Howe had a story about Stevenson today.
Man, Howe has gotten me thinking that this may be the best Patriots draft class in a long time...Barmore, Perkins, Stevenson, and Bledsoe all seem to be hits....I know it's early....and I even like McGrone who won't see the field, the speedster from FCU, Sherman the OL-man, and oh... someone named Mac....
Great article (love The Athletic). Hard to not get excited about Stevenson when you read this part in particular:
“He is a great junior college football story,” ex-coach Dean Grosfeld said of Stevenson and the path he used to get back on the NFL radar.
theathletic.com
“Stevenson got another boost in 2020 when Oklahoma hired school legend DeMarco Murray as the running backs coach. Murray, a three-time NFL Pro Bowler, coached Stevenson hard, encouraged him to tighten up his diet and showed him how to work to become a professional through time management, film study and practice habits. Murray also created a film reel of LeGarrette Blount highlights to show Stevenson what he could become if he kept at it.
The appreciation for Stevenson’s willingness to take coaching actually seemed to grow during his suspension.
“Everything I asked him to do, he did it with a smile on his face and with a great attitude,” Murray said. “He’s a competitive kid. He’s extremely coachable. He never had bad body language or a bad attitude whether I jumped his ass or I applauded him.
“He’s a guy who wants to be great. He wants to learn. He wants to learn things that he’s never learned before.”
Sooners defensive ends and outside linebackers coach Jamar Cain refers to Stevenson as “Ram-Bam,” and his group got an extended taste in practice of the bruising back’s hunger to return to the field. Stevenson was on the scout team for the first five weeks of the 2020 season and gave the starting defense an intense, game-speed look.
The trash talk livened up those workouts, too.
“We had to tell him to stop running so hard,” Cain laughed. “We can’t get my starting linebackers hurt because you’re trying to run everybody over. Rhamondre was causing havoc. It was like, ‘Dude, all right, get out.’ He was standing next to me like, ‘Can I go run the ball? I’m going to run your guys over now.’ I’m like, ‘OK, no, we’re not doing that.’”
Stevenson’s appreciation for special teams – or really, just his desire to be on the field in any capacity – carried into that senior season, as he begged to cover the opening kickoff in his first game back against Texas Tech. Murray obliged, but Stevenson had three rushing touchdowns that day and Murray knew he couldn’t risk an injury to his top back. Against Stevenson’s wishes, he had to sacrifice his special teams snaps.
He became the three-down back that Riley wanted, too. If the Sooners needed a good route from a running back, Murray wanted Stevenson in the game because of his footwork, balance, hands and ability to win one-on-one battles against coverage.
As a blocker, that’s where Stevenson improved the most over his two seasons.
“Year one, I was scared to death to have him in there if somebody was going to blitz us,” Riley said. “Honestly, year two, he was one of the best pass-(protection) guys that we’ve had here. It improved that quickly.”
Competitive
Coachable
Loves special teams
Can run you over (and wants to) AND be an asset in the passing game
Good pass blocker
BB central casting.