College All-Star Game 2020 standouts to watch for in the NFL Draft

Joshua Kelley

Joshua Kelley, RB, UCLA

My favorite running back to watch during the pre-draft process so far has been this former Bruin. I already knew about Kelley’s explosveness once he got into the open, but among some of the best college players in the country, he made a lot of them look slow with the way he burned their angles. Every time he touchded the ball it felt like fireworks were about to go off because of the incredible acceleration. Kelley displayed excellent vision for backside cutbacks on zone run plays and he was also pretty shifty before putting on the jets when sorting through traffic on the interior. While he wasn’t asked to contribute too much in the passing game at UCLA, according to his former head coach Chip Kelly, it was largely because they wanted to give their workhorse a break on third downs. In Mobile he looked great coming out of the backfield, routinely putting a little English on his routes and making linebackers look bad in one-on-ones. Kelley did a little a double-jab to get away from Ohio State’s Malik Harrison and he also made Cal’s Evan Weaver fall down trying to catch up once.

James Robinson, RB, Illinois State

While I obviously understand that small-school kids like this guy don’t always get Senior Bowl invites, with the accomplishments, stats and highlights he has produced, it would have been the right call. Robinson is a two-time Walter Payton award finalist in the FCS, who put together over 1900 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2019. During East-West Shrine week, he sliced through the defense constantly. With his low center of gravity and elusive moves, Robinson was really tough to bring down and his speed stood out as well, after it enabled him to rip off several 40+ yard-runs at Illinois State. He also won on a bunch of routes in one-on-ones against the linebacker, where he had some shake and caught the ball with ease. That was important for him after recording just 16 grabs last season and some size-related problems in pass pro, where he has too much of a wind-up with his arms picking up blitzers. In the actual game he had a 46-yard screen pass in the on third-and-long, where it already looked like he would end up short of the marker, and he came back in the fourth quarter with a 61-yard TD run.

Raymond Calais, RB, Louisiana Lafayette

Moving on to my standout running back from the NFLPA Bowl. Calais’ knack for the big play was apparent for Louisiana Lafayette, where he went for 1860 rushing yards on 7.8 yards a carry and scored 15 touchdown during his collegiate career, but it seemed to be at a different level watching him go to work in Pasadena. As a one-cut and go type runner perfectly suited for a zone-based scheme, his pure speed is elite of course, but at 5’9”, 185 pounds it is the physicality he runs the ball with that really impresses me. Calais showed off that instant acceleration and blazing speed on a 101-yard return touchdown in the actual game. However, the one play to me that stood out however came later in the third quarter when he caught a ball over the middle and made a guy miss, but as if he was shot out of a cannon he almost slipped through a crease to go the distance once again. Rarely do you see a featured back coming out of this game and even last year in college this kid wasn’t the leading rusher for the Ragin Cajuns, but he could develop into a nice splash player on special teams and a change-of-pace back.