James Conner

 • #24 RB
• Junior
 • Pittsburgh
 • Hometown: Erie, PA
 • Height: 6-2
 • Weight: 235 lbs.
 • DOB: 5/5/95






Statistics:

Rushing:
 2013: 146/799/8
2014: 298/1765/26
2015: 8/77/2 (1 game) 2016: 63/281/3 (3 games)

 Prior to last season James Conner had planned on having a good season and then going into the NFL draft. However, he tore his MCL in the first game last season and missed the rest of the year. Then as many of you know, or should know, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

Conner played at 250 pounds his sophomore year and has since shed some weight to gain some explosiveness, and is down to about 230-235. Conner is much better than the stereotypical power-back. Conner does an excellent job running behind his pads and attacking the line of scrimmage with a purpose. He is a very decisive runner and makes it hard for tacklers to get him on the ground. He bounces off defenders or will run them over. Conner has great toughness and determination, if that wasn’t already evident in the fact that he battled back from injuries and cancer to be on the field this season.

There are about a half dozen James Conner games on DraftBreakdown. However, all but one are from 2 years ago. These can be used as a baseline to see what Conner was prior to the injury. Here is the tap on Conner’s most recent game on DraftBreakdown. I sat down and watched this game live and right out of the gate on the first play of the game for Pitt, James Conner had a great run that I thought encompassed who he was as a player. He had the vision and ability to find the hole, ran over a defender, fell forward, and required multiple defenders to bring him down.

Conner isn’t a speedy player. However, like I said he has worked on shedding some of that weight. He’s quicker than fast and possesses very good feet for a power-back of his size. Conner has good quickness and footwork that helps him make defenders miss.

Conner has good vision and knowledge to hit cutback lanes which enable him to hit the hole. He quickly reads blocks and picks up momentum off his plant foot to keep his legs pumping and finish falling forward. Conner has also gotten more work out of the backfield as a pass catcher this season. He is 9/105/2 thus far this season over the course of three games.