Pitt RB Israel Abanikanda Steals Show at Pro Day
PITTSBURGH -- Israel Abanikanda is used to being the youngest guy in the room by now. He began his college career as a Pitt Panther at 17 years old, a three-star recruit turned early enrolee buried behind the likes of Vincent and A.J. Davis on the depth chart.
But even when he was just touching turf in Pittsburgh for the first time, Abanikanda showed he was a star in the making with a dazzling 80-yard touchdown run in fully-padded practice. His speed is self-evident but the fact that fellow Panther burner A.J. Woods faded into the background as he strode towards paydirt was proof that his speed would translate to the next level.
One cut, a second cut, a third and he was gone. Abanikanda's first scoring run developed slowly, then all at once. His Pitt career moved at the same rate as he waited his turn, then seized the opportunity to star in his junior season. He now he arrives at the doorstep of the NFL as one of the youngest men in the room again, but that doesn't concern him. The almost meteoric rise from offensive accessory to centerpiece is something he's been working his whole life for.
"I’ve been working since I was four years old," Abanikanda said. "I always played a division up and I’ve always been the youngest one, so I kind of preparing for this to happen.”
If his 1,431 rushing yards, 20 touchdowns and first-team All-ACC honors weren't enough for NFL scouts to trust his talents, maybe his Pro Day numbers were. Abanikanda lit up stopwatches with an unofficial 40-yard dash time that ranged from 4.27 seconds to 4.32. He lept 41.5" in his vertical jump as well. Both of those marks would have been the best among running backs at the NFL Combine and even those who approached those numbers didn't do it while carrying 217 pounds like Abanikanda was.
"He was a beast over there jumping and then the way he ran at 217 pounds," Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "I mean, that’s a big man running fast. I don't think he played at that weight. Most guys get skinnier so they can run faster at pro day. He put on more horsepower and ran really well.”
It wasn't always smooth sailing for Abanikanda during this process. He left school early with just one year as a featured back at the college level under his back. His lack of mileage is a plus to a certain extent but his youth could be viewed as a negative. A hamstring injury that kept him out of the Combine made him warier. But at Pro Day, Abanikanda validated the decision to pursue the NFL.
“There were a lot of ups and downs," Abanikanda said. "At times I was thinking, you know, like ‘Should I have left? Should I have done this or that?’ but on and on through the process, I kept seeing it was meant for me and with weeks away from the draft, it’s eye-opening.”
He's come a long way since that first spring at Pitt three years ago, when he claims all he knew how to do was run. His draft stock has been trending steadily upward ever since he ran buck wild over college football and the ACC in his junior season and there is no looking back now. As a full-time starter, Abanikanda learned all the ins and outs of being a three-down back.
He's a different player than the one that stepped on campus in 2020 as a wide-eyed kid. He's a grown man who dominated big-boy football and he can't wait to prove that he can do it again, this time to NFL teams.
"Through my three years, I learned a lot of pass protection, assignments, how to really block because I never learned that in high school - I was just carrying the ball," Abanikanda said. "So when you saw me running 80 yards, that was just me showing them a I could run. But now, I’m a complete back. I can do anything any coach needs me to do.”
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