Welcome to Baltimore Benard Pierce RB (3rd Pick) Temple.

[JohnnyK27]

Moved up for this player ...Not very good report card. Could be a special teamer.

TempleSchool
MACConference

6'0?"Height
218 lbsWeight

31.4"Arm Length
9.2"Hand Size

90Overall Rank
8Positional Rank

2011 NCAA FOOTBALL STATS
ATT YDS TDS
273 1,481 27
2012 Draft Pick Info
TEAM ROUND PICK
? ? ?
Scouts Inc. Player Evaluations

Profile
Scouting Combine
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Overall Football Traits
Production 2 "2009: (12/9) -- 236-1,361-5.8-16. 2010: (10/5) -- 154-728-4.7-10. 2011: (12/10) -- 273-1,481-5.4-27. Career: (2009-11) -- 19 receptions, 178 yards (9.4), 1 TD. "
Height-Weight-Speed 2 "Above average blend of height, weight and top-end speed. "
Durability 3 Left the Miami of Ohio game with a head injury this past season. Also was held out of contact drills for a few practices during 2010 preseason camp because of a head injury. Suffered a pulled hamstring against Ohio in 2010 and did not return to the game. Battled through nagging injuries throughout his true freshman season in 2009.
Intangibles 3 "Well respected by coaches and teammates. However, he was involved in a brawl at school that ended with someone seriously injured as a sophomore at Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania. Sent to a school for court-adjudicated youth called Glenn Mills. Could have left Glen Mills as a senior but decided to stay. Raised by mother and reportedly did not have much of a relationship with father who died in a car accident on Father's Day in 2008. "
1 = Exceptional2 = Above average3 = Average4 = Below average5 = Marginal
Running Back Specific Traits
Competitiveness 3 Runs with good determination and can churn out yards after contact. Protects lower half very well as a runner and is hard to bring down with an arm tackle attempt. Will finish on occasion but would like to see it with more consistency and violence. Owns a very good career-fumble percentage (0.88) but ball security got a little sloppy this past season where he lost all three on 276 total touches (1.09 percent).
Vision/Patience 3 Vision is slightly above-average. Does a nice job of setting up and utilizing blockers. Can be more patient to stay the course though and can look to bounce runs too quickly at times. Also will miss vertical cuts on occasion. Displays a natural feel for cut back lanes as an inside runner. Has room for improvement as a second-level runner and will make too many lateral cuts instead of getting north and south to maximize yards.
Agility/Acceleration 3 Possesses nimble feet and above-average lateral agility for his size. Displays good body control as a runner. Shifty and flashes a quick jump cut along with an effective spin move to evade tacklers. While he runs with good tempo he lacks elite suddenness and can lose momentum when attempting to make an instant cut. Top-end speed is adequate but does not possess the extra gear to outrun pursuit angles and hit the home run.
Power/Balance 2 Runs with a wide base and with above-average balance. Appears to have natural power in his lower half and can churn out yardage after contact. Needs to run with a more consistent pad level. But he does a nice job of getting behind his pads when trying to squeeze out tough yards on inside runs.
Passing Game 4 "Limited in this area. Often substituted out during obvious passing situations. Has good size and strength in pass pro but needs work with technique and is not overly aggressive in this area. Goes to the well too often with cut blocks. Displays adequate hands and can make the routine catches. However, lacks elite ball skills and can struggle with throws outside of the frame. Does not show great suddenness or polish with routes to consistently create separation from underneath routes. "

[ccbird]

Good, underrated back. One of the 3 best pure RBs in the draft. Good power/solid speed. Shifty and runs through contact well. Not a homerun hitter though. McGahee type back.


Edit: Here is a scouting report with video of him against Wyoming in Temple's bowl game. You see the good vision, cutting ability, and power on display.


http://www.nationalfootballauthority...rt-temple.html

[Tony-OH]

Looks like a prototypical number two back. Tough runner who will be able to give Ray a break. Wish the hands were better but they said Ray had poor hands when he came out as well.

[paulcoates]

This is the one pick that has me scratching my head so far. We have Rice who gained 2,000 yards from scrimmage. How much play time is available for this kid?

[Flacco Machado]

FWIW, 105.7's Glenn Younes is saying that the Ravens traded up in the 3rd round to get Mohamed Sanu and the Bengals took him right before their pick. Again, take that with a grain of salt. Didn't really want Sanu anyway.

[jonesing4pie]

FWIW, Glenn Younes is saying that the Ravens traded up in the 3rd round to get Mohamed Sanu and the Bengals took him right before their pick. Again, take that with a grain of salt. Didn't really want Sanu anyway.

You know I saw Sanu go off the board right there and was wondering if he was someone we'd be interested in but I would hope we didn't make the trade until we knew exactly who would be there. Doesn't make a lot of sense unless Atlanta was telling us someone else was on the line and wanted to trade to their slot which I would not believe if I were the Ravens.

[Flacco Machado]

Speaking of Sanu...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-sh...153947666.html

[RavNMadMan]

Pierce is a very good choice. The tape never lies. 8 minutes of electricity

6 feet 220 lbs. He cuts, he jukes and hurdles and runs over defenders. Scored 5 or 6 TDs against the Terps (admittedly a very poor team this year). This guy will translate. You heard it here first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEgLQdGi7fM

[jonesing4pie]

Pierce is a very good choice. The tape never lies. 8 minutes of electricity

6 feet 220 lbs. He cuts, he jukes and hurdles and runs over defenders. Scored 5 or 6 TDs against the Terps (admittedly a very poor team this year). This guy will translate. You heard it here first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEgLQdGi7fM

My analysis from the 3 videos I've seen of him now:

Like someone else said he breaks it outside too often. Now, I understand you do what it takes to win at each level and because he was a superior athlete than most of his competition in college popping outside/cutting back and not following his blockers worked but that isn't going to fly in the NFL. Defenders go sideline to sideline about 10 times faster in the league and he will need to be more disciplined.

