year for us but I think we will find great value in the running backs we have next year. Marcus Dade came in as a highly touted freshman and worked really hard as he got up to speed on the offense. I think you'll see a ton of guys involved this year.

 

Starter:

Eduardo Jackson, SR., 4*, A overall, A potential, A strength, B agility, A speed, B football IQ

Stats: 369 carries, 1757 yards, 13 TD's, 4.7 YPC

 

Backups (all attributes are w/o progression):

Alexi Vollert, SR., 3*, B overall, C+ potential, D strength, B agility, A speed, C football IQ

Austin Wisler, SR., 2*, C overall, C- potential, C strength, C agility, A speed, D football IQ

Austin Balentien, JR., 2*, C overall, B potential, D strength, C agility, A speed, D football IQ

Mike Bates, SO., 4*, B overall, B potential, C strength, B agility, A speed, C football IQ

Marcus Mattison, SO., 2*, C overall, B- potential, D strength, C agility, A speed, D football IQ

Henry Adams, FR., 2*, C overall, C+ potential, F strength, C agility, A speed, D football IQ

 

Redshirts:

Marcus Dade, FR., 4*, B overall, B+ potential, C strength, B agility, A speed, C football IQ

 

Returning Starters: 0/1

Returning Production: Mike Bates: 33 carries, 49 yards, 0 TD