UCLA Football: Other Players That Could Declare For The NFL Draft

Sep 12, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins running back Paul Perkins (24) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the UNLV Rebels during the third quarter at Sam Boyd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Perkins

In his three years, Paul Perkins has been the work horse for the Bruins in the backfield. In his redshirt freshman year in 2013, Perkins was the go-to guy after several of the Bruin’s top running backs went down with an injury. Surprisingly, he was one of the few to avoid injury and that gave him experience to build on in what was to be an incredible sophomore season.

In 2014, Perkins blew all expectations away with 1,572 rushing yards, which made him the leading rusher in the Pac-12 that year. What was even more impressive is the 6.3 average yards per rush that he put up on opponents last season. He even had 9 rushing touchdowns, 201 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns to add to his stats.

This season, despite rushing for 1,343 yards, it might be considered a down year for Perkins, though part of that had to do with a mid-season leg injury he sustained. Though he did not miss an entire game, he did miss several quarters and still managed to run for over 1,000 yards, gaining 3,488 in his first three years at UCLA.

Perkins is definitely a player that could go to the NFL, but he if stays, that will make the UCLA run game very strong in 2016.

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