Aztecs RB Penny a 1st Round NFL Draft Pick

SDSU All-American a surprise pick by Seattle on Thursday

He wasn’t supposed to be a 1st round pick. But it just takes one team to see something special in you.

With the 27th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft the Seattle Seahawks selected San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny and the Pacific Northwest just got itself a heck of a football player.

Penny was projected to be a 2nd or 3rd round selection but the Seahawks perhaps saw something that many of the so-called draft β€œexperts” missed: this guy is a heck of a football player.

Penny was the Mountain West Conference Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year and finished 5th in the Heisman Trophy balloting in his senior season at SDSU. By the way, he’s the first Aztecs running back selected in the 1st round since the Colts nabbed Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk in 1994.

Seattle was looking for a playmaker on offense. During the 2017 season their only offensive touchdown that did NOT involve quarterback Russell Wilson (either rushing or passing) was a rushing TD by running back J.D. McKissic.

Penny checks a whole lot of boxes. As a senior he rushed for 2,248 yards and 23 touchdowns, caught 19 balls for 135 yards and two TD, and tied the NCAA record when he returned his 7th kickoff return for a score. If you get the ball in his hands good things tend to happen.

Penny will be a starter right from the start on a Seahawks team that is trying to rebuild in a suddenly very competitive NFC West.

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