Must-watch prospect: San Diego State RB Rashaad Penny

San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny is one of the most productive players in college football, and is on the 2018 NFL Draft radar…

The 2018 NFL Draft class is shaping up to be one of the better offensive groups we’ve had in recent years, and San Diego State’s star running back Rashaad Penny has made his case to be the best back in the group.

At least in terms of production, no one has run for more yards than Penny this season (2,027, 168.9 per game) and perhaps no one has shown an ability to score in a greater variety of ways than this guy.

Penny has 19 rushing touchdowns this season, two receiving touchdowns, and three return touchdowns (two on kickoffs, one on a punt return).

It’s hard not to love watching Penny play, and thankfully for all of us NFL Draft fans, we’ll get ample opportunity to do so, including in the Armed Forces Bowl, where Penny has a chance to improve upon his video-game-like numbers.

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This is a player with a very rare combination of skills, as he looks and runs like a three-down back but has eight career return touchdowns.

We don’t see that very often from a featured, three-down type of back.

Penny is just a natural as a runner and has good burst and acceleration despite a pretty thick lower half.

Not only is he really good between the tackles, but Penny has the ability to break off a big run at any point in time. It feels like every third or fourth run of his you watch is going for a big chunk gain, and that’s the result of his explosiveness, of course, but also his vision as a back.

We’ll get to see Penny among the star-studded offensive class at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama in January.

As a runner and receiver, Penny reminds me a little bit of Devontae Booker coming out of Utah.

Booker has struggled through some injuries in his first couple of years with the Broncos, but is starting to show off his big play ability a little bit.

You can watch Penny in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on ESPN at 3:30 PM ET.