FSU has a lot of players coming back to its football team. One who won’t is a big one.
Dalvin Cook finished the season as the nation’s No. 1 running back, according to Pro Football Focus. It remains to be seen if Cook is the top back taken — some mocks seem to prefer LSU’s Leonard Fournette — but Cook’s season put him above everyone else in college.
Cook finished the year with 1,765 yards and 19 touchdowns on 288 carries this season, and also finished as the Seminoles second leading receiver with 488 yards and a touchdown on 33 receptions.
Here is what PFF’s Gordon McGuinness had to say about Cook:
“Coming into the year, the big question was who would emerge as the best running back in the nation, with strong candidates in Florida State’s Dalvin Cook, LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey. In the end, it was Cook who had the best year, capping off an incredible collegiate career with an impressive three-game stretch to end the year that summed up his play nicely.
In games against Syracuse, Florida and Michigan, he averaged 3.7, 4.8 and 6.0 yards after contact per carry, and forced 33 missed tackles. Particularly against Michigan that really is incredible, with 119 of his 145 yards coming after contact and Cook forcing a missed tackle once every two carries.
“Cook led all running backs in 2016 with 1,195 yards after contact, the most of any running back in the nation, but also more than all but 31 running backs managed total rushing yards. The best pure runner in the nation, Cook stands out in terms of raw stats, advanced stats and passes the eyeball test too, with plenty of quality runs of four and five yards in his repertoire. In a year when many of the top running backs in the nation didn’t live up to expectations, Cook was able to tie a career best in touchdowns and post career-best numbers in rushing yards and yards after contact.”
FSU has a few candidates to run the ball next year, including junior Jacques Patrick, freshman Cam Akers, Ryan Green, Amir Rasul, freshman Khalan Rayborn and freshman Zaquandre White.