Notes: High-school All-American from Texas who also excelled in track, baseball and basketball. Earned 13 high-school letters in four sports. Was coached by his father, Charles, who was a standout running back at Southwestern Oklahoma University and might have made the Packers in 1972 had he not broken his leg. As a true freshman in '93, Skip Hicks carried 100 times for 563 yards and five touchdowns, although he missed three games and part of a fourth with a sprained ankle. In '94, he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament while long-jumping for the UCLA track team in March but came back in October and carried 40-161-3. In '95, he had a preseason knee scope, missed the start of the season but played in three games, carrying 16-100-1, and then redshirted. Came back in '96 to carry 224-1,034-17 and to catch 21 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Then, in '97, carried 227-1,142-22 and caught 19-336-3. Finished tied for second in the nation in touchdowns with 25 and won All-Pacific-10 first-team honors, as well as some All-America notice. Did not work out at the combine. Positives: Tremendous natural athlete. Good body. Very fluid and graceful. Runs almost effortlessly. Has good vision, instincts, strength and excellent balance and body control. Has the leg drive to break tackles and the speed to break long runs. Very effective in the red zone. Has scored 45 times in the past two years. Good, soft hands and generally catches the ball well. Turned it up a notch in '97 and another notch at the Senior Bowl, so he may be realizing how good he can be if he will pay the price. Negatives: At times, does not run with a sense of urgency. Can be slow to hit the hole and, at times, seems to be going down without really fighting for the extra yard. In the past, did not show a lot of suddenness or toughness. Rarely blocks. Tends to play down to the level of competition. Does not do a good job of protecting the ball. Has soft hands but drops passes. Has pretty big and strong hands, yet gets stripped of the ball and gets sloppy with the ball. Summary: Easy to misjudge because he is an effortless glider who is not going to look like he is going hard. But, if you study him, you can see when he turns it up a notch, and he is special when he does. However, he also can revert to being the spoiled talent who does not run with a sense of urgency and does not get the most out of his runs. In short, can be a top pro if he plays with a sense of urgency, approaches every game as he did the Senior Bowl, plays hard and holds on to the ball. Yet, could also be a huge disappointment if he reverts to previous form.

Hicks earned first-team All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Assn. He was also one of eight semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award and one of five finalists for the Football News Offensive Player of the Year Award. He was also selected second-team All-America by Associated Press and College & Pro Football Newsweekly and third-team by Football News and first-team All-Pac-10 by the league's coaches for his efforts. In the Cotton Bowl, he accounted for 193 all-purpose yards, one of his top totals of the season. He rushed for 140 yards on 31 carries, his fifth straight game of at least 100 yards. Hicks scored 26 touchdowns in 1997, 55 for his career. Both are UCLA records. The career TD mark is also a Pac-10 record. Hicks is just the sixth player in UCLA history to rush for over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. His 1,282 yards rank sixth on the school's single-season list.

Hicks is finally living up to his billing as a great player and high draft pick, after struggling early in his career with all sorts of questions about his durability, and even attitude and intensity...He is a big back with good speed and AA, and has shown quickness and explosion through the hole...He has very natural ball skills, and makes good decisions with his cuts...He does not have a lot of wasted motion, and he is a very efficient runner....He does an excellent job of exploding through the hole and breaking the play to the outside...He also has good balance and will break some tackles, although he is not a blazing deep speed type.....However, he has made a lot of runs in his career and he may be one of those guys that is "functional football fast".....He has excellent hands out of the backfield, and could become very effective in the passing game....He has been known to be somewhat of a fumbler in the past, and durability has always been a ? in his career....He has the physical tools to be taken in the 1st Round, and there is a huge upside if he stays healthy....But to a lesser extent, he may be one of those players that is a little bit of a "teaser" that never quite plays up to his measureables...The feeling here is that the former will hold true, and he will be a very nice and productive RB for some lucky NFL team.

Good size, speed, and strength…Good open-field runner…Good work ethic over the past year after being a nonchalant worker in previous years…Hits the hole hard…Can break tackles at times, but doesn't always finish his runs because he runs too upright at times…Good vision…Makes good decisions with the ball, but has had fumbling problems in his career that can be corrected…Working on improving his blocking, but still doesn't show any effort at times…Has really made himself into a good receiver out of the backfield…Slowed by a bruised knee part of last season…Had reconstructive surgery on his left knee in 1994…Arthroscopic surgery on right knee in 1995…Also excelled in baseball, basketball, and track during his high school career…Hit or miss type draft pick…The question is which Skip Hicks is going to show up when the paychecks are written.

Pro style back who is a tough runner, but isn't a proven durable back. He will be a hit or miss player who may pan out and be very productive or he might be a flop especially if he reverts back to his old work ethic.

Scouting Report: Preseason grade-5.5...Postseason grade-5.7 Reads blocks well and has good acceleration around the corner...Can make big plays once he rumbles into the secondary...Quick to the hole, running with good knee bend...Spins well in traffic and squares his shoulders after the catch...Durability is a major question...Leaves his feet a little too much in an attempt to hop over defenders...Has drawn questions about his desire to play in crunch situations over the years.

  GP/GS  NO.  YARDS  AVG  TD  LONG  YDS/GM
  ----------------------------------------
  42/24  638  3140   4.9  48   92    74.76

Had 228 carries in '97, ran for 1142 yds(5.0 yds/carry) with 336 receiving yds and 25 TDs. Knows how to get into the end zone, had three 4/TD games. Highly touted, but seemed to stop short of the greatness everyone expected of him, until last year.

No workout at Indy (tight groin). … Worked out March 4 at UCLA. … Played as a true freshman in 1993 and was UCLA's leading rusher. … Suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee in March of 1994 while long jumping for the track team. … Granted a medical redshirt year after having knee surgery in 1995. … Was a great athlete in high school in Texas. … Scored 45 TDs for UCLA in 1996 and 1997. … Holds Pac-10 record for career TDs with 54. … Is a very fluid runner with very good quickness and body control. … Has very good hands. … There have been questions about his toughness and blocking ability. … Big question in 1997 was why he wasn't in the game against Washington State on game-deciding play of the last drive. … He does have skills.

Power runner with good size, speed and balance. "Has kind of an O.J. Simpson running style in that he'll stop at the line of scrimmage, wait for something to happen and then slip through with his quickness," one scout says. Despite his productivity (rushed for 1,142 yards and 22 touchdowns in '97), some scouts think he is an underachiever. Another red flag: He fumbles too much.