Scouting Report: Bhayshul Tuten
Scouting Report: Bhayshul Tuten
Virginia Tech's RB1 looks to become complete package in senior year
This is the second in a series of articles providing detailed breakdowns of Virginia Tech’s most important players heading into 2024. Part 1 featured Kyron Drones. Data are sourced from PFF.
To the fan’s eye, Bhayshul Tuten had a great first year in Blacksburg in 2023. He ran hard, broke a million(ish) tackles, and even returned a couple kickoffs for touchdowns.
There is no question about it, Tuten is a great runner.
However, there is also no doubt that when Coach Brooks reviewed film, he found plenty still wanting in Tuten’s game.
Strengths:
Low center of gravity and welcomes contact
Above average quickness and speed
Elite kick returner
Areas to improve:
Pass blocking was horrendous in 2023
Has more natural receiving talent than he showed last year
Physicality results high in wear and tear
Tuten had the 14th highest PFF grade among ACC halfbacks in 2023. If that seems low to you, it’s probably because so much of the focus on running backs is on their ball carrying abilities.
However, even if we focus solely on running, Tuten’s numbers seem low. He was 11th among ACC halfbacks in PFF run grade.
While it is possible that some of Virginia Tech’s struggles along the offensive line impacted Tuten’s grades, any bias there would likely be at the margins.
Overall, the story the numbers tell is of a running back with solid potential who needs to round out his game if he hopes to be an NFL draft pick a year from now.
Rushing
Last year, Tuten ran for 863 yards on 175 carries. His 4.9 yards per carry (ypc) was heavily dependent on his ability to break tackles.
Tuten gained 654 yards after contact, which is 3.7 ypc. Seventy-six percent of his rushing yards came after contact. That is not only ridiculous, but completely unsustainable.
In 13 games, he forced 69 missed tackles, reaching double digits three times:
Old Dominion (10)
Pittsburgh (10)
Syracuse (11)
In six true home games, Tuten forced 37 missed tackles vs. only 24 in true road games (add in 8 during the bowl game to get the season total of 69).
While it is true that Tech faced its two toughest opponents, Florida St. and Louisville, on the road, two of Tuten’s worst games for forcing missed tackles came at home, against Purdue and NC State.
If we discard the two lowest missed tackle totals for both home and away, we come out with a discrepancy of 36 missed tackles forced at home to 21 on the road.
So, the point stands. Whether it’s the water in Blacksburg or the fans in Lane Stadium, Tuten breaks a lot more tackles at home than he does on the road.
As far as scheme goes, 62% of Tuten’s runs were behind zone blocking, while 38% were behind gap blocking.
After not gaining at least 15 yards on a single carry in the first three games, Tuten finished with 11 such runs, for 305 yards, on the season.
Rush Direction
Tuten had the most success in 2023 running off left end (outside the tight end). He ran in this direction 40 times, gaining 271 yards, good for 6.8 ypc. He ran off the right end 28 times, but only averaged 4.1 yards on each of those carries.
Right guard was, by the numbers, the weakest position on the offensive line last year. However, Tuten enjoyed great success when running between the C-RG gap (6.6 ypc) and the RG-RT gap (6.8 ypc).
The toughest sledding came off tackle. Tuten averaged 3.9 ypc off left tackle and just 2.7 ypc off right tackle.
Receiving
Tuten caught 25 passes on 39 targets for 227 yards in 2023. He averaged one yard per route run, meaning that his role in the passing game was almost exclusively in the screen and swing games. In fact, 19 of his 25 catches came behind the line of scrimmage.
Although the vast majority of Tuten’s targets were in between the hashmarks, 12 were outside to the right, compared to just 5 outside to the left.
Anticipate Tyler Bowen isolating Tuten on linebackers more in the passing game in 2024. Although Tuten’s 2023 receiving grade was low at 51.3, he has the quickness and hands to run outs, slants, and wheel routes. Utilizing Tuten solely as a check down option in 2024 would be, given his skill set, a mistake that would lower the ceiling of the offense.
Blocking
In 2022, at North Carolina A&T, Tuten had a 50.3 pass blocking grade on 41 pass blocking snaps. In 2023, at Virginia Tech, he had a 10.5 grade on 43 pass blocking snaps.
Clearly there is work to be done to make Tuten a true every down back.
From the chart above, you can see that there does not appear to be much rhyme or reason as to why he sometimes blocks well, but usually does not.
Overall
Bhayshul Tuten was a good running back for Virginia Tech in 2023, but he struggled when the ball was not in his hands. That is an issue, considering he was on the field for 549 offensive snaps last year and only touched the ball on 200 of those snaps (175 rushes + 25 receptions).
Tuten subjected his body to significant punishment in 2023, and he only averaged 13.4 carries per game. Tech will need him to carry the ball more in 2024, but also absorb less punishment. Part of that is on the offensive line to open up more and bigger holes. The rest is on Tuten to know when to go down and move on to the next snap.
While he has remained remarkably injury free as a collegiate player. it is unlikely that trend continues if Tuten takes a pounding in 2024 similar to that from 2023.