Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins is rated as one of the top five at his position ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft and several fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping the team selects him should he fall to them at No. 49 overall in the second-round. On the heels of looking at and contextualizing career college explosive plays from a few other top running backs in this year’s draft class, today we’ll do the same for Dobbins’ runs of 20 yards or longer last season
In total during his college career at Ohio State, Dobbins registered 40 total runs that gained 20 yards or more. Only four of those came in his 2018 season. 20 came just this past season behind a very good Ohio State offensive line.
Below is the play-by-play contextualization of all 20 of Dobbins’ explosive runs from the 2019 season and a compilation video that includes each run is below the data for you to see and follow along with.
Dobbins’ 774 rushing yards on these 20 explosive runs accounted for 38.6 percent of the 2003 total rushing yards he registered in 2019. This means he averaged 4.37 yards per carry on his 281 non-explosive play runs.
Plenty of the 20 explosive runs from Dobbins in 2019 include the running back not receiving first contact until way down the field. In fact, on six of them he wasn’t contacted at all with four of them runs resulting in touchdowns.
You’ll also notice that a good portion of these explosive runs by Dobbins are made outside of the tackle box. Very few are made running between the tackles.
Dobbins isn’t an overly shifty running back as he’s more of a hit-the-hole quick kind of back that runs with power. While Dobbins doesn’t possess elite speed, he was able to run away from several defensive players he played against on these 20 runs.
| YEAR | OPP | QRT | TIME | DWN | DIST | LOS | YDS | RES | FC | BT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | CIN | 2 | 11:10 | 1 | 10 | OSU 33 | 24 | FD | N/A | 0 |
| 2019 | CIN | 2 | 7:26 | 2 | 9 | OSU 40 | 60 | TD | N/A | 0 |
| 2019 | IND | 2 | 10:00 | 1 | 15 | OSU 20 | 56 | FD | 1 | 1 |
| 2019 | IND | 2 | 4:09 | 3 | 6 | IND 26 | 26 | TD | 6 | 4 |
| 2019 | MOH | 1 | 5:16 | 2 | 4 | MOH 26 | 26 | TD | -1 | 1 |
| 2019 | NEB | 2 | 2:46 | 1 | 10 | OSU 46 | 24 | FD | 18 | 0 |
| 2019 | NEB | 3 | 7:35 | 1 | 10 | OSU 33 | 26 | FD | 22 | 1 |
| 2019 | MSU | 2 | 2:24 | 3 | 2 | OSU 33 | 67 | TD | -2 | 2 |
| 2019 | MSU | 4 | 13:27 | 1 | 10 | MSU 49 | 29 | FD | 2 | 2 |
| 2019 | NW | 2 | 10:16 | 1 | 10 | OSU 27 | 68 | FD | 17 | 1 |
| 2019 | WIS | 3 | 9:55 | 2 | 10 | WIS 38 | 28 | FD | 22 | 0 |
| 2019 | WIS | 3 | 6:58 | 1 | 10 | WIS 43 | 34 | FD | 1 | 2 |
| 2019 | MD | 2 | 0:52 | 1 | 10 | MD 20 | 20 | TD | N/A | 0 |
| 2019 | PSU | 1 | 12:00 | 1 | 10 | OSU 9 | 22 | FD | 15 | 1 |
| 2019 | MICH | 1 | 11:07 | 2 | 10 | OSU 25 | 34 | FD | 2 | 1 |
| 2019 | MICH | 3 | 14:51 | 1 | 10 | OSU 25 | 41 | FD | N/A | 0 |
| 2019 | MICH | 4 | 6:30 | 1 | 10 | MICH 33 | 33 | TD | N/A | 0 |
| 2019 | WIS | 2 | 7:03 | 2 | 10 | WIS 32 | 24 | FD | 19 | 1 |
| 2019 | CLEM | 1 | 8:35 | 1 | 10 | OSU 32 | 68 | TD | N/A | 0 |
| 2019 | CLEM | 1 | 0:10 | 3 | 2 | OSU 28 | 64 | FD | 33 | 1 |
