Why Leonard Fournette Is Already 2017 NFL Draft's Top Running Back

Leonard Fournette is the biggest name in college football. In Sports Illustrated's recent effort to put together the top 100 players in the FBS, the LSU running back ranked first.

In June, Pro Football Focus' Jeff Dooley called the Tiger the toughest running back to tackle, comparing him to the Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson, who will likely become the NFL's leading active career rusher in the coming season. On top of that, Fournette is among the favorites for the Heisman Trophy, according to Odds Shark.

When Fournette recently told SEC media day guests "I enjoy college" in response to questions of his 2017 NFL draft status, he had a reason a reason for it. He's the man in college football.

Since his days as a super recruit, all eyes have been on Fournette. In high school, according to 247Sports, he combined for 90 rushing touchdowns and 7,630 rushing yards while as a prep in Louisiana.

Per Bleacher Report's Sanjay Kirpalani, Fournette was offered a scholarship by both LSU and Alabama, two of the Southeastern Conference's elite, when he was just a high school freshman. Three years later, as a senior, Fournette committed to play football at LSU as the top player in Louisiana, the top running back in the nation and the top overall player in America, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Starting six games as a freshman at LSU, he rushed for 1,034 yards and 10 touchdowns. Last season, as a sophomore, he broke out with an All-American effort of 1,953 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns. Most running backs at Power Five programs would be happy with Fournette's true freshman totals for their redshirt senior seasons, and he nearly doubled his numbers in his first season as a full-time starter.

What he's been able to accomplish in a short amount of time can only be compared to other sports prodigies such as LeBron James.

The draft process will be the first time Fournette goes through months of public scrutiny in his career, but luckily for him, his flaws are fairly limited and his positives jump off the screen on Saturdays.

NFL Draft Scout projects Fournette to weigh in at 230 pounds with a 4.47-second 40-yard dash. In the past 10 draft classes, the closest first-round running backs with that combo are Trent Richardson, with a 4.48-second 40-yard dash at 228 pounds, and Jonathan Stewart, with a 4.48-second 40-yard dash at 235 pounds. When people say Fournette is a rare big, explosive back—even on the relative scale of first-round talents—they're correct.

Like Richardson, Fournette can drop a shoulder and deliver punishment like he's a linebacker. Rarely does he go down at the point of first contact, as he's always falling forward with the ball. His trucking ability is highlighted when he's in the open space, where he has the opportunity to transition speed into power and can time a shoulder strike on a safety.

In the SEC, you don't often see a running back jump from four yards out into a linebacker who has his feet planted, ready to strike, and win the forward momentum battle, but here we are. When watching Fournette, it's important to expect the unexpected.

Want him to cut away from a diving defensive back into a future top-40 pick defensive lineman and drag him for five to six yards? Fournette has no issue with that task. He's just simply not going to go down without a fight. 

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LSU has a 2 v 2 on the right. If the LB fills, the QB is supposed to pull to a 4 v 3 in space. He doesn't. pic.twitter.com/kxKdhwiORJ

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 14, 2016"

When watching Fournette's 2015, you start to get the feeling he'll transition even better to the professional game. Numerous times in LSU's shotgun spread looks, the quarterback will give the ball to Fournette on incorrect reads, leading him into failure less than one second into a play.

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LSU folding their center, leaving a man open on the backside. Bama just beat them up front and suffocated Fournette. pic.twitter.com/W37vj59PNy

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 14, 2016"

The difference between NFL run offenses and college run offenses can mean executing just one extra block, which can be crucial to any carry. After quarterback, there may not be a positional group that takes as stark of a jump from the college to professional level as offensive linemen.

During power rushing plays, backs can only hit the hole they've been designed to hit. If nothing is there, a runner will get stuffed.

LSU's offensive line can outathlete and outdrive the majority of the opponents they face, but when they face more talented run-pluggers, ones who are destined to play on Sundays, it's problematic. This is one reason for his season-low 1.6-yards per carry against the Alabama Crimson Tide, despite his stellar 6.5-yard-per-carry average on the season.

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Numbers flat blocking an edge defender: go outside. Fournette is good about that for an "inside/power" runner. pic.twitter.com/itysGhJpe6

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 14, 2016"

With that being said, he does freelance a bit when the opportunity presents itself. It's hard to go against the grain of pulling and folding blockers and survive with a positive play outside of structure, but Fournette has put that on film, even against top SEC defenses. When he sees an edge defender get blocked, either turning inside or staying flat with the last Tiger blocker on the line, Fournette's instincts to bounce the play outside kick in, and with his speed, he's rarely wrong.

There is room for improvement with the back, though. On inside runs, there's little time for dancing, and with Fournette's dominance to this point, it makes sense that he's not accustomed to taking a short loss behind the line of scrimmage. He does get himself in trouble in those situations, shaking his way into even bigger losses. He's not Barry Sanders, and he never will be. That's perfectly fine.

His lateral agility is also fairly average on the relative scale of NFL running backs. Not all is lost for backfield penetrators, though. When defensive linemen are overly agressive, posting themselves further in the backfield than the initial starting point of offensive linemen, Fournette's pure speed allows him to jet past defenders into the secondary.

Some will also criticize his blocking when the ball isn't in his hands, but LSU asks a lot from him in pass protection. Typically, a back reads one side of a defense, from A-gap to C-gap or C-gap to A-gap, to assist in pass protection, whereas the Tigers seem to often ask him to keep an eye on the edges of both sides of the offensive line.

Downfield, he's also shown the effort to take two defenders out of a play for his fellow skill players, something 2016 fourth overall pick Ezekiel Elliott was praised for all last draft cycle. Ohio State's biggest play of the season, Braxton Miller's spin move, was sprung by Elliott's blocking of multiple Virginia Tech Hokies in one rep.

Fournette's flaws could either be avoided by scheme or are coachable. Effort is never an issue with him on film. It's why LSU ran him over and over again on the goal line against Alabama. It's why the Tigers implemented a pseudo-wildcat formation for him, where he was snapped the ball and ran downhill on defenses in short-yardage situations.

If Fournette falls into the hands of an NFL offensive coordinator who wants to run a traditional I formation offense, he'll thrive—just like he did in traditional formations in college.

With six or seven blockers in front of him and his breakaway speed, he's always one poor angle or missed tackle away from the home run ball. When the holes are there for him to explode straight into the secondary, he jumps on the opportunity with a hunger rarely seen at the professional level.

Against defensive backs, who almost always have to tackle the 230-pounder low, he knows how to game blindly diving players with either a spin move, a shoulder drive or with his offhand shifting through trash.

He has a clear second gear, which should help him out on screen plays despite the fact he's only caught 26 passes in two years with the Tigers. To put that speed into perspective, he has even pulled away from SEC edge defenders with outside containment responsibilities who had a clean outside shoulder on the boundary side of the field.

Even on broken plays, Fournette can sustain momentum. In the SEC, he is a man among boys. In the NFL, teams only need to allow him to be what he already is: a bully.

In any power scheme, Fournette is the best draft-eligible running back heading into the 2016 regular season. Even in a draft class that could feature Georgia's Nick Chubb, Florida State's Dalvin Cook, Stanford's Christian McCaffrey and Oregon's Royce Freeman, Fournette stands out. That speaks volumes in itself.