Leonard Fournette
Coming out of high school, running back Leonard Fournette had his choice of the top college football programs in the nation to be a part of. Fournette is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and he decided on playing football for the LSU Tigers in nearby Baton Rogue, Louisiana as he spurned offers from the likes of the Auburn Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Fournette came to LSU in 2014 as the top recruit in the nation and with him he brought big expectations. It is typically tough for highly touted recruits to come in and live up to the hype that has been thrust upon them; especially in this era that has been dominated by social media. But fortunately for LSU, Fournette hasn’t fallen into that category.
Last year in Fournette’s collegiate debut, he was held to just 18 yards on 8 carries by the Wisconsin Badgers. But in Fournette’s second collegiate game, he was able to rush for 92 yards against a lesser opponent in the Sam Houston State Bearkats. And by the time that LSU was ready to begin conference play in the Southeastern Conference, Fournette was ready for it when he made his presence felt in the Tigers 30-27 victory over the Florida Gators as he rushed for 140 and a pair of touchdowns. Fournette was putting together big games here and there, but he was finally able to put it altogether as he gained 146 yards on the ground in the regular season finale against the Texas A&M Aggies and he followed it up with 143 more against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Music City Bowl as in just a matter of months, he had become a household name.
Fournette came into 2015 on the Southeastern Conference’s all-conference team and he has not disappointed so far. In three games this year, Fournette has gained 661 yards on the ground with 8 touchdowns and he is doing this against defenses that are geared to stop him. On September 12, Fournette went for 159 yards and 3 touchdowns in LSU’s victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The following week Fournette would torch Auburn for 228 yards and a trio of touchdowns. And this past Saturday against the Syracuse Orange, Fournette was once again a runaway freight train as he totaled 244 yards on the ground to go along with a pair of touchdowns. And Fournette is doing all of this in an LSU offense that doesn’t have the much help from their passing game as they are 124th in the nation in that category.
At 6’1″, 230 lbs., Fournette is a powerful runner and what makes it worse is that he has the speed of a sprinter. Fournette is extremely powerful and it takes a committee of defenders to bring him down. Fournette is a very imposing runner as he is drawing comparison’s to current Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson as during his time at the University of Oklahoma which has carried over into the National Football League, he possesses some of the same skills that we are currently seeing from Fournette.
The only thing that is slowing Fournette down right about now is the National Football League as their rules require that a player must be out of high school for at least three years in order to become eligible for the draft and he clearly has the skills to play on Sunday. Fournette has another year to go in order to become eligible for the NFL Draft as he is only a sophomore and for the youngster’s sake, you hope that he’ll be able to stay healthy until then.
But for LSU head football coach Les Miles, he is an old-school coach that believes in running the football and playing a physical and aggressive game which fits Fournette’s style to a tee. And Fournette is the best feature back that Miles has ever had in Baton Rogue which makes it a marriage made in heaven. Fournette will look to continue surviving the riggers of the SEC this fall and at the rate that he is going in 2015, he’ll look to become the first LSU player since Billy Cannon in 1959 to win the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top football player.
Source: Cfbstats.com
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