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Fournette is looking to be another Elliott in the NFL draft

The LSU running back is out to show he has speed as well as size.

Leonard Fournette won't go No. 1 in the NFL draft, but no prospect's arrival in the NFL this year has been more anticipated.

Fournette received a scholarship offer to LSU as a high school freshman. With his sheer size and dominance at the high school level, stories abound of New Orleans youth coaches asking to see his birth certificate to verify that he wasn't too old to play. Before he played a down for the Tigers, a documentary was made about him titled "Road to Stardom." There was national debate about whether he should sit out his junior year of college to preserve himself for the NFL because he appeared ready-made for this week's draft.

After three years at LSU, Fournette is poised to be the rare running back taken in the top 10 of the draft. He rushed for 3,830 yards and 40 touchdowns in college, with an average of 6.2 yards per carry. He is 6 feet and 240 pounds with a 4.51-second 40-yard dash and can be a bell cow for his future team.

However, those running backs are less common in the NFL. Only Dallas' Ezekiel Elliott had more than 300 carries last season, and Adrian Peterson was the only rusher to top 300 carries in 2015. In 2006, 10 running backs topped 300 carries.

The other top running backs in this year's draft, such as Stanford's Christian McCaffrey and Florida State's Dalvin Cook, fit the mold of the multi-purpose players more common among the current top running backs. But that's also because there aren't many players like Fournette, who was such a force running the ball in college that LSU seldom needed to pass to him.

"I think Fournette is a different conversation," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. "He's got to go to a team that is going to run him the football and feed him 20 to 25 times. He's not going to be much of an impact in the pass game."

Fournette doesn't want to be typecast just because of his size. On the day before he ran his 40-yard dash, he insisted he can do more than bulldoze tacklers.

"A lot of people think I'm just strong," Fournette said. "Some people say I lack speed, lack burst. Tomorrow will show it all."

The 4.51-second 40 was tied for the 10th-fastest time among running backs in the draft. It was the fastest of any rusher who weighed more than 220 pounds, and Fournette was 20 pounds heavier than that. (He said his playing weight is 235 pounds, but he drank a lot of water before weigh-in.)

That size-speed combination is hard to find, and it's also why he's so difficult for tacklers to bring down. He caused 137 missed tackles in his three-year career, according to Pro Football Focus.

"My motto is 'Never let one man take you down,' " Fournette said. "That's my whole purpose."

He described his running style as north-style, with the ability to run over and around defenders. Which does he prefer?

"I can do both," Fournette said. "Depends on in the moment how I'm feeling, what I'm thinking, what's going through my mind."

Fournette said he never thought about the NFL while growing up in New Orleans' Seventh Ward. His high school coach told him as a teenager how far the game could take him, and it was clear early in his college career that he was a special player.

He led the SEC in all-purpose yards as a true freshman with an average of 137.4 yards per game. He looked like one of the best running backs at any level during his sophomore year when he ran 300 times for 1,953 yards. An ankle injury limited him to 843 rushing yards last year, but he still averaged 6.5 yards per carry. He's been compared to Peterson and Bo Jackson, two iconic physical running backs.

The notion that running backs have become devalued lost steam last year when Elliott, the No. 4 overall pick, led the NFL with 1,631 yards. There could be three running backs taken in the first round this year and potentially two in the top half of the draft.

"It's changing the game for the running backs," Fournette said. Elliott and Rams running back Todd Gurley "did a great job preparing us running backs to come out, even to get a chance to get picked in the first round."

Fournette will be in the green room in Philadelphia on Thursday, and it likely won't take long for him to hear his name called. It's a moment that has seemed inevitable since the former No. 1 recruit first entered the national consciousness. The next step is to show he can stay for a while. Even though he's big enough to endure a beating, a team investing a top 10 pick in Fournette will need him to last.

"As a running back, you don't want to take all those licks any way," Fournette said. "You want to last. You want to help your body out, run out of bounds sometimes, being smart about things."

zberman@phillynews.com

@ZBerm

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