Vernand Morency
Position: Running Back
Drafted: Round 3, 73rd Overall
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 212
College: Oklahoma State
Birthdate: February 4, 1980
NFL Comparison: Travis Henry
Strengths: Morency is a physical runner with excellent balance, a burst through the hole, and the strength to break tackles and punish defenders. He showed in 2004 that he could be a workhorse at the major college level by rushing for over 1,400 yards and a dozen touchdowns. Morency put up nice numbers against even the tougher defenses that he faced, with 93 yards (5.5 ypc) and two touchdowns against Oklahoma and 100 yards (5.0 ypc) and a touchdown against Texas.
Morency was not used much as a receiver, but he has reliable hands and the ability to get separation from defenders. Morency has the instincts and vision to find holes and enough speed to get around the corner on the outside. He thrived in a zone blocking scheme at Oklahoma State.
Areas of Concern: Morency doesn’t have homerun speed (4.67 at the combine) and won’t break a lot of long runs. A junior who spent the early part of his college career backing up Tatum Bell, he lacks experience and needs some technique work, especially as a blocker.
Morency has had some injury problems, missing five games in 2002 with an ankle injury and a game in 2004 with a knee problem. He’s 25 years old, having spent three years after high school playing baseball in the Colorado Rockies’ organization.
2005 Expectations: Morency will compete with Jonathan Wells and Tony Hollings to be the primary backup to Domanick Davis. He runs bigger than his size and his ability to gain tough yards inside may earn him some carries in goalline and short yardage situations.
profile by Warren DeLuca
YEAR G ATT YDS YPC TD 2004 11 258 1,474 5.7 12 2003 13 135 918 6.8 8 2002 6 58 269 4.6 3 TOTALS 30 451 2,661 5.9 23
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