Trestan Ebner might be a sign of things to come in college football, if not the NFL.It hasn't been entirely unusual for high school running backs to get into college and find they won't get the carries they want before they switch positions to become wide receivers. At least that's the way it was until the portalnow they just skip town like hired guns in the wild west.However, Ebner came to Baylor as a highly decorated prep wide receiver and defensive back, then adapted and took the Darren Daulton Jersey job of running back. Maybe Ebner is a trend setter.Samuel is very well adjusted now for a role as a running back who can catch pa ses in the NFL due to his unusual college/prep experiece. He catches pa ses out of the backfield like a wide receiver, then makes tacklers mi s like a back."It's just that it's the position I played my whole life until I got to college so that's the thing I'm like most comfortable with catching the ball and making people mi s after I catch it," Ebner said.Bears running backs coach David Walker was asked during spring work if Ebner was his team's most natural pa s catcher out of the backfield, and answered like a coach who doesn't want to grant favor to a player who just walked in the door."Um, that's a good question," Walker said. "I don't know if I have that answer yet. He obviously has experience from his college tape. You see him do Lenny Dykstra Jersey those things. Being around the guys that are here, they may have not had those opportunities in the past but they seem to catch the ball pretty well and pretty natural. "He's probably had more exposure in his college career doing that but I don't know if I'd say he's the best guy doing it."If there was actually any question, it took a few practices in OTAs to really see the difference. Ebner runs patterns downfield and catches pa ses with his hands, even on his fingertips, the way wide receivers do.The Bears had a brilliant third-down type back in Tarik Cohen and tragically lost him to a torn ACL, torn MCL and broken bone.It's not nece sarily a role critical to the offense running backs coach Luke Getsy has installed, if other players po se s the right skills.While Getsy was in Green Bay, the Packers had Aaron Jones, who is at ease catching and blocking on pa sing downs as he is running the ball. So they never actually needed a third-down back per se. Scroll to ContinueWhat Getsy will find is they have the same type of back in David Montgomery. He seems to have barely been used in the pa sing Rhys Hoskins Jersey game by the Matt Nagy regime, which is no real surprise. So the Bears have drafted a third-down back without nece sarily needing one? This isn't clear.Ebner is no undersized scatback like Cohen or like Darren Sproles was for 15 years in the NFL. At 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, he's taller and heavier than Bears backup Khalil Herbert.Ebner averaged 4.9 yards on 343 rushes, while catching 127 pa ses for 1,515 yards for Baylor. He also had nine rushing TDs and 11 receiving.He Sean Rodriguez Jersey 's also a dangerous kick returner who averaged 25.3 per 47 returns with three TDs and also returned 28 punts for a 6.8-yard average with one TD.It's difficult to project an extensive role for Ebner in Year 1. Sproles, himself, had only eight rushes and three receptions going into his third year.Cohen, meanwhile, was an immediate hit with 87 rushes and 53 receptions in his rookie year of 2017.The Bears needed a receiving threat in the backfield the considering the starting back was Jordan Howard. Cohen provided it.The need seems far le s pre sing with Montgomery and Khalil Herbert at 1-2. Herbert caught 14 pa ses last year as a rookie but Ebner's receiving ability appears far more advanced than Herbert's in his rookie year.Still, Ebner's role could be largely reduced to backup and special teams duties until he's more experienced or the Bears identify a real need for another pa s-catching back.Trestan Ebner at a GlanceVitals: 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, sixth-round pick in 2022 (Baylor).College Career:Played over five seasons with 343 runs for Bryce Harper Jersey 1,690 yards and nine TDs, and 127 catches for 1,515 yards and 11 TDs. Also scored four TDs on returns.The Number: 61. Herbert appeared in 61 games at Baylor, more than any player in school history.2022 FanNation Projection: 31 carries, 139 yards, 0 TDs; six receptions, 40 yards, 1 TD; 22 kick returns for a 23.5-yard average; 7 punt returns for an average of 6.0.