Dive into the long internet file on Dante Dowdell, and you quickly get lost in the inevitable tricky comparisons and projections. Some eyebrow-raising names pop up: Derrick Henry. Royce Freeman. Adrian Peterson. OSU Beaver great Steven Jackson. None of these quite work at this stage of Dante's development. Although he's tall for a prep running back and powerfully built, with a quick burst in the first ten yards, he hasn't clocked 40 times equal to these greats. Jackson, Freeman and Henry posted 4.54s, Peterson a 4.44. At a camp event in Houston Dowdell was electronically timed in 4.65.
He's explosive, however. At the same event his vertical leap was 34 inches. Dowdell runs with a low pad level and reaches top speed in the first three strides. In his highlight film it often appears that no one wants to tackle him; many times he shrugs off a defender without losing forward momentum. He's quickly north and south, cuts decisively with little wasted juking. A freight train doesn't need to be shifty.
It's hard to doubt a back who ran for 2,165 yards and 31 TDs as a senior, a U.S. Army All-American with a pair of 98-yard runs. More importantly, it's hard to be skeptical about a back who was hand-picked by Carlos Locklyn as his future bell cow.
Dowdell is 6-1.5, 210 pounds coming out of high school, a two-time State Championship MVP and Mr. Football at the 5A level in Mississippi, a 4-star prospect who had offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Penn State, Florida State, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina among two dozen others. Notably, he wasn't offered by Alabama or Georgia.
Asked by Langston Newsome of the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger to describe his style, Dowdell himself said, “I’m a big back that runs hard, aggressive and physical. Not a lot of running backs run as hard as I do anymore. I like to compare my game to someone like Adrian Peterson. There are running backs that are shifty but I like to make somebody feel me when I run."
He's built like a 25-year-old man. The determination in his highlights is matched by workout discipline and commitment.
Dowdell ripped off a 14-yard run at the Oregon Spring Game this April, leading all running backs with 7 carries for 32 yards in an abbreviated day. He could readily develop into the kind of back that wears down a defense or ices a game in the fourth quarter. It's difficult to deny him the end zone inside the 20.
To be fully effective in the Oregon offense, he'll have to improve as a pass receiver. Picayune's offense was dead-simple, Dowdell left and Dowdell right--he caught just three passes all season. This short clip shows he needs to become more fluid and natural running routes and receiving the ball--Whittington and Irving are two of the best pass catching running backs the Ducks have ever had.
On a recruiting visit to Eugene Dowdell asked Dan Lanning what he thought his team needed to win a national championship. Lanning smiled and said, "You." Let that be the final word on his potential.
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