Atlanta Falcons: Grade for Drafting Qadree Ollison

Qadree Ollison – height: 6’1 weight: 228 40 time: 4.58

Qadree Ollison is a power running back from the state of New York. He sat his first year at Pitt, but was pressed into starting duty as a redshirt freshman, after his teammate and current Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Connor, was lost for the season due to injury and cancer complications. Ollison responded well, rushing for over 1100 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also added another score through the air. Qadree had a couple of down years as a sophomore and junior, as he saw a significant reduction in carries. He rebounded as senor to log a career best 1279 yards from scrimmage and match his freshman rushing touchdown total of 11.

Best Season

Rushing: 2018 – yds:1213  ypc:6.3  tds:11

Receiving: 2017 – rec:23  yds:194  avg:8.4  tds:2

Awards

Second Team All ACC: 2016, 2018

ACC Rookie of the Year: 2016

The Atlanta Falcons YouTube channel gives us this video of Qadree Ollison’s reaction to being drafted by Atlanta:

Strengths

Qadree Ollison is a big back, who uses his power to break tackles. He is a nightmare for cornerbacks to meet head to head in the open field, as he has a tremendous stiff arm to shake off would be tacklers. Ollison has good vision and patience to the play side of a run and has good speed for a large man, once he gets going downhill. He is also a willing pass blocker, who doesn’t mind sacrificing his body to save his quarterback. Qadree has some ability as a receiver and a route runner. He also has great ball security and rarely fumbles the rock, with only two fumbles in his time at Pitt.

Here are Qadree Ollison highlights, provided the official Atlanta Falcons YouTube channel:

Weaknesses

A negative in Qadree Ollison’s game, is he does not have good cutback vision. This causes him to leave yards on the field, that could have been obtained. Ollison takes a while to accelerate to top speed. He also does not possess good agility and won’t be shaking many defenders out of their shoes.

Qadree Ollison runs too high at times and needs to learn to lower his pad level. As a receiver Ollison can sometimes drop pass due to a lack of focus. He also won’t gain separation from many linebackers. Though he throws his body around, Qadree Ollison still needs to lean the nuances in order to be a good pass blocker.