Is Darrell Scott Finally Ready to Become the Star We Expected Him to Be?

Explosiveness, balance, power, speed and vision.

Those are the five traits I value most in a running back.

Very rarely do you come across a total package back who possesses an equal amount of all five traits.

It’s a category reserved for only the elite rushers of the game.

‘Five Tool’ backs are the ones who can simultaneously will their offense to the end zone while wowing crowds with dazzling highlight-reel runs.

Because the competition is so questionable at the high school level, it’s hard to judge how great a young running back really is, and it's difficult to tell if he's actually a 'Five Tool' back.

The greatest high school running back I’ve ever seen in my lifetime is Adrian Peterson.

After catching a glimpse of Peterson at the annual Army All-American game back in 2004, I was convinced that he was the only high school football player who I've seen who was physically equipped to make a successful jump straight to the NFL.

Peterson was so great and so dominant that he turned out to be the player who first got me interested in college football recruiting.

In the years that have followed, out of the hundreds of different highlights I’ve seen of top running back recruits, there’s only been one prospect who I’ve even thought of putting in Peterson’s class and that was Darrell Scott out of California’s St. Bonaventure High School.

Scott, who was rated as the No. 1 back of the 2008 class by both Scout and Rivals recruiting services, may not have been quite the same sheer unstoppable force that Peterson was during his time at Palestine High School, but you could tell from just one look that Scott had been blessed with the same type of physical gifts.

The 6’1’’, 215-pound high school senior was rumored to run a sub-4.4 40-yard dash and if you’ve seen some of Scott’s high school film, that actually seems pretty believable.

After running for over 2,400 yards and 35 TDs and pacing St. Bonaventure to a division and state championship as a senior, it came time for Scott to decide on his football future.

All the major colleges came calling.

Schools such as USC, Texas, Michigan, Miami, and Florida State all offered Scott the chance to come be a star and flaunt his talents in front of millions, but the highly touted recruit had other plans.

Shockingly, Scott made the decision to sign with Colorado, a program not traditionally known for bringing in five-star recruits.

At the time, then-head coach Dan Hawkins was entering his third season in Boulder with a combined 8-17 record, but somehow, Hawkins managed to reel in the one of the biggest football fishes in the country.

Scott arrived at Colorado and instantly became one of the most popular players on the team, but he ended up eventually losing out in a position battle with lesser known teammate Rodney Stewart and he never recovered.

His production as a freshman, just 343 rushing yards and one touchdown, never came close to matching his initial hype and midway through his second season, it became clear to Scott that going to Colorado was indeed a mistake and a misjudgment.

Sadly, it appeared that Scott had wasted the phenomenal potential he showed as a high school standout.

Second chances in major college football don’t come along all that often, but Scott may have lucked out and found the ideal situation to try and wage his comeback in 2011.

In the 14-year history of the South Florida football program, the team has never had a running back drafted by an NFL team.

Sure, the Bulls have had their fare share of successful ground attacks over the years but the team has never truly produced a bona fide star at the position.

Andre Hall, the team’s all time leading rusher, is the best back in school history and I bet 80 percent of college football fans have no idea who he is.

The Bulls have been waiting for a big time running back and they may have finally backdoored their way into one after Scott’s transfer down to Tampa.

From all the reports that I’ve seen and read this spring, it sounds as if Scott has the right mindset and the right attitude to buckle down and get to work this season.

There is no sense of the typical ego that you sometimes see from former highly praised and highly publicized high school recruits.

The former five star prospect may have to fight for carries early on in the season with backfield mates Demetris Murray and Dontae Aycock, but if the big junior can get going quickly, he should become the offense’s featured back relatively early.

At this point, Darrell Scott is still an unproven commodity who has the promise and the potential but lacks the production to back it up.

Can Scott be the most effective running back in the Big East this season?

Oh yeah, he’s got the talent, but guys like Cincinnati's Isaiah Pead, Pittsburgh’s Ray Graham and Louisville’s Victor Anderson will have their say as well.

With the departures of Jordan Todman, Bilal Powell, Delone Carter, Noel Devine, and Dion Lewis, five of the conference’s top six rushers from a year ago, there’s now plenty of room for running backs to make a name for themselves this season.

Even though it’s still early, if you told me I had to pick a favorite to win the Big East this season, I’d have to go with South Florida.

We already know players like QB B.J. Daniels will be crucial to the offense’s ultimate success, but it should be interesting to see how big of an impact Scott will have.

Now that Bryce Brown's getting a fresh start at Kansas State and Darrell Scott is looking to make moves at South Florida, don't be surprised if 2011 turns out to be the season of redemption for former top running back recruits.