Kenyan Drake: Sr. Bowl Stats Don’t Tell The Story
By: Larry Burton
24 yards rushing, not a big story. 23 yards receiving, no headline there. 20 yard kickoff return, that won’t make a highlight film. But those stats don’t tell the whole story of Kenyan Drake’s Senior Bowl experience.
Combine all that yardage and you have 67 yards of total yardage, first on the South’s team. That placed him second in total yardage overall to San Jose State’s running back Tyler Ervin, who totaled 120 yards by being the North’s running back, receiver, kickoff and punt returner. But to be fair, Ervin did have four more touches than Drake got.
But the thing that both Ervin and Drake made clear is that they could do whatever is needed to help their team win and they have versatility to bucket fulls.
However, what may have made Drake’s accomplishments stand out even more is that one stat that matters so much, touchdowns. Ervin had none and Drake found the endzone on a one yard run proving that when it mattered, it wasn’t just flash and dash, but that Drake could muscle out the short yardage plays that are usually reserved for the big bruising backs. In fact on the same drive, Drake burst a seven yard run for a big first down and again later on a third and one near the goal line, Drake did his best Derrick Henry impression and used his muscle power to drive forward and gain two yards to the one.
Capping the drive off two plays later proved that Drake could certainly do it all. Two goal line runs that just netted one yard kills your average per carry, prior to his last two runs, he was averaging almost five yards per carry.
But even these explanations don’t tell the whole story of how much the Senior Bowl helped Drake in his NFL dream. Most times what coaches and scouts see in practice are the memories that they carry into the draft and Drake had those moments in practice. Comments like “Wow! He’s fast”, “That guy has moves” and “Looks like a polished receiver” were thrown about as NFL folk watched Drake in practice. And with his history of injuries, it was noted that Drake was unafraid to lower his shoulder and take on a defender and dish out hits as well he took them. Others noted that like any running back that makes it on a Nick Saban team, he was very good at picking up pass rushers and showed great blocking skills and was outstanding at “situational awareness”. He was never fooled as knew like a seasoned pro how to drift out of the backfield and set himself up as a dangerous safety valve dumpoff for a quarterback.
For any scout that had lingering doubts of Drake’s toughness and courage, he made sure that they left without them.
Everyone that saw him felt he could contribute to any NFL team right away on special teams, no matter who they have on their roster and has potential to be much more after learning the offense. In all, it was a good week for Kenyan Drake, much more than the viewers on television saw.
Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter
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