Syracuse Football: SU adds former track star in 2020, film breakdown

The Syracuse football team has added a former track star in the 2020 class. Our recruiting analyst broke down his tale of the tape here.

Right as the Syracuse football spring game was beginning, the Orange added a running back who will eventually play in that same game. Sean Tucker, a track and football star from Towson, Maryland announced his intentions to commit to Syracuse.

Tucker is a tremendous speedster for the Calvert Hall Cardinals, a prep school in Baltimore. According to the Daily Orange’s Billy Haden, Tucker ran the second fastest 100-meter dash in Calvert Hall history. The high school junior lists his 40-yard dash on his HUDL profile, as a 4.3.

He is not all that highly recruited, but does have offers from the likes of Kent State, Rutgers, and Wisconsin. Any time you pick up a running back commit with an offer from Wisconsin, it is a good pickup. The Badgers have a tremendous history of developing skilled running backs and boast a laundry list of NFL RBs.

According to 247sport.com, Tucker is a 3-star prospect, ranked 742nd in the class, and the 60th best running back recruit in the class of 2020.

Let’s take a look at the tape:

At the :58 second mark of the tape, Tucker shows off the total package for a speedy running back. He takes the toss to the strong side of the formation, he uses his vision to locate the hole in the defense he can exploit. He then puts his foot in the ground and makes a tremendous jump cut to hit the hole in full stride. He uses his quick acceleration to get to the sideline and out of congestion, showing off tremendous speed in the open field where no one is going to catch him.

The next play I want to look at occurs at the 1:41 mark. Throughout the entire tape, you get the sense that Tucker is one of those guys that is just slippery around the line of scrimmage. He kind of reminds me of Austin Ekeler on the Los Angeles Charger. At just 5-foot-10 and 190-pounds, the Maryland native is a little undersized. However, his quickness and lower body strength make him very difficult to bring down. On this particular play, he navigates his way through the line of scrimmage, using a cutback to hit the hole again. Once he does this, he is gone. No one is going to catch this guy at the high school level.

At the 3:02 mark of the tape, Tucker shows off his ability to run up the middle and earn tough yards. It always gets tougher as a running back to find the end zone, the closer you get. On this play, he takes the hand-off up the middle, following his fullback into the end zone. In doing so Tucker takes two defenders for a ride, as they struggle to bring him down.

The last thing that I want to point out occurs at the 4:52 mark of the tape. Tucker takes the handoff that appears to be designed to go up the middle. Instead, Tucker uses his vision to recognize the hole between his tackle and slot receiver, cutting it back to gain chunk yardage. What Tucker does well, is using the sideline to his advantage. He constantly seeks it out, knowing that not many can match his straight-line speed.

Tucker will be scary in Dino Babers offense. He can be a return man, running back, or perhaps even a slot receiver. He and Jawhar Jordan make up two players that run 4.3 40-yard dashes in Syracuse’s offense.