Strengths: toughness, agility, acceleration
Weaknesses: breakaway speed
Mar’Keise Irving is a 5’10”, 180-pound running back from Country Club Hills, IL. He is a rated a 5.7 3-star from Rivals and is the 6th rated all-purpose back in the nation. He pledged to Minnesota over offers over Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska among other Power Five schools.
Irving shows phenomenal ability in short-space agility to make people miss and outstanding vision to pair always finding the open hole. One clear sign of a natural running back is to see holes and cutbacks before they open, which is a trait that Mar’Keise possesses. Once he sees a lane, Irving displays tremendous acceleration to hit the hole at full speed without breaking stride. Despite his smaller frame, he also shows his physicality and toughness to break arm tackles as well as defenders diving at his legs which showcases his strength and balance. There isn’t a ton of pass catching clips on his highlight tape but enough to make me feel is he adequate in that department and can continue to improve.
The one potential knock on Irving may be his breakaway speed which doesn’t look to be at an elite level per say but his highlight film does not show him getting caught from behind often which tells me that his speed is good just maybe not great at this point.
With a plethora of young running backs on the depth chart, it would be hard to see Irving getting playing time immediately unless he really separates himself. One thing he does have going for him is that the Gophers do like to play three running backs, so after a potential redshirt year and Mo Ibrahim graduating in 2020 he will have an opportunity to crack the rotation.
I am overall quite impressed with Irving as a prospect and feel he can be an All-Big Ten type performer during his Minnesota career.
Weaknesses: breakaway speed
Mar’Keise Irving is a 5’10”, 180-pound running back from Country Club Hills, IL. He is a rated a 5.7 3-star from Rivals and is the 6th rated all-purpose back in the nation. He pledged to Minnesota over offers over Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska among other Power Five schools.
Irving shows phenomenal ability in short-space agility to make people miss and outstanding vision to pair always finding the open hole. One clear sign of a natural running back is to see holes and cutbacks before they open, which is a trait that Mar’Keise possesses. Once he sees a lane, Irving displays tremendous acceleration to hit the hole at full speed without breaking stride. Despite his smaller frame, he also shows his physicality and toughness to break arm tackles as well as defenders diving at his legs which showcases his strength and balance. There isn’t a ton of pass catching clips on his highlight tape but enough to make me feel is he adequate in that department and can continue to improve.
The one potential knock on Irving may be his breakaway speed which doesn’t look to be at an elite level per say but his highlight film does not show him getting caught from behind often which tells me that his speed is good just maybe not great at this point.
With a plethora of young running backs on the depth chart, it would be hard to see Irving getting playing time immediately unless he really separates himself. One thing he does have going for him is that the Gophers do like to play three running backs, so after a potential redshirt year and Mo Ibrahim graduating in 2020 he will have an opportunity to crack the rotation.
I am overall quite impressed with Irving as a prospect and feel he can be an All-Big Ten type performer during his Minnesota career.
