Maryland football running back Lorenzo Harrison has been extremely effective this season as part of the Terps’ multi-headed rushing attack. He’s carried the ball 44 times for 362 yards, which is more than 8 yards per carry. That’s pretty damn good. (And it’s not even the best rate on the team, but that’s another story.)
Harrison is currently leading the Big Ten in a stat called Elusive Rating. Elusive Rating measures missed tackles forced by a running back, whether that’s done by juking someone out or just running them over.
Harrison has evaded 16 tackles on 45 touches this season, according to Pro Football Focus. (They’re the only site I can find saying Harrison has carried the ball 45 times and not 44, but I’m going to chalk this up to either a typo or a negligible difference.)
Maryland HB Lorenzo Harrison leads the Big Ten in Elusive Rating, having generated 16 missed tackles on just 45 touches so far this year. pic.twitter.com/o86Jw3M7FI
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) October 11, 2016
Basically, opposing defenses have had quite a hard time tackling him.
It’s worth noting that Maryland’s schedule hasn’t really been challenging so far. The Terps ran all over every team up until Penn State, which limited them to 170 yards on the ground, their lowest total of the season. But this is still impressive, especially considering Harrison is a true freshman playing in a system that features several other runners.
If Harrison can keep this up, he could become an even bigger part of Maryland’s offense.