He's a good RB. Nowhere near Duke, Dunn, Cook, but he's a good one. Graig Cooper is a more accurate comparison.
Yearby is a way better back than Cooper and it's not even close. Cooper didn't play any competition near to what Yearby did in Dade. Cooper was ok here and quite a bit overrated coming out.
While it's premature. Dunn is who Yearby reminded me of when watching him at Central. Although I think Dunn was a bit faster.
While I do believe Cook is better than Yearby and has the higher ceiling. Yearby is no slouch and is a top flight back.
Yearby what stands and stood out about him is his footwork, cutting, explosion in the first few yards and his ability in the passing game.
While I don't think Yearby will break the records Duke did here. Duke was special. I think Yearby will be a great back and I can see him getting over the 1000 yard mark during his time here at least once or twice.
My only knock on Yearby is he needs a little more meat in his thighs which is what will help him bust through more tackles. His lower body is what he needs to work on.
Yearby is not slow, he has good speed but he is not a burner either.
He'll give you consistent 5-10 to 15 yarders and the occasional 50 yarder every now and then. You don't need to be a home run threat to be a great back.
Too many peeps are enamored with speed a bit too much though. Yes I like speed just as much as everyone here but speed is not everything at all. It's about your technique, patience, vision. It's the little things. For every speedy back you list I can list you backs who were not burners who are/were just as good.
Here's my very long winded thing with Yearby:
IMO - he falls into the same category as Graig Cooper and Tyrone Moss. Both were good, productive RB's here, but their talent level was a bit overrated coming in. They're kind of hated on because they didn't live up to their hype, but they still were good RB's. Yearby is the same.
Moss - the comparison was Gore/McGahee. Cooper - the comparison was Reggie Bush. Yearby - being compared here to Duke/Dunn. It's just not realistic, and kind of unfair to throw out those comparisons.
Here's why:
HIGH SCHOOL & RECRUITING:
A large reason why Yearby rushed for so many yards in Dade is because he got so many carries. Take any really good Dade/Broward RB, and Yearby had about a full seasons worth more of carries during his career. There's probably 20 or 30 So Fla RB's that could've had similar total yards if they had gotten as many carries as Yearby did. If you look at his per carry numbers - they weren't that special.
Yearby was kind of a victim of his early success - rushing for 2,000 yards as a Sophomore. That caused his recruiting rating to be inflated early, and no one ever brought it back down to a more realistic/accurate level. The same kind of thing happened with Charlie Jones and Kylan Robinson when they rushed for 400 yards in one game.
PRODUCTION
Freshman Year:
Yearby - 86 carries - 509 yds - 5.9 avg. - 1 TD
Cooper - 125 carries - 682 yds - 5.5 avg. - 4 TD
Dunn - 68 carries - 500 yds - 7.5 avg. - 4 TD - 350 rec yds - 6 rec TD
Yearby's numbers are similar to Cooper, but Dunn was just WAY more explosive. Cooper actually backed up Javarris James his freshman year, much like Yearby was backing up Gus Edwards this year. Lamar Miller jumped ahead of Damien Berry his freshman year. Duke jumped ahead of Mike James.
Gus Edwards was hurt the FSU and UVA games, but when he came back he started over Yearby and got more carries in the Pitt in South Carolina games. If Yearby was going to be "great", that wouldn't have happened.
Yearby had 62% of his carries 67% of his yards in 4 games - FAMU, Ak St., Cinncinnati, UNC. He had zero carries against Louisville and Nebraska. Yearby's numbers are a bit inflated against bad opponents whereas Cooper was shouldering a bigger load against better opponents, on a less talented Miami team.
SPEED:
Yes speed isn't everything, but Dunn was a 4.3 guy while Yearby is a 4.6 guy. HUGE difference. And if you're a small RB that's not going to be breaking tackles, speed becomes that much more important.
Yearby had 86 carries, and only 3 went over 15 yards, and he only had 1 TD.
It's not just that Yearby isn't a home run hitter, he's not even hitting doubles. If you look at any Miami RB, and I do mean ANY - on a per carry basis, they were breaking long runs and scoring TD's a much higher % of the time than Yearby. I literally think Lee Chambers is the only exception here. If you did the same with his high school stats vs other top Dade/Broward RB's, same results.
Yearby is lightning quick, and will avoid the first guy, problem is he just can't get away from the 2nd guy.
Yearby to me doesn't look like he has the frame to put on much more weight. It worked out for Duke because he had speed to spare. Duke could afford to go from a 4.4 to a 4.5. But Yearby can't afford to go from a 4.6 to a 4.7.
FUTURE:
Graig Cooper's Soph Year - 171 carries - 841 yds - 4.9 avg. - 4 TD.
I think that's a realistic stat line for Yearby this year, but I'd put that on the high end. He's pretty even with Gus now, and if Gray continues to get better and with Walton coming in - I just don't see him as head and shoulders above those other guys to get the majority of the carries. I wouldn't argue against him being the best of that group, but he's not THAT much better. It's pretty close.
As far as Miami RB's - I think he's in the Tyrone Moss, Graig Cooper, Damien Berry Tier. Again, if you want to argue he's the best of that bunch, I have no problem with that. But they're all just good, productive RB's. They're not 1,000 yard, 1st Team All-ACC types (3rd team ACC maybe).
IMO - people want to either over rate him and make him the next Duke/Dunn, or under rate him by saying he's a bust and he sucks. I don't agree with either. He's just a good solid player, like a lot of guys on this roster. This board seems to always want to make a player out to be great or terrible - but has a problem when someone is just "good".
