With the USFL Draft completed roughly 2 weeks ago, we got the rare chance to see a league form and see a full draft to fill out a whole roster. The New Orleans Breakers had a very solid draft, ending up with some great offensive firepower across the board and developed their roster well. In this article, I will be analyzing their running back group, based on their previous stints in other leagues/the NFL and what they will bring to the Breakers.

Larry Rose III

First up we have Breakers RB Larry Rose III, who has a pretty decent amount of experience in various leagues. Larry was the first running back with back to back 1000 yard seasons at New Mexico State since Denvis Manns in 1995-1998. Rose would accrue 4,558 rushing yards over four seasons in college. He also had a 5.9 yard average and totaled 37 rushing touchdowns. In terms of collegiate career, Rose had a very solid one overall, and looked to have some promise as a developmental back in the NFL or other leagues. This led him to be signed by the Tennessee Titans in undrafted free agency.

After college, Rose has bounced around different leagues over the past few seasons. This has made it so he could never truly got a chance to settle in. He spent 2018 with the Tennessee Titans practice squad as well as the Los Angeles Rams practice squad. By the end of 2018, he signed with the AAF Arizona Hotrods. However, he was waived in 2019 after one game. 2019 he would be signed to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers multiple times and waived multiple times throughout the year. His most recent endeavor was the XFL, playing for the Los Angeles Wildcats, where he played all games until the April 10th shutdown.

In terms of what he could do for the Breakers, that is a relative unknown. We have not seen Rose get much of a true chance to play since college in 2017. However, he definitely has some traits that seem to pop out when watching his play. He has phenomenal vision, and is able to follow his blockers exceptionally well. He is also relatively shifty and has good lateral quickness, which will definitely be a boon to the Breakers offense. Overall, a very interesting prospect and one who we could see make some big plays for New Orleans.

Jordan Ellis

The other running back on the Breakers roster is lesser known, that being Jordan Ellis. Ellis spent four years with Virginia in college, and improved in the latter two years of his tenure. He would end his collegiate career with nearly 2,000 rushing yards at 1,997. He also had 19 rushing touchdowns total and 4.3 yards per carry on average. Overall he had a solid enough collegiate career to make it to the NFL, where he would sign with a few practice squads, these including Tampa Bay and Cincinnati.

As Jim Nagy said in the above tweet, Ellis is relatively sudden and is very compact. This allows him to play more of a fullback/change of pace back position with a solid sized frame. While Ellis is not the quickest, running a 4.76 40 at his pro-day, he has some solid traits as a power back. His main focus will likely be on providing some north-south rushing for the Breakers, which will be a great compliment to Larry Rose III.