Samaje Perine

• #32 RB
• Junior
• Oklahoma
• Hometown: Plfugerville, TX
• Height: 5-10
• Weight: 235 lbs
• DOB: 9/16/95

Statistics:

Rushing:

2014: 263/1713/21

2015: 226/1349/16

2016: 85/461/6 (5 games)

Samaje Perine is a bowling ball sized running back. This allows him to generate his power from his low center of gravity to easily break tackles. Perine has good power and strength. These traits make it hard for him to be tackled one on one. His low center of gravity not only helps him generate power and break tackles but also gives him good balance. Perine has all the tools to be an NFL workhorse back. He shows good patience in allowing time for his blocks to set up ahead of him. Perine also has the vision to identify the whole and the ability to attack the hole.

Perine seems to lack the break-away NFL speed and is quicker than he is fast even though he still produces big plays. He also needs some work in pass protection. It isn’t that he’s a bad blocker it is the fact that he isn’t used much in pass protection. He has good hands even though he doesn’t have a whole lot of catches out of the backfield. This is because Oklahoma tends to use Joe Mixon on passing downs.

Perine has had a slow start to the 2016 season as he has been dealing with a couple nagging injuries. One of which occurred early on against Houston.

In week 6 against Texas, Perine had 35 carries for 214 yards and two touchdowns. The tape for this game isn’t on Draft Breakdown yet. All 35 carries for Perine in this game went for positive yardage which is simply amazing. In this game, Perine looked like his 2014 self in which he put up 1700+ yards. If you forgot how good he looked in 2014 here is a reminder:

All in all, Perine is a pure power runner who rarely goes down on initial contact. He has good balance and is a short-yardage specialist. While studying Perine, I believe his usage at Oklahoma has changed since 2014. I mentioned this earlier but Oklahoma also likes to use Joe Mixon. In 2016, both players are on the field for 1^st and 2^nd down and then on 3^rd down Oklahoma likes to use Mixon as a pass catcher. Mixon has stood out on the tape and at some points has looked to be the better back in Oklahoma. However, Perine is still very good.

NFL Comparison: Michael Turner