Mohamed Ibrahim NFL Draft Profile

 

Mohamed Ibrahim Scouting Report

 

2023 NFL Draft Measurements

Mohamed Ibrahim 40-Yard Dash: 4.5 (estimate)
5‘10“ / 210 lbs.

 

Mohamed Ibrahim Draft Profile

Mohamed is a 6th year player for the Golden Gophers. Given the title of ‘Mo the Man’ by his teammates, Ibrahim was a 3-star prospect coming out of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland. During his final two seasons in high school, Mohamed rushed for 2,606 yards on 412 carries. That’s an insane average of 6.33 yards per carry!! Ibrahim would choose Minnesota over other Power 5 schools including Iowa, Kentucky, and Clemson.

After redshirting his true freshman season, Mohamed has become a workhorse for the Golden Gophers, rushing for over 1,000 yards in three different seasons. His 1,665 rushing yards in 2022 was good enough for 3rd most in the nation. It was also a big reason why he was named to the All-Big Ten First Team by both the coaches and media. Ibrahim was also named to the All-American 2nd team by the AP, FWAA, and Walter Camp.

Strengths

Patient but Decisive

I really enjoyed watching film of Mohamed. He displays a great mixture of patience, vision, and decisiveness. When Ibrahim receives the handoff, he’s never in a rush. Instead, he allows the play to develop in front of him. But once the hole finally opens, he hits it with zero hesitation and hits it hard. It’s this mixture of skills that has allowed Mohamed to average over five yards a carry every season with Minnesota.

Power

There is no ‘shake and bake’ in Ibrahim’s game. He would much rather run through a defender instead of running around them. Mohamed has plenty of highlights of him trucking and dragging defenders or pushing piles for extra yardage. His strength and power doesn’t fall off as the game goes along. I found myself thinking that there’s no way I’d want to be a defender trying to tackle Ibrahim in the 4 th quarter. He just beats on the defense the entire game.

Weaknesses

Top End Speed

While Ibrahim has many skills that you look for from a NFL caliber running back, there’s one thing missing. Top end speed. Sadly, he just doesn’t have that second gear that you need to pull away from defenders. I thought that this might be because of the Achilles injury in 2021. However, I went back and watched film from older games and saw the same speed.

Pass Protection

One thing I noticed early on in film study was that I couldn’t find anything to judge Ibrahim’s pass protection. Every pass play that he was on the field, he was out running routes. After watching roughly half a season’s worth of games, I could count the number of times he stayed in on pass protection on one hand. Those few examples showed me all I needed to know. I believe that Mohamed is easily strong enough to handle rushing linebackers, but most of his blocking efforts were just diving at legs. The few other times showed that he didn’t know where the pressure was coming from and was beaten quickly. Ibrahim has good hands, but his lack of speed prevents him from being a big threat in a team’s passing attack. If he wants to see more of the field in the NFL, he’s going to have to improve in this area.

Injury History

This is the darkest cloud hanging over Mohamed’s NFL prospects. In 2018 he missed three games due to an injury. In 2021 he would miss most of the season after tearing his Achilles in the first game of the season versus Ohio State. Ibrahim also missed Minnesota’s game versus Purdue this past season with an ankle injury. On top of that, Mohamed has been a workhorse for the Golden Gophers. During his five seasons he played, he carried the ball 867 times. This was topped off with 320 carries in 2022 alone. How much more wear and tear can his body take?

Mohamed Ibrahim Draft Stock

While Mohamed has been extremely productive during his college career, there’s not much of a buzz regarding his draft status. I believe he has enough talent to hear his name called during the 2023 NFL Draft, it just might take a while. I have a late Day 3 grade (round 6 or 7) on Ibrahim personally.

Final Thoughts on Mohamed Ibrahim

Again, I believe that Mohamed easily has enough skill to be a NFL running back. However, I don’t see him as THE guy like he was at Minnesota. Still, he can be a quality piece to round out a running back room. I think his role will be coming in and allowing the primary back to rest up and steal touchdowns in short yardage situations. I’m looking forward to getting more of a look at him during the 2023 East-West Shrine Bowl. Ibrahim’s rushing was helped by offensive lineman John Michael Schmitz.

Mohamed Ibrahim Player Comparison

Matt Breida. Mohamed is a little bigger and slower than Breida, but they have similar running styles. Also, I think Ibrahim will have a similar role to what Breida has done throughout his career.

Mohamed Ibrahim Scouting Report Analyst – Brandon Claburn