Could Michigan's Jabrill Peppers play running back in the NFL?
PHILADELPHIA – Jabrill Peppers played linebacker at Michigan, and he’ll likely move to safety in the NFL. But Stanford coach David Shaw, who once tried recruiting Peppers to Palo Alto, said he thinks the do-it-All-American would make a dynamite running back.
“I have no doubts in my mind,” Shaw said Wednesday from the NFL draft site. “And if you’ve seen him return a punt or return a kickoff you would say the same thing. He’s dynamic with the ball in his hands.”
Peppers, a potential first-round pick tonight, ranked fifth nationally with a 14.8-yard punt return average last season and played some as a gadget running back/receiver/wildcat quarterback on offense.
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He scored five rushing touchdowns on 45 carries in his Michigan career, averaged 6.2 yards a rushing attempt last season and caught two passes.
Two NFL scouts told the Free Press that Peppers’ best position might be running back, and NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said he has heard the same.
“I’m telling you, there are teams that still feel like he is a running back,” Jeremiah said. “And maybe there’s a 2% chance of it happening. I wouldn’t be shocked, I wouldn’t be totally shocked if the commissioner got the podium and said so-and-so selects Jabrill Peppers, running back, Michigan.”
That would be an unconventional approach to a first- or second-round pick for sure, having him move to a position he played so sparingly in college. But Jeremiah said he’s “instinctive and natural” with the ball in his hands, and chances are he’ll be moving positions (to safety) anyway.
“You start getting into the second round, teams already have one guy in the holster and then you can come back and say, ‘OK, we think this guy can be an elite running back,’” Jeremiah said. “But defensively, I just think you’ve got to have a gameplan on how you’re going to use him.”
Shaw said he recruited Peppers “as a whatever he wanted to be” out of Paramus Catholic in New Jersey, when he was named high school Defensive Player of the Year by USA TODAY.
Asked where he’d play Peppers in the NFL, Shaw said, “Yes,’ as in he’d play Peppers all over the field.
“To me, he’s one of the X factors in this draft because whether he is a safety or a nickel, or whatever you want to call him, a dime player, whatever you want to call him. He’s also a punt returner. He’s also a guy that if your offense has a role for him he can touch the ball three or four times a game as a running back or receiver,” Shaw said. “He is dynamic with the ball in his hands. So we watched him. We went to go see him play in the state championship game. Just a phenomenal athlete, a premier competitor, a great kid. Bright and articulate and fun to be around. So he was really high on our list because it’s not just his athletic ability, it was everything else that he brought to the table with his own personality.”
As for Peppers’ draft stock, which has been in question since ESPN reported that he had a diluted drug test at the combine last month, Jeremiah said it shouldn’t impact his draft position much.
“On that stuff, I’ve always said it’s amazing when you’re in that room how if you have big grades on Jabrill Peppers he overhydrated,” Jeremiah said. “If you have low grades on Jabrill Peppers, he’s got major issues. So it depends on how you view the player. It used to be a death sentence a while ago, now it’s not really as big a deal as people are making it out to be.”
Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.