Trent Richardson: Alabama RB Will Blow Away Scouts at NFL Combine

If there's any one college football star who's worth watching at this week's NFL Scouting Combine, it's Trent Richardson.

The 5'11", 224-pound stud out of Alabama has drawn favorable comparisons to Minnesota Vikings superstar Adrian Peterson for his outstanding combination of size, speed, power and agility.

And with the proper display of those traits in Indianapolis, he may yet work his way into the mix as a top-five pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Richardson already grades out as a top-15 pick, if not higher, and is far and away the best prospect at running back in the current draft class. During his three years in Tuscaloosa, Richardson showed off the strength and tenacity to run through defenders, the maneuverability and leaping ability to run over and around them and the straight-line speed and quickness to run away from anyone who'd dare try to chase him down.

All Richardson needs to do now is show off the raw measurables to support what scouts have seen of him on tape and he'll be well on his way to an even bigger draft-day payday this spring.

That part of it should actually be the least of Richardson's worries. In fact, he might even be the strongest player in the entire pool of draftees, having benched nearly 500 pounds and cleaned almost 400 pounds in the weight room.

Richardson need only do in front of scouts what he's been doing for years—that is, lift a ton of weight, put his sprinter's speed to dazzling use in the 40-yard dash and dance around cones—to make teams like the Cleveland Browns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take a good, hard look at him as the best choice with the fourth or fifth pick, respectively.

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