Kansas City RB Kareem Hunt’s 246 total yards last night vs. New England were the most in NFL history by a rookie in week 1. A very impressive performance from Toledo’s former 3 star prospect. Hunt had 2 scholarship offers from Power 5 conference college football teams coming out of high school.
While Hunt wasn’t a highly touted high school prospect, he definitely exhibited elite athleticism based on Tracking Football’s Player Athletic Index score. Hunt’s 4.7/5.0 PAI score ranked 3rd out of all 26 RBs drafted in the 2017 NFL Draft. Of the 7 RBs that scored above 4.0, Hunt is the only one that played at a non-Power 5 conference school.
The PAI score is an athletic analytic that takes into account a player’s height, weight, position, track and field data and multiple sport participation. It allows scouts to evaluate the “raw athleticism” of a prospect and allows for player comparison based on common metrics. For example 6 of the first 8 RBs selected ran the 100m dash in high school. Hunt’s 10.80 ranked 3rd of those players.
Kareem Hunt’s HS Sprint/Relay data:
Often times sprint data dominates conversations that reference a player’s track and field background. However, football athleticism is about more than just “straight line speed”. Players must be powerful, explosive and coordinated. Field events such as the jumps and throws offer data points that reflect strong indications of potential football athleticism. This is specifically where Kareem Hunt far exceeded all other running backs at the NFL Draft this year.
Kareem Hunt’s HS Sprint/Relay data:
Many factors must be weighed when evaluating a high school, college, or NFL prospect. Athleticism can and should be measured by more than just subjective observations. There is predictive power in the athletic objective and unbiased analytics Tracking Football provides.
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