I've been watching a lot of the 1994 and 1995 games and watching Leland McElroy just reminds me of Devon Achane. Leland didn't look super fast in traffic, but got yards and if he got outside he was GONE. Achane just runs like him in space and in traffic.

Antman92 said:

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I've been watching a lot of the 1994 and 1995 games and watching Leland McElroy just reminds me of Devon Achane. Leland didn't look super fast in traffic, but got yards and if he got outside he was GONE. Achane just runs like him in space and in traffic.

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Huh? Achane glides quickly thru traffic. Like a knife thru butter. A hot knife at that?

Devon runs with more power, but yes... they both have jets.

Loved 'Lectric but recall the predraft scouting report was he was caught from behind more than expected despite his blazing speed.

I hope Achane writes a different book.

4 said:

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Devon runs with more power, but yes... they both have jets.

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In my opinion they have very similar attributes. McElroy was a little quicker at the LOS, had a little better vision and shake, and Achane has better top end speed.

Both had power, look at McElroy run through this tackle in Austin:

Loved Leeland, but Devon is faster at his current weight -- if he put another 20lbs on (which i don't think he needs to), then it could be a closer race.

Achane will win a natty which Leland could not!

You nailed it OP. Leland was always one of favorites, but that clip does not compare to Achane putting FL LB on in has ass and taking it to the house- not getting caught from behind.

GigEm81 said:

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Loved 'Lectric but recall the predraft scouting report was he was caught from behind more than expected despite his blazing speed.

I hope Achane writes a different book.

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Perhaps because he suffered an injury in that big game at Colorado? That kid was fast, but was noticeably slower after that CU game. In that final SWC game against the sips, LM got into the secondary and looked like he was going to house it right up the middle of the field, but a couple of sip defenders actually caught him from behind. That would not have happened without that injury.

Leland was choppy. Achane is smooth. Achane is more patient with his blockers. Leland outran his blockers.

Leland hit the wedge at full speed on KORs. Haven't really seen Achane return many kicks.

Besides being very fast, I don't see similarities in their running styles

I can see why the comparison is made and Leland definately had jets but achane top end long speed is blazing. If he gets a seam that dude gone and he is leaving people behind. Leland was probably pretty comprable in the 30-40 Yd range but after that its Achane.

Southlake said:

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Achane is more patient with his blockers. Leland outran his blockers.

Leland hit the wedge at full speed on KORs.

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This 100 yard McElroy KO return, and even the TV announcers' comments on the replay, completely disagree:

AgDotCom said:

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Southlake said:

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Achane is more patient with his blockers. Leland outran his blockers.

Leland hit the wedge at full speed on KORs.

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This 100 yard McElroy KO return, and even the TV announcers' comments on the replay, completely disagree:

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That was a very cold game.

Achane is faster than Leland and has a higher ceiling. Before he is done he will be a top 5 in school history at his position. He is in better league and will get a chance this year to show what he is all about.

Meanmachine said:

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Achane is faster than Leland and has a higher ceiling. Before he is done he will be a top 5 in school history at his position. He is in better league and will get a chance this year to show what he is all about.

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Rank / Player / Yards
1 / Darren Lewis / 5,012
2 / Curtis Dickey / 3,703
3 / Trayveon Williams / 3,379
4 / Cyrus Gray / 3,298
5 / Greg Hill / 3262

It will take 3 pretty good seasons on top of his 364 yards as a fish to break the top 5 in rushing yards.

There are other ways to rank them. Not sure what you mean by top 5 in school history. He may be one of the top 5 most talented in school history, but the top 3 on this list are pretty good, and Greg Hill only played 3 seasons. Unless Achane plays 3 more seasons - unlikely in today's world of top talent declaring early - I don't see him getting into the top 5 rushing leaders. Too many other talented backs on the team.

Dickey was probably the most successful in the NFL of all A&M backs. Johnny Hector had a decent NFL career. Rodney Thomas too. A&M has - at least not in my lifetime - never had a back that really made it to the upper echelon of NFL backs.

I'm glad we don't play that damn game anymore....bo-riiing!

The combo of Achane's ability to break tackles as a speed back has been the most impressive thing so far. He's broken several TDs off by shrugging off tackles at the 3rd level. He's a great reload back in the second half when opposing defenses are worn down. It will be interesting to see how he does as a RB1 eventually.

Could not disagree more - I love a tough down in the trenches physically dominating run game.... also an old fashion pitchers dual. I realize however these don't agree with today's more casually oriented sports fan.

Hard to compare players 25+ yrs separated. But just thinking back Leland seemed a little quicker but Devon is much more physical down hill runner.

A side note from the video... remember when we were the Texas Aggies. I miss that.

Don't see much chop there.

Wev'e had some excellent combo backfields. Rodney Thomas/ Greg Hill probably being the best in my memory . I think Achane- Spiller could turn out to be the best of the lot.

