With underclassmen running backs (RB) Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch stealing the spotlight, it’s easy to forget about the seniors. Peterson and Lynch could easily be top 10 picks in the 2007 NFL Draft, they are both that good. But most teams won’t have the luxury of drafting that high, so they will be left with a handful of average seniors. Yes Kenneth Darby from Alabama had a poor senior season; I was kind of surprised actually, I just loved this player as a junior when he was a (2005) First-Team All-SEC (Coaches) selection. He rushed 239 times for 1,242 yards and 3 TDs with an impressive 5.2 yards per carry average. I thought about this time, (his senior year), we would be talking about him being a potential first round NFL Draft pick. But Darby just wasn’t himself as a senior. I am not making excuses for him, well actually I am, but he did suffer a nagging hip injury this year and lost a little of his aggressiveness and confidence, defenses were keying in on him and he didn’t get as many carries, he only rushed the ball 210 times for 835 yards, with a mediocre 4.0 yards per carry average.
Now let’s fast forward to the present, playing in his back yard in Mobile Alabama, Kenneth Darby is having some very impressive workouts at the Senior Bowl practices this week. There is a lot of conflicting information coming from the Senior Bowl, but most of the reports that I have heard, and actually watching him practice on the NFL Network, Darby is looking very good. He has decent size at 5-11 and 215 pounds, not a speedster, but explosive and very shifty. He also hands nice hands catching the ball out of the backfield. Darby had 66 career receptions for 310 yards and 2 TDs while he was playing for the Tide. I compare him (slightly) to Emmitt Smith. Now I am not putting him in the 1st round of the 2007 NFL Draft, he has just been to inconsistent, but if he plays good in the game (Senior Bowl) and runs a sub 4.5 forty yard dash at the 2007 NFL Combine, he could be a third or fourth round NFL Draft pick, and be a quality running back in the NFL.
3 comments:
Darby's stock dropped substantially this year. I feel like his weak senior campaign really hurt him in the draft and i think that it would be accurate to say that he has slipped to an early 2nd day choice.
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OK, I will put your link up. But back to Darby, unfortunately for him, he didn't get much action yesterday. I think they threw him two screens, he got stopped for a loss on one and dropped the pass on the other.
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