Mini Scouting Report: Derrick Green

Richmond (VA) Hermitage running back Derrick Green

I attended a 7-on-7 tournament on Saturday in which Michigan target Derrick Green participated.  Green is a 6'0", 215 lb. running back from Richmond (VA) Hermitage.  He has offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, USC, Virginia Tech, etc.

A 7-on-7 setting is not the best opportunity for him to show off his skills.  First of all, he plays running back, a position that's usually just used for checkdown purposes in 7-on-7.  Hermitage was running a lot of plays out of the Pistol formation, which means Green was aligned behind the shotgun quarterback.  They must be planning to use the Pistol this season because they were incorporating play action, even though you can't run the ball in 7-on-7.  On most plays Green would just sit and "block" at the line of scrimmage, so he wasn't targeted very often.  As far as I saw, Green didn't play a single down of defense.

Green is not very adept at catching the ball.  He dropped three passes that I saw, all of which were in the end zone - a flare, an out, and a wheel.  He fought the ball all the way in each time, too.  The balls were pretty well placed for him to catch, and he just bobbled them and eventually dropped them.  It wasn't a case of him letting them slip through his hands or turning his head upfield to run before he caught the ball; he just looked very clumsy.

He did, however, catch a couple flare routes later in the day.  One he caught just in front of a linebacker and was touched down after a couple yards.  On another he caught the ball with some room to run, and I can tell you that nobody would have wanted to jump in front of him once he got going.  It's clear that once he gets his 215 lbs. going upfield, he's going to be a force.

As for his size, I wouldn't bat an eyelash if you told me he was 220 or 225.  He's built like a Mack truck.  I was standing next to him at one point and 5'11" or 6'0" seems pretty accurate.  He's not any taller than 6'0".  There were spectators around who had no clue that Green was an elite recruit, and I heard whispers saying, "Let's go watch that #27."  He's quite a physical specimen.

Overall, nothing really surprised me about him.  He's huge, lean, and fast in a straight line.  He's not going to juke many people, and he doesn't appear to be a threat out of the backfield.  He was a pretty quiet kid.  He wasn't brash or cocky and genuinely seemed to fit in with his teammates.