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THREAD ALERTTravis Etienne, RB, Clemson
Age, 2021 season: 22.6
Size: 5'10, 205
Comps:
Upside - Dalvin, Kamara
Downside - Gio, Lamar Miller
Projected 40 time - ~4.4
Stats below... >1 TD/G all four years!
#ZoltanScouting2021
Strengths:
Efficient footwork, no wasted motion
High level burst and long speed
Incredibly strong for his size on lower and upper body. Great contact balance.
3-down 
- willing blocker, excellent receiver
Signature spin move 
Durability - 0 games missed
Efficient footwork, no wasted motionHigh level burst and long speedIncredibly strong for his size on lower and upper body. Great contact balance.3-down - willing blocker, excellent receiverSignature spin move Durability - 0 games missed
Weaknesses:
Occasionally impatient, runs up on back of own OL
Inconsistent vision
Runs too high at times, causing him to fall backwards, losing "free" yards
Ball security - 8 career fumbles, including 4 in 12 2020 games
Mostly ran out of shotgun/pistol
Occasionally impatient, runs up on back of own OLInconsistent visionRuns too high at times, causing him to fall backwards, losing "free" yardsBall security - 8 career fumbles, including 4 in 12 2020 gamesMostly ran out of shotgun/pistol
Here Etienne shows good decision making breaking outside, without any wasted movement. An excellent stiff arm grabbing wrist control, and most important, crazy second burst (look at his legs/momentum completely stopped at 25secs) to go from 0 to 100 in a flash.
Etienne is a monster on screens. Does a good job setting up for the pass, makes a quick move on the quick penetration (a strength for him). And then he's gone. The reverse angle shows his excellent vision to choose the right lane, burst and long speed to house it.
Here he shows off his excellent vision and quick decision making, sticking his foot hard in the ground to avoid interior penetration and burst through a wide open lane. It looks easy, but a lot of RB's are running straight into the DL, or cutting outside on this.
Time for Etienne's signature spin . He absorbs a lower body hit and shows off his excellent contact balance (twice), speed to the outside, and finishes the run by delivering some punishment himself. Great mentality, plays bigger than 5'10, 205.
. He absorbs a lower body hit and shows off his excellent contact balance (twice), speed to the outside, and finishes the run by delivering some punishment himself. Great mentality, plays bigger than 5'10, 205.
Time to show off some route running. No LB's (non-Devin Smith division) can cover him 1x1. Excellent route, clean hands on a hard high pass, and finishes the run with some serious power. Lot of Dalvin in this play.
Great jump cut to get outside, and then he really shows off his footwork. Watch him bend his knees/back to avoid 45, and his feet are so close to the ground he can cut upfield immediately. Once again, finishes strong down the field.
More subtle, but one of my favorite Etienne runs. Great hesitation and little juke to find the right hole, gets incredibly low to absorb contact, and there's that spin again. He can absorb contact, spin and maintain balance like very few RBs I've seen.
Great initial burst and choice of lane, and there's that spin move... again! The second view shows how he anticipates the first defending impacting his knees, and uses his defender's force to throw him into the spin. He's in full control. Love it.
move... again! The second view shows how he anticipates the first defending impacting his knees, and uses his defender's force to throw him into the spin. He's in full control. Love it.
1st play: Simple example of how you can't guard him man to man. Approaches left knee of LB, and crosses him up. No chance.
2nd play: See second angle. Again uses hesitation to find the small hole, and powers through 2nd level tackle.
2nd play: See second angle. Again uses hesitation to find the small hole, and powers through 2nd level tackle.
Just a quick one to show you this guy has wide receiver hands. The body control here gets my blood flowing!
One more display of his preternatural contact balance, footwork to avoid half-hearted dives below the waist, and of course, ability to stay on his feet after a spin. This one reminds me of James Robinson a bit, but better burst at the end.
Etienne must have grown up playing flag football. The way he hides and dodges with his hips works in the contact game too, and once again he displays the ability to go from a stop to full speed, faster than anyone else. Kamara vibes, anyone?
As you can probably tell, I'm really high on Etienne. Have to show a few negative plays though (just 3, there aren't very many!) He doesn't have an elite dead leg, and disciplined defenders can catch him running too high, and stonewall him.
Here's an example of Etienne misreading the leverage of the DL (white 0). On the second replay, notice where I pause the video. The hard cutback lane is wide open, and he just misses it, too eager to get up the field.
Another example of Etienne being too eager to get to the hole. This is a weird play, orange 79 essentially just gets in his way, but there was space to run, and Etienne doesn't tuck the ball the way he should. Needs to clean up his fumbles, but like JT, I'm not worried about it.
Overall, Etienne is a polished, 3-down back, who has very few weaknesses in his game. He has elite contact balance and borderline elite burst and long speed. I feel he is a high floor, high ceiling NFL prospect. I'm confident he can solve his few weaknesses.
Having only scouted Hubbard among the 21 backs, here are my compiled ranks to show you how highly I value Etienne. Note this is my prospect grade given to 2020 rookie RB's after the draft, after my scouting, but before any NFL snaps.
Jonathan Taylor
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Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Cam Akers
Travis Etienne
D'Andre Swift
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J.K. Dobbins
Antonio Gibson
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Chuba Hubbard
Anthony Mcfarland Jr.
Ke'Shawn Vaughn
A.J. Dillon
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Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Cam Akers
Travis Etienne
D'Andre Swift
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J.K. Dobbins
Antonio Gibson
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Chuba Hubbard
Anthony Mcfarland Jr.
Ke'Shawn Vaughn
A.J. Dillon
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