All the talk about LSU's Leonard Fournette has shut some pretty good running backs out of the conversation.
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The SEC's own Jalen Hurd is among them. The Tennessee junior has gotten several mentions this offseason as one of the nation's 25 best, but he's never talked about in the same breath with Fournette, Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, Georgia's Nick Chubb, Dalvin Cook of Forida State, or even Samaje Perine of Oklahoma.
The Sporting News has Hurd at no. 12 on their list of the country's 25 best, Campus Insiders at no. 16, and he didn't even make the Fox Sports list. But Hurd, primed for another big season in 2016, could make them all feel silly come December. He's on the doorstep of breaking the Vols' career rushing record of 3,078 yards set way back in 1897. He needs 891 yards, a mark he topped as a true freshman in 2014, and completely shattered last season.
Hurd's 6-4, 240 pound frame also translates well to his status as a workhorse. A side-by-side comparison with Fournette of yards after contact is indicative of his bruising running style. Fournette averaged 2.4 yards after contact per carry, Hurd averaged 2.2. Even more telling is Hurd's yard per carry average. As a freshman, Hurd averaged 4.7 yards per attempt, as a sophomore, he averaged 4.6, giving him a 4.7 yards per carry average for his career in 467 attempts.
Tennessee's Jalen Hurd holds his own in a comparison to Leonard Fournette pic.twitter.com/yINSFjSFRh
— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) August 18, 2016
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One area that Hurd is lacking in, however, is the home run. For his career, Hurd's longest run is 37 yards. Conversely, Fournette had five runs over 40 yards last season alone, including runs of 87, 75 and 71. That may be the one facet of Hurd's game that's keeping him from being mentioned as one of the nation's top tier backs. He addresses that this season, and he might just be one of the top 5 backs in the 2017 NFL Draft.
