Leonard Fournette had one of the best bowl performances in the country this season, capping off a year in which he led LSU on the ground and set a school record for rushing yards by a freshman. One of the most frightening physical specimens has already established himself as a top running back in the SEC.

Fournette is just getting started.

“This was my learning season,” Fournette told the media after his stunning Music City Bowl performance.

If that’s the case, Fournette is an awfully quick learner. In LSU’s season opener, Fournette looked very much the part of a freshman playing his first college game. He was impatient behind the Tigers offensive line, anxious to run over defenders instead of waiting for holes. In high school, Fournette was the biggest, fastest and baddest man on the field. He found out quickly that wasn’t going to be the case in college.

It took a few more games against Power Five competition for Fournette to truly get in the swing of things, but he figured it out. Three of his five 100-yard games in 2014 came against SEC teams, all LSU wins, and a fourth came in his monstrous bowl effort. By the end of the season, it looked like Fournette was beginning to grasp how to use his prodigious gifts.

At 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, he can overpower many linebackers and every defensive back he comes up against. With a reported 40-yard dash time of 4.35 seconds, he can sprint past them, too. He found a balance between those two unfair strengths by year’s end, showing them off in the Tigers’ bowl loss with 264 total yards and two scores.

Is there room for improvement for Fournette? Of course. The freshman will be even better in 2015, and we have a few ideas how.

  • A heavier workload: Fournette led LSU in carries by a wide margin in 2014, with 75 more carries than the Tigers’ second-leading ball carrier. However, he had eight games with 15 or fewer carries. With the duo of Terrence Magee and Kenny Hilliard graduating, players who complimented and duplicated Fournette’s strengths, respectively, there should be room for Fournette to expand his workload next year as the most experienced back on the roster. Fournette averaged more than 7 yards per carry in the games he had more than 15 yards, a clear sign that he thrives the more he gets the rock.
  • Fourth quarter carries: With a deep backfield in 2014, LSU was able to call upon a host of runners to take advantage of tired defenses late in games. Hilliard was the main back the Tigers turned to late in games, as the senior led LSU with 38 fourth quarter carries (Fournette had 31). With Fournette’s size and speed, he has the ingredients to punish defenses late. Imagine trying to tackle Fournette after already having faced 15 or more carries from him heading into the fourth quarter. As long as Fournette’s conditioning is up to par, this should be a no-brainer.
  • Expanded role in the passing game: Fournette’s strength is lining up seven yards deep and hitting a defense at full speed, but in limited opportunities he showed he’s more than capable of running routes and catching the ball. He averaged more than 18 yards per catch on just seven grabs in 2014. Magee was the main receiving threat out of the backfield, leading LSU running backs with 17 catches, and he was trusted to run routes over the middle while Fournette’s opportunities mostly came on wheel routes and the like. Fournette has the hands and toughness to be an option in the middle of the field, too.
  • No more returning kicks: After the Music City Bowl, Fournette admitted to being tired during his kick return touchdown. That’s understandable; running full speed at a defense that’s coming at you at full speed two or three times a game is a pretty exhausting task. With that deep backfield in 2014, LSU needed to get the ball into the hands of its most talented player as often as possible, and that paid off when Fournette housed a kick return in the bowl game. With an expanded role on offense, there will be less need to find extra touches for Fournette, thereby saving his energy for what he does best.