Expert Analysis
4/26/24
4 min read
Blake Corum 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Los Angeles Rams RB
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Blake Corum.
Blake Corum's 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 5-foot-7 3/4"
- Weight: 205
- 40-yard dash: 4.53
- 10-yard split: 1.58
- Vertical jump: 35.5"
- Shuttle: 4.12
Blake Corum 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths
- Short, stout frame with a powerfully built lower half and quick feet to make sharp, decisive cuts to the clear first level
- A low center of gravity with a short, powerful frame resulted in excellent contact balance to work through tackles
- Effective in zone and gap scheme run games with one-cut downhill quickness and explosive short-area burst
- Displayed patience and vision then quick, active and explosive feet to make sharp, decisive cuts to open gaps and work through small creases at the line
- Quick, sudden feet in confined spaces, maintaining velocity, speed and power at the second and third levels
- Strong lower half to drive through contact and maintain balance to get tough yards; natural power for his size
- Showed some lateral quickness and shiftiness to make defenders miss at second and third levels
- What consistently stood out on his 2022 tape was he got hard yards inside while running with physicality and natural power
- In 2023, showed extensive experience running zone and gap scheme concepts; also has much experience as an I-back
- Excellent contact balance at the second and third levels of the defense; ran through tackles without losing stride
Weaknesses
- Did not show an accelerating burst at the second and third levels of the defense; more of a quickness than a speed back
- Not overly shifty or elusive in space, does not possess the kind of shake-and-bake, make-you-miss ability you’d like
- Overall, Corum is not a higher-end athlete for a running back lacking the desired juice and acceleration
NFL Transition
Corum presents an interesting question as you project him to the next level: What is the most effective way to deploy him in an offense? Corum’s strengths as a runner are his compact frame and low center of gravity. He consistently showed excellent patience, vision and short-area burst to get through small creases at the POA with outstanding contact balance to work through tackles at the second and third levels of the defense.
What stood out watching Corum was he was a refined runner who innately understood blocking schemes, gap fluidity and defensive flow, resulting in no wasted steps, indecision or hesitancy in making sharp decisive cuts. Corum’s traits are much more those of a sustaining grinder than an explosive big-play back. His foundation is being tough and competitive to gain the hard yards and the contact balance to work through second- and third-level tackles.
The concerns with Corum are his average athletic traits and his lack of acceleration and burst once he clears the first level of the defense. Corum is not a re-accelerator in that he does not possess that extra gear to burst out of a confined space as he navigates the second level of the defense.
Overall, Corum is a skilled and efficient runner with patience, vision, awareness and conviction. The question becomes is that enough to be a primary back in the NFL much in the way that Devin Singletary has been in his five years in the league? Singletary’s athletic testing measurables at the combine were similar to Corum's. Singletary has 151 or more carries in each of his NFL seasons with a high of 216 in 2023 when he became the Texans' feature back in the second half of the season.
Is there a comparison to Kyren Williams, who became the Rams' feature back in 2023, carrying the ball more than 220 times? Williams does not possess the kind of high-level running traits you normally want in your feature back just as Corum does not possess them. Corum will be team- and scheme-specific in how he can be best deployed at the next level.
Other Notes
Corum came out of national power St. Frances Academy in Maryland as a 4-star recruit and saw extensive action in his sophomore season of 2021 before becoming Michigan’s feature back in 2022. Corum had more than 500 carries during his final two seasons, rushing for more than 2,700 yards and 45 TDs.
In 2022, Corum was a rarity in college football with 127 of his 247 carries (51.4 percent) coming out of 12 personnel. Those went for 806 yards (6.4 average). Sixty-three of his 247 carries came as an I-back, with 138 coming offset in the shotgun. Corum has extensive experience.
