Washington Redskins 2016 Draft Profiles: Devontae Booker, RB

Devontae Booker, Running Back

School: Utah | Conference: PAC-12

College Experience: Senior | Age: 23

Height/Weight: 5-11 / 212 lbs

Projected Draft Status: 2nd or 3rd Round

NFL Comparison: Alfred Morris, Andre Ellington (Due to draft age)

College Statistics

Player Overview

Signed with Washington State out of high school before enrolling at American River Community College in Sacramento, California. Booker was named a first-team all-Valley Conference player in 2012 when he led the conference in rushing yards per game and touchdowns. The team played in the 2012 Northern California Football Association championship game against City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and lost 41-36 when an American River go ahead touchdown was negated by a holding call.

Booker sat out to the 2013 season to focus on academics and finish course work and he was rated a thrre star recruit in the class of 2013. He received a host of scholarship offers from several Division I programs including: Utah, Hawaii, Houston, San Jose State, Utah State and West Virginia. He was rated as 31st best player in California and sixth best running back according to the 247sports Composite.

In his first year with the Utah (2014), he was an first-team All-Pac-12 running back on the field and in the class room. He averaged 116.3 yards per game overall and in the first three games, he averaged 133.3 yards per game. Against Pac-12 teams in the final 10 games that season, he averaged 130.1 yards per game and his 1,512 total yards put him in second place all-time in a single season for Utah. He also had seven 100-yard games which came against these schools:  Oregon State (229), Washington State (178), Colorado State (162), UCLA (156), Arizona State (146), Arizona (142) and USC (102).

Book made the All-Pac-12 second team after playing and starting in 10 games. He suffered a season-ending knee injury but despite that, he was named a  Maxwell Award semifinalist (national player of the year) and Doak Walker Award semifinalist (nation’s top running back).

He is still on the mend with his knee injury and unfortunately for him, will not be able to participate in the 2016 Reeses Senior Bowl.

What Twitter Says

Devontae Booker was responsible for nearly half of Utah's total offensive output before he got hurt.

— George Banko (@gbanko4) January 28, 2016

9 players accepted invites and had to drop out due to minor injury: Devontae Booker, Bullard, Calhoun, Decker, Doctson, Higbee, Jordan Lucas

— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) January 26, 2016

Utah RB Devontae Booker will be a great addition to any team running the zone blocking scheme. #NFLDRAFT #UTAH #SENIORBOWL

— DraftRecon (@draftrecon) January 27, 2016

RB rankings 1.Ezekiel Elliot 2. Alex Collins 3. Derrick Henry 4. CJ Procise 5. Devonte Booker #NFLDraft #Draft

— Austin Wilson (@WilsonScouting) January 17, 2016

@PatriotsExtra @Patriots I think devonte Booker from @Utah_Football is a perfect fit and will be available! Very physical, great hands

— Zach Smith (@utejazzpats26) January 14, 2016

Devonte Booker either gonna be a Redskin or Ravens ,,,best RB In this year draft ...

— Shaka (@SHAKACASHFEINZ) December 24, 2015

Robbery: How much did Devonte Booker mean to this offense. He got no national love.

— Marty Mcfly (@Schumacherf2015) December 21, 2015

How He Would Fit on the Redskins

Looking at his film, I like the way he runs and depending on how the second or third round shakes out, the Washington Redskins could benefit by drafting Booker. Running back depth never hurt anyone. The Redskins at many points during the past year struggled to run the ball, and based on how the coaches view the current stable of backs on the team, adding another talented runner could be the solution. Booker is an experienced back with a well-rounded skill set.