Watching Christine Michael's Texas A&M highlights, I was thinking about different HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL NFL running backs from the past, and who does Michael remind me of? Physically, body type, etc., there are a lot of comparisons you can make.
A few that come to mind...
Earl Campbell... Not a bad comparison, but maybe the SECOND closest in my mind
Barry Sanders... NO, just not that nifty
Terrell Davis... NO, Michael is faster, but not a bad comparison.
Emmett Smith... NO, Michael is faster, and just the styles seem different to me.
Adrian Peterson.... Well, let's not get carried away here. AP is something special, coming back from ACL surgery.
When I saw Michael break through the line and hit WARP SPEED in a split second... I had flashbacks to Eric Dickerson. Yeah, Dickerson is taller, but that's who came to mind. Like a squatty, stocky Eric Dickerson, that's what his runs look like. He hits the crease, and he is just GONE. Watch Michael's highlights, and that 97 yard run in there... Dickerson-esque. Michael flat out EMBARRASSED the DB who was trying to chase him down. The DB realized he was going to have to really run, and TRIED to turn on the jets, but too late. You could see this on run after run, that he'd break through the line, find a crease, then hit WARP DRIVE, and suddenly he was 2 yards ahead of where other RB's would be, and instead of being tackled, he's PAST the defender.
Bear with me... not saying he'll have a career like Dickerson's; there's +/- injury, etc. But in terms of the player who his runs most resemble... to me it's Dickerson.
OK, so another player he absolutely runs like... Darren McFadden of the Ray-Duhs. Similar speed... McFadden had slightly better, downright FREAKISH 40 times, at 4.27 unofficial, 4.34 official. McFadden has had two seasons where he averaged 5 YARDS PER CARRY, though he got injured both seasons. Honestly, I haven't seen McFadden enough, except for the game a couple seasons ago where the Raiders manhandled us.
But, here's YouTube where you could swap Michael and McFadden and not know which was which.
McFadden 64 yard TD vs Steelers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1EcEthv74Q
McFadden torches Jaguars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9v-RmeOPTo
McFadden highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9v-RmeOPTo
OK, so I first thought of Dickerson, but upon further review... Christine Michael = Darren Freakin' McFadden, reincarnated! Wait, McFadden's not dead. So a Darren McFadden clone.
Darren McFadden talent on the last pick of the 2nd round... Nice work, Pete and John!
Makes me wonder if Tom Cable, with his time around McFadden at Oakland, had some input into the draft thinking, to go after Michael.