THE NEXT… Herschel Walker? Earl Campbell? Marshall Faulk? Bo?

That was the text that accompanied the Sports Illustrated cover featuring Fournette in September of 2015.

The LSU star was considered a sensation before he ever stepped foot on campus thanks to a high school career where looked and played like a man amongst boys.

"I played him in high school twice," said cornerback Donte Jackson, another Louisiana native. "By the second quarter he was sitting on the sideline with his pads off, just relaxing. He's a powerful runner. He wants to make you feel the hit. He's not going to stop running hard."

Jackson and Fournette were teammates at LSU, and Jackson got to see Fournette's power up close on a daily basis.

"There was one time where we had a scrimmage and it was the first time … you know his freshman year when he ran over the guy from Texas A&M? Well, he did that in practice first," Jackson said. "I'm not going to say who he did it too. I'm can't put none of my guys out there like that. But it was a 'wow' play. That's when I knew."

Second-year linebacker Jermaine Carter remembers watching Fournette's jaw-dropping highlights with his Maryland teammates.

"He was a guy that everybody was talking about in college locker rooms," Carter said. "Everybody would talk about those runs where he just obliterated people."

After posting 1,953 rushing yards as a sophomore in 2015, Fournette battled injuries as a junior in 2016, which is something he's dealt with as a pro as well. But NFL evaluators were more than sold, especially with his blend of size (6-foot, 228 pounds) and speed (4.51 40-yard dash).

The Panthers, very much in the market for a running back in the 2017 draft, spent a lot of time scouting Fournette and McCaffrey – widely considered the best backs in the class.

The Jaguars, to no one's surprise, took Fournette off the board with the fourth pick.

"He was one of the guys that was in that search," head coach Ron Rivera said. "He's a solid young man, he really is. He fits their style of football exactly. It made sense because of the head coach (Doug Marrone) and the (top football decision maker, Tom Coughlin) that they have there. They're guys that believe in physical, pounding football."

But Fournette can do more than pound away at a defense.