To be fair, a highlight tape is more likely to show the runs where he breaks it outside since they have a better chance of going for big runs in some respect so that might explain the disproportionality to some degree.

Partially because he was constantly breaking it outside in that tape I didn't see much "power" like alot of people seem to be insinuating. Just because he weighs around 215-220 doesn't make him a power back. Those hightlights did not really display a tremendous amount of power and I think one of the reasons is because he runs high and therefore has a higher center of gravity and therefore goes down easier on contact. RR is actually very powerful 1 on 1 because he is extremely thick and has such a low center of gravity that he doesn't lose his balance and go down easily. Furthermore, I didn't see some killer stiff arm ala McGahee that would make him more powerful/punishing.

On the positive side he does cut well for someone his size and he is actually probably faster than RR in space because of his longer strides. Obviously an athlete. While I don't see him being extremely powerful he isn't weak either. I think he could be effective but don't see him as being the "power" guy behind RR that some people are making him out to be.

[RavNMadMan]

My analysis from the 3 videos I've seen of him now:

Like someone else said he breaks it outside too often. Now, I understand you do what it takes to win at each level and because he was a superior athlete than most of his competition in college popping outside/cutting back and not following his blockers worked but that isn't going to fly in the NFL. Defenders go sideline to sideline about 10 times faster in the league and he will need to be more disciplined.

To be fair, a highlight tape is more likely to show the runs where he breaks it outside since they have a better chance of going for big runs in some respect so that might explain the disproportionality to some degree.

Partially because he was constantly breaking it outside in that tape I didn't see much "power" like alot of people seem to be insinuating. Just because he weighs around 215-220 doesn't make him a power back. Those hightlights did not really display a tremendous amount of power and I think one of the reasons is because he runs high and therefore has a higher center of gravity and therefore goes down easier on contact. RR is actually very powerful 1 on 1 because he is extremely thick and has such a low center of gravity that he doesn't lose his balance and go down easily. Furthermore, I didn't see some killer stiff arm ala McGahee that would make him more powerful/punishing.

On the positive side he does cut well for someone his size and he is actually probably faster than RR in space because of his longer strides. Obviously an athlete. While I don't see him being extremely powerful he isn't weak either. I think he could be effective but don't see him as being the "power" guy behind RR that some people are making him out to be.

I said he was a very good choice. I did not say he will replace RR. RR needs to take a very good contract offer and stop listening to his agent.

[ccbird]

You know I saw Sanu go off the board right there and was wondering if he was someone we'd be interested in but I would hope we didn't make the trade until we knew exactly who would be there. Doesn't make a lot of sense unless Atlanta was telling us someone else was on the line and wanted to trade to their slot which I would not believe if I were the Ravens.

I don;t believe that unless the Ravens were using Pierce as bait. Harbaugh was apparently texting him throughout the 3rd round and told him they were trying to trade for him.


Not only that but I don;t think Ozzie would finalize a trade unless he knew the guy he was trading for was there. As soon as Sanu went he would have hung up on Atlanta. It's been awhile since I read Next Man up but I believe a scenario like this occured and was written about in the book.

[ccbird]

FWIW, 105.7's Glenn Younes is saying that the Ravens traded up in the 3rd round to get Mohamed Sanu and the Bengals took him right before their pick. Again, take that with a grain of salt. Didn't really want Sanu anyway.

Don't believe that unless the Ravens were using Pierce as bait. Harbaugh was apparently texting him throughout the 3rd round and told him they were trying to trade up for him.


Not only that but I don't think Ozzie would finalize a trade unless he knew the guy he was trading for was there. As soon as Sanu went he would have hung up on Atlanta. It's been awhile since I read Next Man up but I believe a scenario like this occured and was written about in the book.


Oh BTW... I would highly question Younes's credibility anyway.

[JohnnyK27]

I said he was a very good choice. I did not say he will replace RR. RR needs to take a very good contract offer and stop listening to his agent.

Speaking of this ...they mentioned on WBAL that he might be the heir apparent to life after Rice. The Ravens could be preparing for 1 or 2 tags years and then letting him walk. At RB and with his size he's not worth the money or length of contract (injury risk due to size) that he's asking.

[birdtown]

Found this regarding the 40 he ran at the Temple pro day. If true, pretty impressive!

Running back Bernard Pierce, who surprised many with a 4.45 40 clocking at the combine, lowered his time by one-tenth today. Several watches had Pierce, not known as a fast ball-carrier, turning in times of 4.34 seconds. Sure-handed receiver Rod Streater also cracked the 4.4-second barrier, timing 4.37 in the 40.

[jonesing4pie]

Found this regarding the 40 he ran at the Temple pro day. If true, pretty impressive!

Running back Bernard Pierce, who surprised many with a 4.45 40 clocking at the combine, lowered his time by one-tenth today. Several watches had Pierce, not known as a fast ball-carrier, turning in times of 4.34 seconds. Sure-handed receiver Rod Streater also cracked the 4.4-second barrier, timing 4.37 in the 40.

From the tape he doesn't look slow. I know he is pretty big at 220 but like I said, he seems to be more of a cutback, quickish guy with more top end speed than RR than a big punishing back. I feel like people might be deceived by his size.