Does the addition of Isaac Guerendo to the Louisville football program give Jeff Brohm his most talented runners ever?
With Louisville football facing major roster turnover at some of its most important positions, it is time to get to know some of these players on a more intimate level. Leading up to kick off we will look at some of the advanced stats from Pro Football Focus for our new players.
This is your chance to be the smartest friend in your group, so make sure you pay attention.
Today we are going to look at the newest member of our running back room.
Last year at Wisconsin, Isaac Guerendo was responsible for 385 rushing yards and scored 5 touchdowns. He did all of this with only 64 attempts.
Let’s look behind those numbers and break them down a little more.
By the Numbers Series on State of Louisville:
Overview
Last year at Wisconsin, Guerendo was the third leading rusher on the team behind feature back Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi. Although he only had 64 carries, he was able to turn that into 385 yards. Of those 385 yards, 216 of them came after contact including an 89-yard touchdown. He was able to rush for 7 explosive plays of more than 10 yards and convert 15 first downs.
What is not talked about enough is the work that he did in the receiving game. Of all the running backs Guerendo was targeted the most. He had 21 targets and converted 17 of those into catches for 115 yards. PFF graded him as a 65 for receiver (highest on the team) and a 75 as a runner.
Run Type
Most of Guerendo’s runs were aimed at using his speed to get to the edge, 15 of his attempts were wide left and 18 were wide right. In those stretch runs he was able to gain 125 yards while reeling off 3 explosive plays of more than 10 yards.
Even though most of his attempts were to the wide parts of the field he was most effective running between the guard and tackle. While only having 12 attempts he was able to gain 141 yards and 36 of those came after contact.
Breakdown
With Jawhar Jordan and Maurice Turner retuning for Louisville it is hard to know what role Guerendo will play in 2023. He is the biggest of the three, but his greatest attribute is his speed. Even though he was given limited opportunity he was still able to showcase his speed and break off 7 explosive plays including his 89-yard highlight.
Because of his size I expect him to be used in short yardage situations, but I would not be surprised if he was given some chances between the 40s to see if he can break away on the outside.
He is a great addition to the running back room, and I cannot imagine he would have transferred here to be the third option in the backfield. With that being said, I still expect Jordan and Turner to carry the load.
One thing to watch would be if Turner is used in different area of the offense opening more of a role for Isaac. However, he is used, he always has homerun upside, and that alone could make him a fun player to cheer for.
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