McElroy never really lived up to his potential imo . You could see the ability was there but it never totally clicked for whatever reason. I don't recall him having any severe injuries.

_mpaul said:

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AgDotCom said:

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Southlake said:

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Achane is more patient with his blockers. Leland outran his blockers.

Leland hit the wedge at full speed on KORs.

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This 100 yard McElroy KO return, and even the TV announcers' comments on the replay, completely disagree:

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That was a very cold game.

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Very, very cold game. I was in the middle of sips, it was awesome. I like how everyone is acting like Leland was some wannabe that got lucky now and again. Leland 100% and Achane 100% really isn't gonna be that much different...

AggieBoiler said:

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You nailed it OP. Leland was always one of favorites, but that clip does not compare to Achane putting FL LB on in has ass and taking it to the house- not getting caught from behind.

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The season wasn't that long ago bro

halfastros81 said:

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Wev'e had some excellent combo backfields. Rodney Thomas/ Greg Hill probably being the best in my memory . I think Achane- Spiller could turn out to be the best of the lot.

McElroy never really lived up to his potential imo . You could see the ability was there but it never totally clicked for whatever reason. I don't recall him having any severe injuries.

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I don't recall LM having injuries. I do recall Steve Ensminger/OC trying to use LM - a fleet footed back as a Detron Smith or Robert Wilson up-the-middle bruiser. The O-scheme and the personnel didn't match. When Colorado puts 9 & 10 in the box and someone thinks LM is going to be successful in that environment and never change the play calling, it's not LM's fault.

LM liked to change pace and stutter step while the blocking was evolving. DA demonstrated some patience but attacks the line with speed and turns his bodily really well to squeeze through gaps without slowing down. He is already at close to top speed by the time he gets to the next level. I expect he'll have considerable more break away opportunities.

When LM was here we had the players but not the scheme to keep people from stacking the box. Against Rice and TCU we could just run over them anyway. Not so much against the likes of CU. Our reluctance to develop a competent passing game held back all of our RBs for much of the 90s.

Oops wrong post

halfastros81 said:

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Wev'e had some excellent combo backfields. Rodney Thomas/ Greg Hill probably being the best in my memory . I think Achane- Spiller could turn out to be the best of the lot.

McElroy never really lived up to his potential imo . You could see the ability was there but it never totally clicked for whatever reason. I don't recall him having any severe injuries.

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I'm pretty sure Leland had some ankle injury his last year. It wasn't severe enough to make him miss playing time but it took a lot of zip out of his elusiveness.

I could be wrong but that's what I seem to remember.

These are good comparisons of what Achane can be. He may share the load so not finish with as many rushing yards but in terms of ability and greatness he can be top 5 overall. Assuming he stays healthy he could be a higher draft pick than many on this list. Dickey and Hill were 1st rounders and the RB position is not valued the same now as it was in the 80's and 90's.

1996 RB roster - Sir Parker, Dante Hall, Eric Bernard, Tiki Hardeman. That was an exciting backfield!

Was at that game and it seemed like he had a teleport belt. Never understood why sips kicked to him

Achane picks up 8-12 yards very very easily. Kinda weird to watch.

I remember when I was a fish and I was trying to recruit a friend's younger brother (from a tu family) to go to A&M, and took him to an A&M game. He was always talking tu football and stuff, and as we were about to take the kickoff, I told the brother "watch, this guy [McElroy] is going to run this back for a TD." He said, "Bull****". Leland caught the kick in the endzone, looked left, then looked right, then took off, and got a TD. The brother looked at me like I was Nostradamus, and I made an expression of "dude he does this all the time."

I'd like to think that was the moment, that he decided to go to A&M. I never asked.

With our RB depth for the foreseeable future I don't see anyone cracking the top 5 anytime soon. We will have 2 guys around 1000 yards before we have someone pushing 2000. We have Spiller, Smith, Johnson, and Achane with all having different running styles that fill different needs.

Achane has less than 400 yards total with a lot of those coming on long runs and I don't think he has any returns yet. Time will tell with him but LM seemed to cut more while Achane is more of the wait for a hole and go guy. Both have speed

Emilio Fantastico said:

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halfastros81 said:

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Wev'e had some excellent combo backfields. Rodney Thomas/ Greg Hill probably being the best in my memory . I think Achane- Spiller could turn out to be the best of the lot.

McElroy never really lived up to his potential imo . You could see the ability was there but it never totally clicked for whatever reason. I don't recall him having any severe injuries.

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I'm pretty sure Leland had some ankle injury his last year. It wasn't severe enough to make him miss playing time but it took a lot of zip out of his elusiveness.

I could be wrong but that's what I seem to remember.

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I remember he was fighting ankle injuries as well.

He ran a sub 4.4 forty at the combine.

Leland's injury in the '95 Colorado game was huge and affected A&M for the rest of the season in which they were preseason #1 in one of the polls. Let's all hope Achane doesn't have the same fate.