2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: RB Zamir White, Georgia

With the Giants having moved on from running back Devontae Booker, what could Georgia's Zamir White bring as a potential backup to Saquon Barkley?

Zamir White, RB

Height: 5’11
Weight: 215 lbs.
Class: RS-Junior
School: Georgia

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A highly recruited five-star prospect out of Laurinburg, North Carolina’s Scotland County High School, White was the first overall running back recruit and first-ranked recruit in North Carolina during the 2018 cycle. He was also the ninth-ranked recruit in the entire 2018 class. White reportedly ran a 10.85 100-meter dash in high school.

Notables

White tore both ACLs in his knee. The first tear was in high school during his senior season in a playoff game; it was his right knee. He recovered from that injury and worked his way into summer practice before tearing his left ACL in non-contact drills before the 2018 season, forcing White to redshirt.

Off two significant knee injuries, White assumed a role in Georgia’s loaded backfield in 2019. He rushed the ball 78 times for 408-yards (5.2 YPC) with three rushing touchdowns. In the following two seasons, he rushed for 779 and 859-yards with 11 touchdowns in each season. White averaged 5.3-yards per carry in college, and he fumbled the ball three times.

White was nicknamed “Zeus” before arriving in Athens. He won the David Jacobs Award for overcoming injury in 2019. He was the leading rusher in Georgia’s National Championship defeat over Alabama; he rushed for 84-yards and a touchdown.

Strengths

• Solid overall build
• Thought he maintained his explosiveness/burst post-injury
• Very quick feet
• Great juke/jump move to the outside around pursuing defenders
• Changes direction well
• Does a great job timing his acceleration through holes
• Good footwork/eyes to press LOS and get skinny in narrow holes
• Reads his blocks well and reacts quickly and decisively
• Excellent anticipatory runner
• Moves well vertically and horizontally
• Absorbs contact and lowers his shoulder with force
• Good contact balance and ability to create yards after contact
• Finishes runs with attitude
• Vision, patience, acceleration, and burst allow him to be scheme versatile
• Also has appeal to return kicks - averaged 23-yards per return on six kickoffs
• Wasn’t a third-down back, but he was adequate as blocker; seemed to know where and when blitzes were coming - mentally adept

View all of Nick Falato's draft prospect profiles right here / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Can Improve

• Concerns about the knee will plague White’s draft stock
• How chronic are the multiple knee injuries?
• Despite a 215-pound listing, he seems slight
• Physical back, but he got taken down by ankle tackles too often
• Block framing can be better, lunged too much and was a bit inpatient to execute block once it was diagnosed (typically quickly)
• The most carries he saw in a season was 161
• The lack of carries was also due to the depth at Georgia (James Cook, Kenny McIntosh, and Kendall Milton)
• Ran behind one of the best offensive lines in the country
• Injuries may prevent him from ever being a bell-cow back
• Was hardly used as a receiver in college - 16 total catches for 129-yards

Summary

Overall, Zamir White’s devastating past injuries may prevent him from being discussed with the top running backs in the class. However, White doesn’t seem slowed by the injuries; he’s still very explosive with good acceleration and change of direction, and he puts a ton of force into his juke moves to force defenders to look foolish. 

He’s also physical and punishes defenders in his way. White knows how to set blocks up, utilize patience, and fine open creases to consistently move the chains. He is worth the “risk” on day three; if he can stay healthy, he can start as a change of pace back with the upside of being a 1A in a timeshare.

GRADE: 6.24 (M) - “M” is due to past medical issues

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