My Scouting Report: Kay-Jay Harris Vs. Gerald Riggs Jr. | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

My Scouting Report: Kay-Jay Harris Vs. Gerald Riggs Jr.

RunningBackGuru

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I've been seeing a lot of Riggs and Harris threads lately about "which one is better" and such. I've taken the time of writting a scouting report on which back is better. I could have written one on Minor and Morris, but im sure you all know about them. If some people would like me to write one on them, just tell me.


Miami Dolphins RB - Scouting Report


Kay-Jay Harris
Season Totals:
2003- 91 ATT, 524 YDS, 5.8 AVG, 4 TD
2004- 165 ATT, 959 YDS, 5.9 AVG, 10 TD
Team: West Virginia Mountaineers
Date of birth: March 27, 1979
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 235 pounds

Facts: On September 4, 2001, he rushed for 337 yards with 4 TD's
Broke school records - most yards in a quarter (168), half (223), game (337)

The good:
A big strong back
Capable of breaking long runs
Solid special teams player - recorded 16 tackles in 2004
Can catch the ball well - 20 REC/181 YDS/3 TD in 2004 - Has good hands
Quick side step
Explodes through holes with good power
Is capable of breaking tackles
Very strong lower-body

The bad:
Not a durable runner - injury prone
Decent rout runner
Some fumbling issues
Has some problems with work ethic
Lacks top speed in the open field
Not a very shifty back
Not a good blocker

Other:
Very good at long jump (4 state long jump titles)
Ran a 4.56 in the 40-yard dash
38-inch vertical jump
Ran a 7.22 in the cone drill
Ran a 4.10 in the shuttle drill

Why Saban will not cut him:
Look at the positives. He should be a very solid backup in the future. Also, he is a pretty good special team player - and Saban has already noted that. He should actually be able to replace Minor as a special teams player. And if you look at the negatives, all of those could be worked on. A good coach will easily take those negatives and make them into positives.

Why Saban will cut him:
Work ethic was a small problem. If KJ wants to be on the team and works hard, he should without a doubt make it. However, he needs to continue his solid play on special teams and improve rout-running, blocking and work ethic. If he does not, he may very well be cut.

Bottom line:
KJ was a projected mid-third round pick in last years draft. He has the talent to become a solid backup for years to come and at this point chances for him to make the team looks good. If Saban will overlook those small negatives, he should definately be on the team.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerald Riggs Jr.

Season Totals:
2002- 17 ATT, 49 YDS, 2.9 AVG, 0 TD
2003- 46 ATT, 207 YDS, 4.5 AVG, 1 TD
2004- 193 ATT, 1107 YDS, 5.7 AVG, 6 TD
2005- 127 ATT, 530 YDS, 4.2 AVG, 3 TD
Team: Tennessee Volunteers
Date of birth: September 28, 1983
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 217 pounds

The good:
Big, strong back with decent burst
Can go instide and outside and is a bruising back
When healthy, can carry the load
Intelligent player with good knowledge of the game
Hits second gear in open field
Difficult to bring down - usually breaks the first tackle
Good vision
Always keeps his legs moving

The bad:
Very injury prone - has never really had the chance to showcase himself
Questionable work ethic - even more so than Harris
Low career yards/carry avg - 4.3
Never been a catching back - Only 20 REC in career
Not a very good blocker

Other:
Ran a 4.5 in 40-yard dash

Why Saban will not cut him:
It will be difficult for Riggs to make the team with other competing backs like Minor, Morris and Harris, but he is still a very good back that could very well be a strong backup for us. He has many positives and is probably a better pure runner than Minor and Haris.

Why Saban will cut him:
Even if he is a very good runner, he has many negatives in other categories. Not a good blocker, will not catch balls out of the backfield, questionable work ethic and very injury prone are all very key components in an NFL back. At this point, he is probably competing with Minor for the last RB spot - Minor is a back who can catch, play special teams (which Riggs can not), less injury prone, better work ethic and is a better blocker. These are factors which can hurt Riggs' chances at making the team.

Bottom line:
A very dangerous runner - no doubt about it. If Saban is strickly looking at running when making final cuts, don't be surprised if Riggs makes the team. The problem with him is that he wont do much of anything else. Riggs has never really had a chance to really prove himself because of injury problems, so he will really have to impress Saban if he will make the team.

