Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette had a strong rookie year last season as he helped the Jags to one of their most successful campaigns in franchise history. And this year, Fournette believes that another former LSU tailback will have a similarly strong impact as a rookie.
As Christopher Dabe of The Times-Picayune reports, Fournette has tipped former Tigers teammate Derrius Guice to have a “great” rookie year with the Washington Redskins.
“He's going to have a great year,” Fournette said. “He always had the talent when I was there at LSU. He's a hard worker. He's a great kid. Big things are going to come for Derrius this year.”
Fournette and Guice spent two seasons together at Baton Rouge, with Guice backing up Fournette in both of those years. But Guice got the opportunity to shine when Fournette suffered an injury-hit 2016 season, and he made the most of it as he ran for 1,387 yards (on 7.6 yards per carry) and 15 touchdowns.
Guice didn’t quite have the same incredibly efficient production as the main man at LSU last year, but he still finished with over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Like Fournette, who went No. 4 to the Jags in 2016, Guice could have been a first-round pick in this year’s draft. However, an incident during one of his team meetings likely caused him to fall down to 59th. But the Redskins aren’t complaining as they got an immensely talented player at the end of the second round.
Guice will have the opportunity to be the main man right away in the Redskins' running game as Fournette did as a rookie in Jacksonville. He has already impressed head coach Jay Gruden with his performance during the offseason program, which is a promising start.
If Guice keeps that up through training camp, he will likely earn more touches and further strengthen Fournette’s prediction that he’ll end up having a great year.
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