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Josh Jacobs spent the majority of his college career following after other backs. Thursday night he was the first running back off the board, going No. 24 overall to the Oakland Raiders. Jacobs is the 11th Alabama back taken in the Nick Saban era and the first to go in the first round since Trent Richardson was selected with the No. 3 overall pick in 2012.
Jacobs is the third Alabama player selected in this year's draft. He joins defensive lineman Quinnen Williams, who was selected No. 3 overall by the New York Jets and offensive lineman Jonah Williams, who went No. 11 overall to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Splitting carries in a loaded Alabama backfield, Jacobs finished last season with 640 rushing yards and a team-high 11 touchdowns on the ground. The versatile back also tallied 20 receptions for 247 yards and three more scores through the air and led the SEC in kick return average with 30.6 yards per attempt. Jacobs was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the SEC Championship Game after rushing for 84 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries. He tallied 158 combined yards during the Orange Bowl, including a 27-yard touchdown reception.
Jacobs’ limited carries in college have drawn comparisons to All-Pro running back Alvin Kamara, who has combined for 3,228 yards and 31 touchdowns the for the New Orleans Saints the past two seasons. While his limited touches provided a smaller sample size, Jacobs comes into the league with plenty of tread left on his tires
"I'm a huge fan of him, and one of the knocks on him, he doesn't get a lot of touches at Alabama or as many as you would like because it's so crowded there, but I think if you gave the league a do-over on Alvin Kamara, whose touches are almost identical to Josh Jacobs, we'd see Alvin Kamara go in the top 10, top-15 if you were to re-draft that year," NFL.com draft Daniel Jeremiah said during a conference call in February. "So if that's the only concern you have about him, I don't have any concern about the fact that he's got vision, he runs with power, he can make you miss, he can catch the ball out of the, he can block. There's really nothing he can't do."
