LA Rams: The X factor of RB Xavier Jones could mean starting role

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For now, the LA Rams are looking for speed, agility, and a decisive manner of carrying the pigskin, a certain measured jogging-like sprint, that the player brings when hitting the hole.

Los Angeles Rams

Consider it choreography, as coaches can take notes of how effective running backs are at entering the right running lanes as it begins to open. Hitting it too quickly runs the rusher into the backs of offensive linemen and risks injury. Too slowly and the lane closes up for little to no gain.

It’s an instinctive rhythm,  a tympanic pulse, that is more proactive than reactive. A certain feel for daylight, like Todd Gurley or Walter Payton, a sense of where the hole would appear and then getting to that spot when it does. That is the difference between a ball carrier and an NFL running back. That is what the LA Rams hope to discover now on the roster. That is what I believe that they may find with second-year running back Xavier Jones.

Videos of the Southern Methodist University Mustang running back Xavier Jones showed a long of promise in that area. He was a versatile running back who, much like LA Rams running back Cam Akers, milked his offensive line’s blocking to the last drop before cutting loose to daylight. Well, why tell you when I could show you?

Shifty guy, that Xavier Jones.  But he is not just a guy who is tough to bring down. Nope, not at all. He is a young man who can take that football into the endzone. After all, that is what he did better than anyone else in NCAA football in 2019.  23 rushing touchdowns, two more as a receiver. He was just one touchdown shy of averaging two scores per game.