Despite the off field issues that occurred early in McGowan's college career, he is one of my favorite prospects in this year's class. McGowan plays every snap like it is his last, maybe because he almost knew what that last snap felt like. There is a will and a mindset to gain as many yards as possible when he totes the rock, and when he doesn't have the ball in his hands he is looking to deliver punishment anyways. Kentucky featured him in a variety of ways in the passing game as well this past season and he displays natural hands on tape. McGowan stands to benefit a lot from NFL coaching because he plays the game too fast and out of control currently, and I often found myself wanting him to tone it down a bit while watching his film.
McGowan's analytical profile is not strong. Aside from having ideal size for an NFL back, his receiving grades, pass blocking grades, and yards after contact were all disappointing. After a few final updates to his metrics, he's likely to fall outside our top-12 entirely, but we'll keep him at 8 for now given his unique college situation and the strength of his film evaluation. The model comparisons for McGowan are admittedly not great, but we also don't have any strong comparisons to begin with. Like Singleton, none of the running back prospects from the past 10 years compare very well with him, so it's a bit hard to predict what his floor and ceiling outcomes look like.
Film Notes
Rushing
- Runs with power, there is a will to get yards up the middle
- Will try to run through someone's face too often instead of staying clean
- Really light feet, can leave defenders whiffing
- Shifts and maintains his momentum very easily
- Every touch he is contorting his body in whatever way necessary to pick up additional yardage, fumbling is a natural result of this running style however
- Everything he does is 100 mph, but I need him to tone it down a little
Receiving
- Can do more than sit in the flats, but another area to improve upon
- Pretty good route runner, can make catches outside of his frame
Pass Blocking
- Brings it, but also whiffs a fair amount
- Pretty good at identifying who he needs to pick up