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As we wade into our massive pool of College Football Focus data, we’ll be sharing with you some of the highlights from our Signature Stats in position-by-position looks. So, over the next couple weeks you can expect daily dives into the best and worst that the full FBS schedule produced in all of the same categories you’ve come to know from our NFL coverage. It’s important to note that our stats are different from our grades, as the stats are black and white, result-based numbers while the grades add the context to a player’s contribution in each situation.

Here is a look at some of our more overall and rushing-based signature stats for running backs with the 2014 NFL leader listed for perspective.


2014 NFL Leader: Marshawn Lynch 94.3

Our Elusive Rating statistic attempts to measure the success of a running back beyond his blockers by taking missed tackles forced and yards after contact into account against the player’s total touches. Our grades take into account things that normal statistics cannot, such as a burst of speed that beats a defender without providing the defender an opportunity to make a tackle, and therefore won’t match up exactly with Elusive Rating, but the rating has still proven to be a good representation overall.

– Between suspension and injury, Todd Gurley missed a significant portion of the season. However, he was one of the most explosive runners when he was on the field. To provide some more context to Gurley’s 116.6 rating, there have only been two players in eight years of PFF NFL data to break a 90 score in the regular season (Marshawn Lynch, 2014 and C.J. Spiller, 2012). Even with Lynch’s outstanding performance in the playoffs last year, he still only reached a 104.2 Elusive Rating.
– You don’t see Josh Robinson talked about often among draft prospects, but he is one of the better backs at making defenders miss at the second level with his excellent lateral agility. His 3.96 rush attempts per missed tackle forced is the second-best rate among Power 5 running backs with at least 100 carries in this draft class.
– Unsurprisingly, Melvin Gordon makes the Top 10 after leading the draft class with 78 missed tackles forced. Tevin Coleman also made the list while being the only back in the class to average over four yards after contact per rush.







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