Oakland Raiders: Some RB prospects to think about for the 2019 season

Benjamin Snell Jr. – Kentucky Wildcats

Not playing for a traditional football powerhouse, Snell has largely been overlooked by many. He doesn’t have the name recognition others like a Bryce Love do, and as a result, hasn’t really landed on any high profile radars.

Despite all of that though, Snell has come in and has been a consistent, solid, and at times, spectacular performer for the Wildcats.

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In two years in the SEC’s Eastern Division, playing against schools like Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee, Snell has racked up 2,424 yards on 448 carries – a very solid average of 5.4 yards per carry. He’s also found the endzone 32 times in his brief career.

As a freshman, Snell was Kentucky’s second leading rushing with 1,091 yards, and led the team in touchdowns with 13. He did however, miss the team’s first two games, otherwise, he very likely would have led the team in rushing yardage too.

After that blistering freshman year, and with defenses gearing up to stop him, Snell still accounted for 1,333 yards on the ground – 1,405 yards from scrimmage overall – and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore.

If you’re scoring at home, Snell’s rushing yardage was third overall in the SEC – behind NFL draft picks Kerryon Johnson and Nick Chubb – and his touchdowns led the conference.

At five-foot-eleven, 223 pounds, Snell has the size Gruden likes in his lead backs. He’s got outstanding speed, a quick initial burst, is a very tough back who runs aggressively, and picks up plenty of yards after contact – which sounds like a back very much in the Marshawn Lynch mold.

Snell is a very talented back who could add a lot of punch to Oakland’s backfield. But, some are projecting him to go as high as the second round, so Gruden may not have a lot of time to deliberate, let alone pull the trigger.

At the very least though, he should give Snell a serious look.