Dukes' Abdullah Visits With Giants
HARRISONBURG — Even after leading the FCS in rushing and winning a national title this past season, Khalid Abdullah said he still has to explain why he was the late bloomer who had only one scholarship offer out of high school.
“Throughout the whole process the scouts really want to know why,” Abdullah said during a phone interview Thursday.
Abdullah led James Madison in his senior season with 1,809 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns. He was the Most Outstanding Player in the Dukes’ 28-14 championship game win over Youngstown State, making good for the only program that believed in him enough to offer a scholarship while playing at Heritage High School in Newport News.
On Tuesday, Abdullah took the vital and next step in the pre-draft process by visiting the New York Giants, where he was able to discuss and answer everything key decision makers from the organization needed to hear.
“It was a meet-and-greet with the coaching staff,” Abdullah said. “The general manager [Jerry Reese] was there and Coach [Ben] McAdoo was there.”
Abdullah didn’t have to work out for New York’s NFC team, but he said he was able to tour the facility, meet some current players, watch film with running backs coach Craig Johnson and then go to dinner with the staff.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” Abdullah said. “Coming from a small school, there are a lot of politics that get involved with the strength of schedule of who you’re playing and so you kind of get overlooked at times.
“Just having the opportunity to be somebody that they’re actually looking at is positive because they’re not going to spend money, fly you out and do all that stuff if you’re not somebody they’re considering for their team.”
He said he thinks the Giants liked what they saw from him during his senior season in Harrisonburg. Abdullah tallied 11 100-yard rushing games in his final year with the Dukes.
“My production was a little eye-popping for them,” he said. “And the fact that I have decent speed and that I can catch the ball out of the backfield and do all the things that you need, as far as a quality back, I think that’s what they liked about me.”
JMU coach Mike Houston said if he had to pinpoint one skill that’s helped raise Abdullah’s draft stock, he’d point to the receiving game.
“I think he’s a complete back, and the thing that improved with him was just his ability to be a guy that could make plays in the passing game out of the backfield,” Houston said. “We tried to do some things in the passing game with him — we’d throw screens or flares to him. He became very versatile at being that kind of guy here.”
The 5-foot-10, 220-pound running back made 15 catches for 183 yards and three touchdowns in 2016. He scored a critical touchdown on a 10-yard reception at North Dakota State in the FCS semifinal.
Abdullah said when he was in high school, he rarely had to catch the ball. Heritage ran an I-formation offense when he was there. He said he had zero receptions as a senior, so he had to learn to catch passes out of the backfield once he got to JMU.
This past NFL season, Giants running backs Rashad Jennings, Paul Perkins, Bobby Rainey and Shane Vereen combined for 81 receptions in McAdoo’s offense.
Abdullah said he learned about the Giants’ offense during the film session with Johnson.
“The running backs coach kind of gave a sermon,” Abdullah said. “He basically said, ‘If you can’t do these things that I show you on film, you can’t play in the league.’”
JMU running backs coach De’Rail Sims said whether Abdullah is drafted or not, he’ll make the most of an opportunity once he gets into a camp.
“If he gets in the right system, and me and him have had this discussion,” Sims said. “If he gets in a zone-running scheme — Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins — someone that runs inside zone, outside zone, that’s his most natural running ability and he would thrive. And all he needs is that one team to give him a shot, but I think once he gets in the right system and someone takes a chance on him, he’ll be fine.
“I’m not saying he wouldn’t thrive in a Pittsburgh Steelers power-run game either, he would, but his natural ability, the zone-run, fits him perfectly.”
Abdullah added he’s been in contact with other teams since his March 15 pro day at JMU.
He said he’d watch next week’s NFL Draft, which begins Thursday, at home in Newport News with his mother and his sisters.
“I’m preparing myself for all angles,” Abdullah said. “If I don’t get drafted, that’s cool. I’m blessed to even be talked about in the draft conversation.
“I’ll take the good with the bad and next week, we’ll see. Either way, though, I’ll have to make a team, but that’s a part of my story anyway and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”