Early NFL Draft Look: RB Matt Breida, Georgia Southern
If you’re not having as much fun watching Sun Belt conference running backs, you better check your pulse. We took an earlier look at Elijah McGuire of Louisiana-Lafayette, and another explosive back popped up on the radar from Georgia Southern in Matt Breida, the conferences leading rusher last year with 1,485 yards and 17 touchdowns on the season, averaging just under nine yards per carry.
Breida is an explosive back with great speed, and he’s also a pretty good receiver. I got a chance to watch his game against Georgia Tech, probably the best defense he faced all of last year, and I came away incredibly impressed.
Here’s what I saw.
Observations
- Breida has ‘see ya’ speed. The featured picture of this article is one of him sprinting away from NC State defenders, and that’s something that he can do on a consistent basis. If and when he gets into the open field — see ya.
- I didn’t really notice he was a smaller back until I read that he was 5-10, 185 pounds. That kind of size doesn’t often translate well to running back in the NFL unless you can do a lot of other things well, and Breida is certainly capable of that. He’s only a sophomore, however, so he can still grow into his body and possibly get up near 200 pounds without losing any speed or quickness.
- For his size, Breida was a willing inside runner and someone who fought for extra yardage. He didn’t go down like a cardboard cutout when he got hit like some smaller backs do.
- When he finds a crease, Breida makes decisive cuts and gets to the second and third levels of defense with ease.
- Good balance, and short area quickness.
- Really good looking, natural receiver out of the backfield. Does a job of adjusting to poorly thrown balls when needed and doesn’t turn his eyes upfield too early.
- Got the ability to return kicks or punts.
- Only a junior this season, so the sky is the limit here. He has a chance to be really special, and possibly contend for some major awards at the end of the year if he continues his dominance as a runner.
- Not a power back by any means, but will stick his shoulder down and give it his best shot.
- Unlike some speedier backs, doesn’t appear to get happy feet in the backfield and try to make too much out of nothing.
Overall
I really liked what I saw in the early goings from Matt Breida. He’s got excellent speed and pass catching ability. He reminded me a bit of Ronnie Hillman from his early days at San Diego State. I’ll be interested to see what he does if he has another big season at Georgia Southern, if he decides to move on to the NFL where he could be a really good rotational speed back.