Bucky Irving scouting report: Exploring Oregon RB's strengths and weaknesses

A four-star recruit in 2021 for Minnesota, Bucky Irving filled in nicely for Mohamed Ibrahim as a freshman with 772 yards and four touchdowns on 141 yards as a very different player profile. With the now-Gophers all-time rushing leader retuning, the young man decided to transfer to Oregon, where he handled 156 carries and 31 receptions for 1357 combined yards and eight TDs (6.8 yards per carry).

While his averages went down slightly this past year, he made work of the additional 30 carries and 25 receptions, coming just short of 1,600 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns from scrimmage. That made Bucky Irving a second-team All-Pac-12 selection.

Details: 5-foot-9, 190 pounds; JR.

Breaking down Bucky Irving's scouting report

Running back Bucky Irving #0 of the Oregon Ducks rushes the football past safety Jaylon Jimmerson #2 of the Liberty Flames

Strengths

• Explosive laterally to bounce one lane over after approaching the line of scrimmage with square shoulders and leading the linebacker that way.
• Outstanding mobility in the hips, being able to drop his weight and shift directions without any excess steps, to aggressively press creases.
• Can stick his foot in the ground and slice underneath defenders with contain responsibilities or as he aims at their outside shoulder, making them miss in the hole.
• Showcases the ability to get his hips turned and cut back to the outside after drawing the force defender between the tackles.
• Puts some nasty jukes on linebackers in the hole, luring them in and crossing them up with snappy hips to not give an area to initiate contact.
• Offers short-area quickness to make diving tacklers miss and navigate condensed areas.
• Doesn’t shy away from just lowering the shoulder and going through a defender in the hole for positive yardage, instead of trying to dance in the backfield and hoping to make something happen
• Earned an elite PFF grade in 2022 (91.1) and an 88.2 mark in ‘23.
• With his ability to get low and make sharp transitions, Bucky can cross over pursuit defenders in impressive fashion.
• Utilizes jump-cuts and jump-stops while getting low and minimizing the area for surrounding defenders to get a hand on him.
• Does a great job when he gets past the second level of utilizing blockers down the field and turning around safeties as the last line of defense.
• Bucky Irving forced a missed tackle on 37.1% of his rushing attempts (13th among FBS running backs with 100+ carries).
• Has a knack for not allowing defenders to get a straight shot at him, slightly adjusting his path after aiming straight at them and then slipping off arms swinging at him.
• Keeps himself alive as a runner, spinning off glancing shots and pulling his legs out of the arms of defenders trying to clutch those.
• As he bangs into the chest of tacklers trying to catch him, Irving consistently falls forward for a couple of extra yards, manifesting itself in an average of 4.16 yards after contact per attempt.
• Outflanks linebackers into the flats and presents an effective YAC threat.
• Can put guys in the blender as he catches a swing route and if left one-on-one with somebody in the flat.
• Ripped off some massive chunks flaring out into the flats and catching check-downs on the run after the defense was pulled deep, as he takes advantage of teammates turning into blockers late.
• Peaks pursuit defenders out of the corner of his eye and is able to cross them up badly a few times after the catch.
• While he was largely part of the pattern or just carried the fake on RPOs, when he was asked to stand in protection, Bucky didn’t shy away from sticking his nose in the fan.
• Has a couple of highly impressive moments of awareness and peripheral vision to still get a piece of a free blitzer, after stepping up the opposite way (and not being responsible).

Weaknesses

• Needs to pace himself a little bit more at times and allow run concepts to develop, such as running himself into trouble on inside zones.
• Can be a bit of a “tip-toey” runner, who gets banged down violently by big hitters.
• At 5-foot-9, 192 pounds, Bucky Irving's speed at 4.55 is somewhat limited and the explosiveness numbers at the combine were definitely underwhelming – He was the only back to not quite crack 30 inches on the vert, along with the second-lowest broad jump at 9-foot-7.
• Lacks the awareness at this point to slow himself down in the flats and not run out of space as part of the pattern.
• Struggles a bit with passes slightly off his frame and where he has to turn for balls slightly behind him – dropped seven of 92 catchable targets over the last two years.
• Doesn’t create leverage and absorb the charge of blitzers effectively at this point, too often getting driven by the quarterback in protection, where his size becomes an issue.

Bucky Irving's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Jackson Powers-Johnson #58 of the Oregon Ducks lifts up Bucky Irving #0 after his touchdown during the second half of the game against the California Golden Bears

Bucky Irving is someone you can easily get excited about as a college football fan. He’s super shifty, patiently picking his spots on man-blocking schemes and then being able to make defenders miss in the hole or the open field. He’s also been an effective pass-catcher, although more so based on what he can provide after the catch than before as a route-runner.

Unfortunately, you don’t see a lot of backs around the 190-pound mark with his speed/explosiveness features becoming a heavily-utilized part of a backfield rotation. The willingness to contribute as a pass-protector is certainly there, but he’ll need to develop his take-on technique and bulk up a little.

For someone running in the mid-4.5s, Bucky Irving breaks way more big runs than you’d expect, although it’s based more on making someone miss and then having space rather than being able to win races against defenders in the back seven. I really like his game and think he can be a quality number two in more of a 60-40 split, although his ultimate potential may be limited.

Bucky Irving Grade: Late third round.

You might like other RB scout reports: MarShawn Lloyd; Trey Benson; Will Shipley; Jaylen Wright; Braelon Allen.