Joel Klatt evaluates Texas RB Jonathon Brooks as a NFL Draft prospect

Jonathon Brooks hasn’t been a prospect many have talked about given the fact that he’s sidelined for all pre-draft activities after tearing his ACL during the 2023-24 season.

Despite his major injury, college football analyst Joel Klatt believes the former Texas running back has potential still waiting to be unlocked. With a smaller sample size of tape on Brooks available compared to most top running backs in the class, Klatt explained why he’s still one of the best prospects available out of the backfield this cycle.

“If you actually look at his career — not a lot of carries. As they say, there’s a lot of tread left on the tires,” Klatt said. “… I think Jonathon Brooks is a hell of a player. I really do. He’s of this crowd — I think he’s the guy that is most similar to those three that I mentioned, your Bijan [Robinson], Jahmyr [Gibbs], Christian McCaffrey’s, in that he’s very dynamic running the football and he has such a threat catching it out of the backfield.

“What you see is like, well, it only happened for one year and now he’s coming off of this ACL, which is a bummer, because if he wasn’t coming off of that ACL, I genuinely believe he would probably be the top running back in the class. But because of those concerns with his knee, now you’ve got to mix that into your evaluation.”

The redshirt sophomore tailback chose to forgo his final two years of eligibility despite only one complete season of production having backed up both Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson earlier in his career.

In 2023, Brooks turned into the Longhorns’ primary option out of the backfield, putting up strong numbers in the 11 games he played in. He went on to finish his seasron with 187 carries for 1,139 yards, averaging 6.1 yards per carry with 10 rushing touchdowns. He also had 25 receptions for 286 yards and one receiving touchdown. Before tearing his ACL in the second half of Texas’s 29-26 win over TCU, Brooks was on pace to finish this year with over 1,600 all-purpose yards.

“You look at him and you’re like, man, he barely cracked the 200 [career] carry mark,” Klatt said. “These other guys have 4-500 carries and it’s like, in some cases, 600+ carries, and he barely had 200. He gains yards, has a nose for the end zone, catches it well, good leader, really smart player. He’s going to help somebody out, so he’s No. 3.”

Whether Brooks hears his name called on day one or two, Klatt believes Brooks can elevate any NFL running back room with his versatility. He’ll find out which team that’ll be after the 2024 NFL Draft gets underway from Detroit from April 25-27