Devy Digest: Abu Sama III

Iowa State Cyclones
Position: Running Back
Abu Sama III
5’11” 200 lbs
Age: 18
Draft Eligible: 2026

STATS

Who is Abu Sama III?

Sama was a 3-star recruit in the composites, attended Southeast Polk in Iowa, and was part of the 2023 class. Sama helped Southeast Polk to State titles as a Junior (2021) and a Senior (2022) and was named Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022. Sama was a two-way high school player, running back, and cornerback. Sama would rush for 1,408 yards and 28 touchdowns as a Senior, averaging 10.8 yards per carry. Sama was a dual sport athlete and competed in Track & Field, with the long jump being his event. Sama held 13 offers but only made three visits. Iowa State (7 visits), Iowa (3 visits), and Kansas State (2 visits). Sama would sign his letter of intent to the University of Iowa State.

Sama started the season as a rotational depth piece but would see 12 or more snaps in the first 6 of 10 games before the final week of the regular season when he was named the starter. This isn’t to say Sama wasn’t effective throughout the season. Sama’s breakout would come in a snow blizzard against Kansas State, which was also his first start, and Sama compiled 273 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. On limited carries, Sama would lead the backfield in rushing yards with an average of 7.3 yards per carry. The Running Back room cleared out this offseason: Eli Sanders went to New Mexico, and Cartevious Norton is now at Charlotte. Those were the leading earners in carries and the incumbent starters who have left the program.

The returning production is two other true freshmen who saw limited action, two upperclassmen who did not see any action, and Iowa State did not grab anyone out of the portal and only had one incoming true Freshman in the 2023 recruiting class. This is Sama’s backfield, and we’ve seen Iowa State lean on one running back in the past. In 2021, Breece Hall had 253 carries, and in 2020 had 279 carries with the same Head Coach.

Iowa State did make some changes to the coaching staff. The new Offensive Coordinator is Taylor Mouser, who was the Tight Ends Coach. Offensive Line Coach Ryan Clanton was named the Run Game Coordinator, and Running Backs Coach Tyler Roehl was named Assistant Head Coach. We could see an uptick in carries and opportunities for Sama even with a potent wide receiver duo in Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, with second-year starter Rocco Becht as the quarterback.

Strengths

Sama is an electric runner with an uncanny ability to sense an open hole before it develops. Sama has an excellent vision from behind the line of scrimmage. Once he passes the first level, he looks upfield and calculates his moves two to three steps ahead of the nearest defender. His vision allows him to play chess with the closest defender, and Sama has an arsenal of moves. Sama shows excellent contact balance with physicality and play strength, where he will lower his pads to take on a defender. When getting to the edge, Sama will use a stiff arm to get a defender off him and get upfield. Sama also possesses tremendous lateral agility with hip fluidity, which allows him to make defenders miss nearby. He will have multiple side shuffle and juke moves without losing momentum and can get upfield and into full gear once he plants his feet into the ground. That explosivity allows Sama to be an effective and efficient runner and was clocked at 20.9mph this past season.

As someone who cracks 200 lbs, you wouldn’t expect the combination of strength, speed, and flexibility. Sama shows good footwork and never looks as if his legs are heavy. Instead, he is light-footed and nimble, like a runner looking to get upfield, but will use his lateral quickness to get to the open space. Sama will run between the tackles, is patient, allows his blocks to form, and never looks or feels like the game is too fast for him. Sama plays with multiple gears and isn’t afraid to be patient behind the line, a trait that comes naturally to Sama as he uses his vision to see where the openings are, not just directly in front of him but on the second and third level.

Sama is genuinely a fun player to watch, and although his tape was limited as a true freshman, he possesses what you want to see when we project to an every-down back. Sama isn’t just a pure runner, he will be a viable option out of the backfield as a receiving option which makes his profile complete as a potential true three-down back this upcoming season and beyond. Sama has seven receptions in his limited action.

Improvements/Concerns

Sama saw 168 snaps as a true freshman, 52 of which came in the final week of the regular season and the bowl game. Sama was very inefficient in the Bowl game against Memphis and only gained 4 yards on 12 carries and a long of 7 yards. Sama also only has nine pass-blocking reps as a true freshman. Those two factors could be a concern with a projected bigger workload. Was the inefficiency due to the Memphis defense focusing on stopping the run, or was it a bigger picture where Sama might be better as a change of pace back? In that bowl game we mentioned, quarterback Rocco Becht threw for 446 yards and three touchdowns. It was a high-scoring game, and Sama was phased out because Memphis was trying to focus on Sama.

Those are question marks that we must consider going into 2024. Due to the small sample, there could be questions on how effective he can be with a full workload. Nearly half of his pass-blocking reps came in that bowl game, and he was fine, but not excellent. If we zoom out, we need to consider the freshman wall. While production was limited for him, Sama still had to adjust to a full fall camp and 13 games as a true Freshman with practices that were more strenuous than he had in High School, mix in the travel, his studies, and playing in the Big 12, mentally and physically he could have hit that wall. With a full offseason under his belt and going into year two, we should see a better version of Sama as he knows what to expect and has a full offseason of the strength and conditioning program to not break down in his second season in Ames.

Beyond the Numbers