Peterson clone Leonard Fournette about to wreak havoc for LSU

When superlatives like “Michael Jordan” and “the fastest man on the team,” among others, were lobbied about with the uber-touted Louisiana State University freshman running back Leonard Fournette, it set him up to have to reach for unparalleled standards that would be tough for any player transitioning from the prep ranks to the deep waters of the Southeastern Conference.

But in a football sense, when former teammate Terrance Magee compared the frosh to former University of Oklahoma  running back — and future Hall of Famer — Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings), it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back — at least in my opinion.

See, a comparison to Jordan seems so unattainable and outlandish, mostly because it’s hard to compare basketball, where one player can completely change the scope of an entire team, to football, where every player is counting on their teammate at every junction of the game, that many brushed the association aside based on absurdity alone.

But comparing a running back to the great Peterson is like putting a gigantic boulder right on his back and asking him to climb up Mount Everest — with a pair of roller skates on.

In a sport where many claim the running back position is being so devalued that it’s not worth drafting one in the first round, Peterson may be the only back in the sport where if he came out in the forthcoming draft it would be hard not to take him within the top three picks.

In fact, knowing what we know now, it may be justifiable to take him with the No. 1-overall pick seeing as though what he means to a franchise.

But in what has quietly gone unnoticed, Fournette ultimately lived up to the hype and showed us that the Peterson comparison was spot-on by one Mr. Magee, and his first season is just a tip of the iceberg of what we’ll see from him in his encore season.

Yep; a star has been born.

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I first heard about Peterson watching one of those prep sports shows when he was in his senior year of high school in Palestine, TX., where some proclaimed he could play in the NFL straight out of high school for the nearby Dallas Cowboys.

While many would laugh at a 17-year-old kid receiving proclamations that involve some of the toughest grown men you’ll find, most supported the theory as Peterson had the skill set, and make up, to compete at that early of an age.

So when he entered Oklahoma and proceeded to generate an astounding 1,925 yards as a freshman, which included at least 100 yards in 11 of his 12 regular season games, it was a foregone conclusion that we were witnessing this generation’s next superstar.

At 6’1″, 217 pounds, running a 4.38 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, Peterson is a complete running back who runs with the type of ferocity that strikes fear in the heart of second- and third-level defenders.

Additionally, he has the type of vision that makes him a threat in any scheme with any running concept: iso-leads, power, stretch-zone, counter-runs, tosses and sweeps.

Most associate explosive players as those who have the ability to bounce it to the outside or dominate in the edge-bending run game, however, Peterson generates explosive plays between the tackles by breaking tackles, making people miss in close quarters and out-running everyone.

Check out what makes Peterson so special: He navigated this off-tackle run despite being caught by two defenders right at the line of scrimmage. The average running back would’ve been caught dead to rights, but Peterson was not only able to shake both defenders, he broke the ankles of a third-level defender, as well.

This is the same aspect that makes Fournette one of the, if not THE, best prospect we’ve ever seen at the running back position.

The 6’1″, 230-pound Fournette is definitely in the mold of Peterson as a powerful back with the feet of a scatback. The first thing you notice about Fournette is how much he resembles Peterson in his uniform.

It’s almost hard to imagine he weighs that much as he’s put together so streamline that he appears much lighter. Much like Peterson, he hasn’t an ounce of fat on him which makes it easy for him to “get skinny” through the gap and explode through the chest of a defender.

But it’s his feet that’s his meal ticket.

Just look at how he put Ole Miss linebacker Serderius Bryant in the spin cycle in close quarters. Nobody that big should be able to do things like that, but that’s exactly what we’ve seen Peterson do on a weekly basis in his lengthy NFL career.

But the comparisons don’t end there.

You can’t be like Peterson if you don’t relish contact; Peterson is known for making defenders make business decisions on if they’d try to tackle him head up.

Fournette gave us a glimpse of why they call it a business decision on one memorable play last season.

Fournette took this inside zone play and commenced to spread a Texas A&M defensive back on the grass like fertilizer.

That physicality is something we’ve grown to love from Peterson — as seen in the above sequence. When you can combine short-area agility with some serious physicality, you know you’re in rarefied air.

Legit Track Speed

“Leonard Fournette is either the fastest or the second fastest guy on our team at 6-foot-1, 230 pounds,” Miles said as he smirked (per Nola.com). “He’s going to get two A’s in his summer classes and he’s proved to be a quality young man.”

Now let that marinate. A school with the current title of Defensive Back University has a 230-pound back that may be the fastest on the entire squad?

Say what?

As much as you’d want to think Coach Miles is selling wolf tickets, the minute you see Fournette open up his gait, you know Miles is right on the money. Both Peterson and Fournette are built like a lot of the great sprinters of today: muscular, long and linear.

In fact, Peterson recently hinted at retiring from football and focusing solely on track with the intentions of competing in the 2016 Olympics — at age 30.

Fournette has been consistently timed at 4.4 in the 40, and once he’s been in LSU’s strength & conditioning program for a few years, he may be a threat to break the 4.3 threshold like Peterson.

Notre Dame got a taste of that speed in the Music City Bowl on a kick return of all things. It’s rare to see a running back as a kick returner, and it’s even rarer to see one that weighs 230 pounds.

But when you have wheels like that, why not?

While University of Georgia freshman Nick Chubb garnered all the accolades, and rightfully so, Fournette has more tools in the toolbox. In addition to the aforementioned aspects I pointed out in his game, he possesses soft hands and is a major threat in the passing game.

That’s not to mention he’s money in pass-protection, too.

Case in point.

While he started out slow, mostly due to the LSU’s offensive coordinator figuring out how to best utilize his skill set, Fournette finished as hot as any player in the country.

Sky’s the limit for the next great back of this generation.