NFL PLAYER COMPARISON:
Harris:
Riggs: Ahman Green
 
So which one do you think will make the roster? I think KJ has a better chance because of his play on special teams.
 
i really liked how you broke this down. i already have looked into these players myself an you prove to be very accurate on your statements. anyways i think you deed an excellent job doing this and hopefully you helped a lot of fans out. i personally like both guys b/c of their upsides and not many downsides. there is another thing that concerns me with harris he dosent hit the hole low enough for me. he is so high up. i think this is an easy fix and personally i think thats what they ment that he has shown improvment in the off-season. what would be cool in your scouting report to is to compare them to an nfl player you think they are like. like i think harris could be a brandon jacobs type back or maybe even eddie george. anyways i think you did great.
 
NickJr. said:
So which one do you think will make the roster? I think KJ has a better chance because of his play on special teams.

Definately KJ IMO. I think Morris and KJ are in for sure actually. Im still not convinced on Minor making it over Riggs though because of KJ taking over Minor's job on special teams.
 
MarinoForPres said:
i really liked how you broke this down. i already have looked into these players myself an you prove to be very accurate on your statements. anyways i think you deed an excellent job doing this and hopefully you helped a lot of fans out. i personally like both guys b/c of their upsides and not many downsides. there is another thing that concerns me with harris he dosent hit the hole low enough for me. he is so high up. i think this is an easy fix and personally i think thats what they ment that he has shown improvment in the off-season. what would be cool in your scouting report to is to compare them to an nfl player you think they are like. like i think harris could be a brandon jacobs type back or maybe even eddie george. anyways i think you did great.

Thanks for you comments. I was actually going to add NFL player comparison, but I was just thinking about it a bit. Im not sure about Harris, but Riggs reminds be of Ahman Green (less talented of course).
 
This is great, thanks! Especially since I am not that familiar with either player, or their college stats.
 
Very good post. I like how you broke things down. The only thing I would change is that Riggs is now, atleast he weighed last year, over 230 pounds. I think the added weight contributed to him looking slow in several games his senior season. If he can get down to 217-220, he should be able to regain that burst he showed late in his junior season and especially in the SEC Championship game against Georgia.
 
I remember seeing KJ play in college and thought he had a world of talent - but that's been a few years ago.

As to Riggs, with me being a UT fan, I watched him play quite a bit. I don't think the injury tag is quite true - he had a serious injury his senior year but I don't remember any other ones (even minor) during his first three. His big problem will be seeing if a NFL team will be patient with him while he learns their system. He didn't play much his first couple of years due to the fact that he had a hard time learning UT's pass-blocking scheme.

His senior year started off quite differently than his previous years because that was the first time that I saw him always get tackled by the first defender who touched him. Part of the problem was the overall confusion that was rampant on the UT offensive side of the field, but I think he was trying to run around defenders instead of powering over them.

Bottom line, I agree with the original poster. KJ's excellent special teams skills will keep him on the roster and I see Riggs starting off on the practice squad.
 
I like them both and i think they will both be on the team.1 will be on the practice sqaud of course.
 
personally i would love to see both make it and morris moved to fb (isnt he on the depth chart there anyway?). i know this isnt realistic b/c the reason being minor. if we had brown,kj,minor,riggs and beasly and morris at fb. i guess riggs would never get any reps so its bad idea. but id like to see kj and riggs both get play this year.
 
MarinoForPres said:
personally i would love to see both make it and morris moved to fb (isnt he on the depth chart there anyway?). i know this isnt realistic b/c the reason being minor. if we had brown,kj,minor,riggs and beasly and morris at fb. i guess riggs would never get any reps so its bad idea. but id like to see kj and riggs both get play this year.

Yeah I was actually thinking about this too. I would also like to see both KJ and Riggs, but that's actually highly unprobable unless we cut Minor. At FB, we have Beasly and Barnes. We don't really need to put Morris at FB, so he will more than likely be the 2nd RB going into next season. If we were to cut Minor, it would look something like this:

HB
Brown
Morris
KJ Harris
Riggs

FB
Beasly
Morris/Barnes

And we even have another FB (Kyle Eckel) trying out.
 
I forgot about Eckel.....is he out of the Navy now and ready to go? If so, Darian Barnes is probably done. Maybe the depth chart is:

RB:
Brown, Morris, KJ

FB:
Beasley, Eckel

Practice Squad:
Riggs
 
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