James Cook: Georgia Football’s Alvin Kamara

Georgia football’s James Cook is someone to keep an eye out for this football season. He has a full year under his belt, and it’s his time to make some noise.

Georgia football has a secret weapon; it doesn’t know it has yet. Have we seen flashes of greatness from James Cook? Yeah, but this season could be the one where we find his identity and who he reminds us of, and that will be Alvin Kamara.

Now I know, he has a brother who is a pretty good running back as well, but they’re two different styles. But, when you look at Cook and Kamara, they’re already similar style running backs. They’re both scat backs that if you give them the open room, they’ll run until someone tackles them.

In college, Kamara stood at 5-10 and 215 pounds. For Cook, he’s currently, 5-11 and 190 pounds, however, when I saw him in Athens, he looked a lot heavier than 190. By football season, he could hit 200 in my opinion.

The two are similar in size. Like most of us know Kamara transferred from Alabama after his freshman year and went to a junior college in Kansas for a football season. Then he chose to go to Tennessee.

In his first season at Tennessee, he rushed 107 times for 698 yards, averaging 6.5 yards a carry and scoring seven times. Kamara also had 34 catches for 291 yards and three scores.

His final season at Tennessee, he rushed 103 times for 596 yards and nine scores. Kamara averaged 5.8 yards a carry. He also had 40 catches for 392 yards and four scores.

This video is rather long, but it goes into the good and the bad of Kamara. The guy does a great job breaking down what makes Kamara a good running back and how deadly he can be, especially in the Texas A&M game.

Kamara can make guys miss tackles. He is elusive, has breakaway speed, and it takes so many people to tackle him. Now he doesn’t always have the best vision on the field, and the guy notes that, but what I’m getting at here is look at the similarities in the way Kamara runs and when Cook runs.

As for Cook, he has only seen a full season at Georgia. He played in 13 games and toted the rock 41 times for 284 yards and two touchdowns. Cook averaged 6.9 yards a carry. He also had eight catches for 89 yards.

While the production on paper isn’t similar, what we need to look at is their running style. We also have to remember that Kamar’s numbers came when he was a little more seasoned and not a young buck like Cook.

The final point to remember about these two stats is Kamara was Tennessee’s primary running back while Cook sat behind D’Andre Swift, Elijah Holyfield and sometimes Brian Herrien.

Cook is a pure scat back as is Kamara. He can make guys miss and hit another level of speed in the open field.

After watching both films, the similarities are there. The scary part about this is Cook is a freshman and is already showing glimpses of what Kamara did as a junior. Now, Cook has a ways to go; he needs to learn how to stay on his feet and make guys miss more.

If this is what it’s like after one season, I cannot wait to see what Cook has in store for the rest of his time at Georgia.

I genuinely feel sorry for opponents in the future with Cook, Swift and Zamir White leading the way for Georgia football, because it is almost unfair, almost.