Player Profile: Christine Michael

Christine Michael

Height:  5'10
Weight:  220
School:  Texas A&M
Position:  Running Back
Ranking: #6 Running Back
Projection: 4th Round

Strengths
-Ideal size for an every down running back
-Good athlete.  Finished in the top 5 in all categories at Combine
-Good speed (4.55) that gives him home run ability
-Shows good explosion in and out of cuts
-Excellent lateral quickness
-Displays good vision to find the open hole
-Does a great job of getting small in goal line and short yardage situations
-Good balance.  Have to wrap him up to get him down
-Very elusive in the open field.  Is going to make you miss

Weaknesses
-Durability.  Two season ending injuries to his leg (ACL, and broken bone)
-Production.  Never got over 1,000 yards in a season
-History of fumbling issues
-Can be an inpatient runner
-Attitude Issues.  Clashed with new A&M staff.  Kicked out of game for throwing punch
-Accountability.  Slept through meetings at combine
-Limited in the passing game

Summary
Christine Michael has some of the best pure talent of any running back in the draft.  He has good speed and quickness, but his best strength might be his acceleration that allows him to get to top speed very quickly.  Combine that with good lateral quickness and the ability to cut and change directions easily and you can see why teams really like him.  But despite all this talent don't look for Michael to go early in the draft.  There are a lot of red flags that could scare teams away.  His durability is a big concern because he's had two season ending injuries to his legs.  Some will not like how he's never really had great production.  He's never gone over 1,000 yards or had any great season.  Still others will be turned off by his attitude.  Michael didn't like his lack of a touches this past season and got himself into the coaches doghouse.  All of those push him from being considered a day two prospect to going somewhere on day 3.  But a team that needs a good backup who can provide a spark could take a chance on him.  A team like Tampa Bay has shown a lot of interest to be Doug Martin's backup.