Name: Sameje Perine
Samaje Perine scouting report: Top 2014 Texas back?
As Perine distances himself from his sophomore knee injury, he could prove to be the top back in the state of Texas.
School and hometown: Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Texas
Position: Running back
Height and weight: 5’11 and 230 pounds
Ratings: A consensus three-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite rankings and by 247Sports, Rivals has Perine has a four-star prospect, while 247Sports has him narrowly missing that grade with a ranking of 89, just below the four-star cut-off of 90.
Offers: Perine holds offers from Alabama, Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma, Purdue, Tennessee, and TCU. He committed to Oklahoma on March 13, 2013.
Twitter: @samajp32
Highlights: Extensive sophomore and junior highlights for Perine are available on Hudl.
Scouting Report:
Perine actually comes from a significant line of recent running backs at Hendrickson, including current Texas Tech Red Raiders starter Kenny Williams and current Texas Longhorns hybrid running back/wide receiver Daje Johnson.
While working with Johnson as a sophomore in 2011, the solidly-built back was the tough inside runner to complement Johnson’s breakaway speed.
A strong lower body helps Perine power through defenders unwise enough to attempt to tackle him above the waist. At times, it appears that Perine is a bowling bowl through traffic in the middle of the field and he can often break out on the other side because of his balance and ideal pad level that negates those high attempts at tackling him.
Prior to his devastating ACL and MCL tears as a sophomore, Perine also showed a spin move in traffic that was remarkably effective inside as well.
Attempting to come back from his injury as a junior less than a year removed from his injury, Perine was able to break off some long runs, but comparisons of his sophomore and junior film reveal that he was missing a step or so in 2012.
Even so, Perine still flashes some nice initial first- and second-step burst as a junior. Such plant-and-go moves bespeak positive decisiveness for a bigger back like Perine, who doesn’t need to stretch players as far as speed backs might to take a corner and angle on pursuing defenders.
To a certain extent he will show his upside some in the spring of this year as he closes in on 100% physically, but the attributes that help him so much in high school have still been there -- his balance, pad level, and strength that make him an ideal power back in college who could eventually play at 240 pounds, but still have enough speed to warrant every-down usage.
In fact, with more modern offenses uses two-back sets on a more regular basis, Perine could see some time in college as a blocking back and short-yardage threat.
And if Perine does indeed regain every bit of his sophomore explosiveness, which is the current expectation, he could challenge for the title of the top running back in the state of Texas.
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