Running back wasn't a position the San Francisco 49ers were expected to address on Day 2 of the 2022 NFL Draft, but they did anyway, selecting Tyrion Davis-Price of LSU in the third round.
The 49ers will be getting an intriguing prospect in Davis-Price, who rushed for 1,744 yards and 15 touchdowns in three seasons at LSU before declaring for the NFL Draft. He still has a lot of room to grow, and a lot to play for. Here's a quick look at some things to know about the new 49ers running back.
Big and fast
Davis-Price gives the 49ers a bulky back at 6-0, 211 while also adding an element of speed (4.48 40-yard dash). He ran track at Southern Lab High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and moves like a smaller back on the football field.
"Tyrion is a phenomenal running back, an outstanding person," Davis-Price's high school coach, Darrell Asberry, said in 2018. "On the field, Tyrion is just -- his vision, where he can stop in the middle of a hole and he can look around and explode back. Just a burst."
Davis-Price was a relay runner in high school at 230 pounds, according to 247Sports.
Enigmatic?
What are the 49ers getting with Ty Davis-Price? A big back with size, athleticism and potential, but one that didn't always produce during his final season at LSU. NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein says Davis-Price is an "enigmatic" player who improved as the 2021 season went along.
"Davis-Price's early season tape was listless and lacking pro quality, but that changed over the second half of the year," Zierlein wrote. "He's an enigmatic back featuring urgency, indecisiveness, physicality and finesse on any given carry. He got much better as the season progressed and clearly finds a rhythm when given volume carries. Scouts say that staying motivated will be a major factor in future success."
Davis-Price's numbers reflect his improvement, as he finished the 2021 season with 1,003 yards and six touchdowns on 211 carries after rushing for just 140 yards in his first five games. One game in particular went a long way in helping that happen...
Record-breaker
Davis-Price broke out with a 147-yard, two-touchdown performance in his sixth game of the 2021 season against Kentucky, then he really put up the numbers the following week in a 49-42 win over Florida. Davis rushed for 287 yards on 36 carries with three touchdowns against the Gators, setting a single-game rushing record for LSU while also breaking a mark held by Herschel Walker for the most rushing yards given up in a single game by the University of Florida (previously 238).
"Man, it's a great honor," Davis-Price said, per KLFY.com. "Just to know the guys that came before me who set the records, but honestly the o-line really came with it. They really turned it around. I just did my job."
Check out the highlights from the game below:
Motivation might not be a problem
That thing Zierlein wrote about Davis-Price being motivated? The guess here is it shouldn't be an issue, because he'll have all the motivation he needs coming from his daughter Brooklyn.
Davis-Price became a father over the summer in 2021.
"That has been his drive," Davis-Price's mother Stacie told the Baton Rouge Advocate. "He thinks about his family. He thinks about his daughter."
Brooklyn even has her own Instagram page, even though it's set to private at the moment.
