MarShawn Lloyd scouting report: Exploring USC RB's strengths and weaknesses

A former top-100 overall recruit in the country for South Carolina in 2020, MarShawn Lloyd tore his ACL as a true freshman. He had an underwhelming debut campaign, trying to regain confidence in his knee. In 2022, he turned 111 carries and 18 receptions into 749 combined yards and 11 touchdowns.

After that, he transferred to USC and took his game to another level. Across 11 games with the Trojans, he ran the ball 116 times for 820 yards (7.1 YPC) and hauled in 13 passes for another 232 yards, while reaching the end zone nine times.

Details: 5-foot-9, 220 pounds; RS JR.

Breaking down MarShawn Lloyd's scouting report

MarShawn Lloyd running with the ball - Arizona v USC

Strengths

• Showcases good patience and the ability to lure defenders into creases, so he can work around them effectively.
• Has the vision to get to cutback lanes most college backs wouldn’t even have on the radar.
• Efficiently veers off the backside foot to cut up runs vertically, rather than having to slow his strides and lose time.
• Oily hips to effortlessly make those adjustments to his path and curve away from defenders trying to redirect for him.
• Does really well to slow his feet before hitting creases.
• Excelled on G-lead, recognizing when the guard would wrap around, he could hesitate, give a quick burst to the outside and then slide underneath.
• For a bigger back, his sudden ability to dip inside of blocks and then beat defenders in the back-seven around those, as they leverage themselves incorrectly (something that stuck out on multiple occasions).
• The ability to flip the hips and turn his shoulders away from defenders trying to reach out for him after cutting behind a blocker doesn’t allow those guys to impede his progress.
• Features one of the best jump-cuts in the country, which allows him to make tacklers clutch air as they’re trying to chop him down.
• When he hits the hole at full speed, he can run over some linebackers waiting for him there.
• Has a knack for tilting his body away from glancing hits and swiping down the arms of potential tacklers reaching for him.
• Is able to spy corners squeezing in him from the corner of his eye and crossing them up in order to get to the sideline every once in a while.
• His 40.9% missed tackle forced rate ranked fourth among RBs with 100+ carries last season and he averaged just under four yards after contact.
• Displays impressive contact balance and always appears bigger than his size would indicate when he bounces off hits without much delay.
• Does well to pull his knees up out of the trash and not trip over the extremities of friend or foe along the way.
• Kicks his heels up high to regain balance after getting hit down low.
• Wasn’t utilized a whole lot in the passing game, but it’s not because there’s anything wrong with his hands – only dropped one of 14 catchable targets last season.
• Rarely allows passes to hit his chest and there’s no delay before becoming a runner with the ball.
• Can stop and swipe by tacklers in the flats, as well as cross up guys in the open field in a way you wouldn’t expect from a big back.
• Sells play-action so well by sort of hiding the ball and still following blockers as if he had it in his hands, particularly with all the RPOs and alerts in the Trojans' offense.
• Shows good peripheral vision to find work and help out in protection if nobody he’s responsible for rushes.
• Deliver some impactful chips as a wing basically before flaring out into the flats.

Weaknesses

• Not always the most mature or refined decision-maker on gap plays at this point, where he’ll cut back or bounce when he could set up creases on the front side.
• Tends to try making that one extra cut and go for the homerun instead of getting vertical when he has a lane after that first or second move works.
• His elbow gets too wide away and off his frame, exposing the ball to the swinging arms of defenders – fumbled four times in 2023.
• Didn’t show a whole lot as a receiver throughout his college career, with just 19 total catches and a very basic route tree as the early-down back (swings, flats, hooks).

MarShawn Lloyd's draft projection

MarShawn Lloyd is my favorite back to watch in this class. Lloyd’s ability to play small in his approach through the line of scrimmage and how big he can play on contact is a rare combination.

His ability to see the full picture, coordination to alter stride length, the looseness in his hips to execute challenging transitions and how he converts speed-to-power in order to run over defenders are all top-tier.

MarShawn Lloyd displayed those skills at the Senior Bowl, where he was named the National team’s Running Back of the Week. You saw his deadly jump cuts take more victims, and what I loved was watching him run more detailed routes, getting linebackers leaning the wrong way and dropping his hips to accelerate out of his break (since he wasn’t really allowed to do in USC’s Air Raid-based attack).

If that is a sign of things to come and MarShawn Lloyd can become a more mature gap-scheme runner, he can be highly productive on many teams across the NFL. His one major red flag – and what will determine if he’ll be a high-level starter or buried on the depth chart, are the ball security issues. Drills to work on keeping his elbow tight to his chest should already be planned ahead by his future RB coach.

MarShawn Lloyd Grade: Early third round