Jonathon Brooks scouting report: Exploring Texas RB's strengths and weaknesses

A four-star recruit in 2021, Jonathon Brooks certainly had to wait his turn behind superstars Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson for two years. In those, he touched the ball only 54 times but did accumulate 340 yards and seven touchdowns.

As a junior, he took over this backfield and produced in a massive way. On 187 carries, he racked up 1,139 rushing yards and added 25 catches for 286 more yards, combining for 11 touchdowns. He tore his ACL 11 games in, but still was able to earn second-team All-Big 12 accolades.

Details: 6-foot-0, 215 pounds; JR.

Breaking down Jonathon Brooks' scouting report

Jonathon Brooks #24 of the Texas Longhorns rushes for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Kansas Jayhawks

Strengths

• Jonathon Brooks showcases the excellent burst to win the corner on the front side of perimeter-oriented runs or defeat pursuit angles after cutting across the grain.
• Capable of efficiently navigating tight creases and patiently staying behind combos.
• Efficiently transitions between horizontal/diagonal/vertical movements without having to slow his feet and pull them away from swinging arms.
• When he sees a crease, instead of just running at it blindly and allowing defenders to scrape over/slip blocks, he keeps it open by staying square or even aiming at the opposite shoulder of linemen before hitting it.
• You see the quickness to stop on a dime in order to avoid penetration in the backfield and re-start before he’s corralled.
• Recognizes opportunities to bounce vertical runs, as he keeps his shoulders squared downhill to pull up the backer and get around the edge with a jump-cut or just opening the toe effectively to bubble around.
• Has that ability to sort of glide by the inside shoulder of blockers after pressing outside initially.
• Jonathon Brooks literally steps over the bent legs of blockers to stay tight to them a few times without breaking stride at all.
• Brooks’ ability to bend up the field after threatening the corner and accelerate through curvilinear movement stands out.
• Definitely has a plan when he gets those one-on-ones against safeties, throwing in some nice foot-fakes to get them to freeze and work around them.
• May not reach 23-24 mph, but his 10-to-20 acceleration to split the defense led to several chunk runs as a Longhorn last season.
• Shows tremendous awareness for pursuit defenders and when he needs to put both hands on the ball, to get it can’t get punched or ripped out.
• Excels at stepping over the arms of defenders trying to trip him up or pulling them out of their grasp, as you rarely see his ankles get clipped.
• The way he can stop and dip around tacklers who seem to have him squared up and pulling through loose wraps really stands out with Brooks.
• Understands how to turn his body and bury a shoulder into the chest of defenders in traffic, in order to drive forward through contact.
• 16 of Jonathon Brooks' 187 carries in 2023 went for 15+ yards.
• Has natural hands to come up with challenging catches, whether he has to extend for balls in front of him or reach down when they arrive low.
• Even as his eyes are on the pass, you can tell that he’s aware of the pursuit, which shoulder to turn through and what to do after the catch.
• Deceptive in the way he sets up delayed screen passes and rarely overruns his linemen in space before they’ve attached to targets.
• You see him fully make defenders miss after catching the ball underneath, as he threatens to race them to the sideline and then put on the breaks to slide inside of them.
• Consistently makes sure to force blitzers to go around him, with well-timed punches.
• Able to slide across the center and still packs a punch to stymie linebackers up the A-gap effectively on multiple occasions.
• Effectively bangs his inside shoulder into edge defenders on chips, to allow his tackles to square them up, before releasing.

Weaknesses

• After delaying his approach initially, Jonathon Brooks doesn’t have that instant burst through a lane to split linebackers converging on him or beat contain defenders who stay square until he goes for the corner.
• Still broadening his peripheral vision and alertness for cutback opportunities, showing a certain tunnel vision on gap plays.
• While he does gain plenty of yardage after contact, Jonathon Brooks isn’t somebody who’ll go straight through a linebacker in the hole when necessary or drag guys on his back.
• Wasn’t asked to or showed much nuance as a route-runner, with a bunch of leak-outs.
• Suffered a torn ACL at the start of December and may not be 100% at the start of the NFL season.

Jonathon Brooks' 2024 NFL draft projection

Jonathon Brooks #24 of the Texas Longhorns gives a stiff arm to Devin Lemear #20 of the Baylor Bears

Jonathon Brooks is a very complete runner, with solid size, explosive features, make-you-miss skill and great contact balance.

While he had to wait his turn with the Longhorns, Brooks showcased in his one season as a starter that he has the make-up of a workhorse. He helped power his team to a College Football Playoff appearance, with well over 100 scrimmage yards in eight straight games until he tore his ACL.

That’s a big reason Brooks hasn’t been discussed as extensively this draft season, although based on tape he may be the consensus RB1 on big boards across the NFL thanks to him being a fit for any type of offense.

As he logs more reps in practice and can see the picture unfold, I believe Jonathon Brooks will be able to execute any type of run concepts, showing the sharp change-of-direction skills to punish defenses for any lack of discipline in their fits.

I like his profile as a third-down back, but what may hurt him during this process and drop him to the middle of day two rather than the start is that he can’t work out at his pro day or for individual teams. They won't get to see him go through more complex routes, which is a shame, as the mobility in his joints and springiness is there to create separation as a matchup player.

Jonathon Brooks Grade: Second round.

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