Three things to know about Lache Seastrunk, Baylor’s star running back

You might remember Oregon’s near-disaster with Willie Lyles, the scouting analyst it paid $25,000 a few years back and who just may have steered some recruits, like one five-star Lache Seastrunk, back to Oregon. The NCAA didn’t come down hard on Oregon, but Chip Kelly ended up fleeing for the NFL, and Seastrunk promptly transferred to Baylor—the nearest BCS school to his hometown of Temple, TX.

If you don’t watch Baylor games, all you see of the team is the highlights, and the highlights usually involve some wide receiver running wide open down the field, catching the ball and strolling into the end zone. Indeed, this is the top passing offense in the nation. But it’s also an offense that rushes for over 300 yards per game (no, seriously) and a large reason for that is the play of Seastrunk. He’s been a game-changer, even for the Baylor offense that was electric without him.

Despite usually having his day done after the first or second series of the third quarter, Seastrunk has already racked up 869 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season. Those are big numbers for a guy who hasn’t even rushed more than 18 times in a single game yet this year, but he’s rush for an eye-popping 9.1 yards per carry—by comparison, Reggie Bush had only (“only”) 8.9 yards per when he won the Heisman.

Here’s Seastrunk’s performance against West Virginia this season. You’ll notice an extraordinary mixture of balance, speed and patience in his runs, and it’s no wonder he’s putting up massive numbers.

NFL scouts have noticed this physical prototype of a tailback (5’10, 210 pounds) shredding defenses and are expected to come calling after the season. Seastrunk’s only a junior, but he’s already 22 years old and doesn’t have a whole lot left to prove about his capabilities at the collegiate level. He’s a potential first-round pick, according to Mocking the Draft.

Mel Kiper has Seastrunk fourth on his list of draft-eligible RBs ($$) and WalterFootball.com has Seastrunk going No. 33 in the 2014 draft, to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But hey, for Baylor this is a good problem to have: your running backs are doing so well they get to leave (and get paid) early. Younger running backs with bright futures will notice. Oh, they’ll notice.

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