On paper, CJ Donaldson looks to be a physical running back, standing at 6-foot-2, 238 pounds. However, this past Saturday as he ran in a 15-yard touchdown, he showed off that physical nature in a big way.
"Just being physical, Coach [Neal] Brown Coach [Chad] Scott, they always tell me, use what I got. God gave me this for a reason. Just be a 240-pound running back, that's just a tough tackle," Donaldson said.
Donaldson was every part of a tough tackle on that run and on Saturday. He stiff-armed the defender into the ground as he reached the end zone.
"I'm going to add that to my toolbox and continually grow on it. You know, it's going to come from different angles. I just probably say it was just perfect timing. Just how I jump-cut and like, I had like, my arm was like right there when I saw the guy and that was just like perfect timing. I just timed it up perfectly," Donaldson said.
The numbers back up Donaldson's tough rushes as he totaled 53 yards after contact and had three missed tackles forced against the Cowboys.
"You know, it's definitely pretty cool just knowing like, that I'm a tough tackle, but at the same time, I have to like understand that I got to be able to use it all the time, you know, on that one play, you know, just continually build on that and become that player all the time," Donaldson said.
Donaldson finished the afternoon with 77 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries on the ground.
Donaldson said as he's matured in his career he's focused on how he practices. He says there's been a focus in practice that he sees carrying over to the games especially when it comes to more specific things like his stiff arm move.
"Going into the week, Coach Scott said, have a purpose and be intentional with practice. Everything you'll do in practice, you will do that in the game. So whatever you want to do in the game, you got to do it in practice. And, you know just working that constantly, just being intentional about like the time and the placement and how I'm using the stiff arm, that definitely helped on Saturday," Donaldson said.
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