Name: Israel Abanikanda

School:  Pittsburgh

Year:  Junior

Position: Running back

Measurements: 5’10 ¾ 216, 32” arms, 8 ¼” hand

Combine: Pro day: 4.45 40, 7.14 3-cone, 4.32 short shuttle, 41” vertical, and 10’08” broad jump

STATS:

Courtesy of Sports-reference.com

General Info:

Isreal’s father played football at Georgia Tech and his brother Michael played at both Buffalo and Temple. He is from Brooklyn, NY and was New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year, and he also played defensive back. As a recruit he was the #1 player in the state of New York and he also competed in track and field. For Abanikanda’s freshman year he played in seven games collecting 95 rushing yards and one touchdown on 28 carries, and had two catches for 11 yards. For his Sophomore year the New York native played in all 13 games and started six of them, he led the team in rushing with 651 yards on 123 carries, seven rushing touchdowns, and 24 catches for 197 yards and one TD. He also returned seven kicks for 206 yards and one TD. The former Panther had a breakout season in 2022 with 9 100 yard rushing games for 1,426 rushing yards on 241 carries and 20 TDs, and also caught 12 passes for 146 yards, returned 12 kicks for 228 yards. The game that really put him on the map was a 320 yard, six touchdown day he had against Virginia Tech. he was named to the AP All-American 3rd team and declared as a true junior and was invited to the NFL combine.

Positional Skills:

Strengths: Abanikanda brings ideal running back size and athleticism at 5’11 216 with explosive 4.46 speed that shows up on film. Pittsburgh lined him up in the slot a few times this past season. He has a good amount of kick return experience and even returned one for a TD in 2021. The New York native has shown on film an ability to shake tacklers who come in high. If he gets a big hole he can take it for six, he is explosive and fast once he gets through the hole and can open up his stride. Abanikanda tends to glide on the field. He can dive forward on short yardage plays and get a couple yards or be used on the goal line. The former Panther has shown he can get himself skinny to slip through smaller holes in the line. He will stutter step a little behind the line if his initial hole isn’t open. The former High School Gatorade player of the year has shown on film that he can get to the corner and get up the field; he can erase angles. Abanikanda will spin off some tackles. He shows real solid contact balance, he can take a hit up top and still keep going. The former Panther has shown soft hands as a receiver and does not look stiff at all in the upper body. He does like to lower his shoulder when a defender is coming at him. In the open field though he will show some subtle moves here and there to slip a defender or get extra yardage. He also keeps his legs churning trying to get extra yardage once he can get his momentum going. Abaniknda plays with good ball security having only three career fumbles. The former #1 player in New York has flashed a stiff arm, you would like to see him use it more.

Weaknesses: He is not a back that can create for himself, he doesn’t juke, spin, dead leg, or have crazy agility to avoid tacklers in space. When tacklers go low on him he has yet shown the ability to break those tackles. It takes Abanikanda a few steps to get going, if a defender hits him in the backfield he is pretty much done. Runs high, so he doesn’t always fall forward when tackled, sometimes he goes back or sometimes he just goes down where he’s tackled. He only lined up in the slot about 15 times on the season and ran very basic routes. As a kick returner he pretty much just runs in a straight line as fast as he can. The former Panther struggles in pass protection, he doesn’t get low enough and has struggles sustaining his blocks. The Junior running back hasn’t shown on film that he can make sharp cuts consistently, it ends up slowing his momentum a lot or he loses balance. His ability as a route runner is a bit of an unknown since Pittsburgh didn’t ask him to run many.

Fit with the Packers:

While not an immediate fit with the Packers, long term he could be great in Green Bay. LaFleur finds a running backs ability to pass block to be very important, and this is one of “Izzy’s” biggest weakness’, he’s not terrible at it; he just wasn’t asked to do it a lot in college. Green Bay though would be a great fit because he could sit for a year behind Jones and Dillon and really work on his pass blocking, learn to run lower and behind his pads better, and either improve or show he can run routes and be a threat out of the backfield. Outside of those things to work on he has almost everything the Packers would want in a lead back. The former Panther is a great fit in the zone blocking scheme because he doesn’t dance around in the backfield, he likes to get up the field and go. He can handle a heavy work load, and still has a good amount of tread left on his tires only having 392 career carries with 241 coming in 2022. His ability to contribute as a returner also ups his value. Abanikanda should see his name called on day 2.