2022 Rookie Class: An Early Look at Breece Hall, RB Iowa State

Breece Hall extended a run of excellent running back play for the Iowa State Cyclones that kicked off in 2016 with David Montgomery. Hall immediately showed his receiving chops in his freshman season and continued to be utilized as a weapon out of the backfield through his junior season when he had 36 receptions. After leading college football in rushing in 2020, finishing eighth in the nation in 2021, and being named All-American after each season, Hall declared the NFL Draft after his junior season, and won’t turn 21 until May of this year.

AS A RECRUIT

Hall was a four-star recruit out of Wichita, Northwest high school and was heavily recruited, receiving offers from 17 schools including Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota before settling on Iowa State. Hall was the 22nd-ranked running back nationally coming out of high school according to 247 Sports’ rankings. Hall would have likely been ranked much higher if not for the fact that his freshman and sophomore seasons were spent on the JV squad working on the “intangibles”. He absolutely shredded in his two varsity seasons, putting up 4,927 seasons on 456 touches, and scoring an absurd 72 touchdowns.

Image from 247 Sports.

After destroying the competition in his final two high school seasons, Hall graduated early to ensure that he was ready to play for the Cyclones on day one of his freshman college season.

Image from Max Preps.

COLLEGIATE CAREER

Image from Sports Reference.

Immediately following in the footsteps of David Montgomery’s impressive college career could have been imposing to a lesser player. Hall not only matched Montgomery, he surpassed him in every statistical measure.

Rushing for nearly 900 yards as an 18-year-old true freshman, Hall stormed out of the gate with a 25.8% dominator rating, averaging 74 rushing yards per game, while being lightly used as a receiver. While impressive enough on their face, Hall’s stats look even better in the context that he didn’t start for Iowa State until their sixth game.

His 2019 season was just the opening act of what would end up being a dominant three years in Ames. As a sophomore Hall loudly announced himself as a contender for the RB1 ranking in his class. He led all of college football with 1,572 rushing yards, amassing an elite 37.8% total dominator rating. Hall became Iowa State’s first unanimous All-American while finishing sixth in the Heisman race and runner up for the Doak Walker award. After a relatively quiet freshman season in the touchdown column, he set the Iowa State record for overall touchdowns (23) and rushing touchdowns (21). The 2020 season also saw him more involved as a receiver, with him capturing 21 receptions.

His junior and final season in Ames saw Hall see a slight dip in rushing production, “only” finishing with the eighth-most rushing yards in college football. However, he did improve his yards per attempt average. He again topped the 20 rushing touchdown mark and added 36 receptions in 12 games on his way to another All-American season. Hall finished tenth in Heisman voting, again is a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, and was named the Big-12 Offensive Player of the Year for the second time.

ATHLETIC PROFILE

Because Hall wasn’t an elite recruit, he didn’t attend Nike’s The Opening so data on his athletic testing is limited. Don’t worry once he tests at the NFL Combine – I’m sure he’ll be plenty athletic.

Hall has the size (6’1’ and 220 lbs) desired for a running back expected to be a workhorse in the NFL. He is elusive, has excellent contact balance, and excellent burst. The only ding against his athletic speed is that he’s not a pure burner, and everyone will make sure you are aware he lacks “long-speed”. Though he ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash out of high school, that speed doesn’t show on the field and he might get tracked down by DBs on longer runs.

STRENGTHS

• Vision
• Elusiveness
• Patience
• Size
• Bursty and sudden
• Adequate receiver

The below tweet highlights some of Hall’s strengths.

Iowa State RB Breece Hall
6’1 215lbs
465 Att 2,469 YDS 30 TD
46 Rec 432 YDS 3 TD
Utilizes Excellent Vision
Elusive Runner
Strength/Contact Balance
Above-Average Receiver
Quick First Step/Acceleration
Lacks Top End Speed pic.twitter.com/xuV7cWfrmM

— Kevin (@Daboys_22) May 10, 2021

When Hall lines up and runs wide receiver routes, he will make things happen once the ball is in his hands.

Breece Hall forced more missed tackles after the catch than any Big 12 RB@CycloneFB pic.twitter.com/6ya7sJEQ4O

— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 17, 2021

WEAKNESSES

• Pass protection
• Doesn’t play to his size
• Long speed

Though Hall is a big back, he sometimes doesn’t run through tackles. Like every college running back that has ever existed, his pass protection skills aren’t the best and he’ll need to work on that in the NFL. As noted earlier, though bursty and fast, Hall lacks the elite long speed of some of the top tier of NFL backs, though that’s hardly a death sentence.

DRAFT VALUE

Pre-combine, Hall is firmly entrenched as a top-three back of the class along with Isaiah Spiller and Kenneth Walker III. He checks in as the number three back with CBS Sports, and as the number two with Sports Illustrated, PFF, and DLF’s Devy rankings.

DYNASTY OUTLOOK

In single-quarterback rookie drafts, Hall could go off the board as early as 1.02. Until the Scouting Combine metrics and draft capital are attached to this year’s running back class, the top three backs are largely decided on personal preference. Assuming day two draft capital I can’t imagine Hall falling below 1.05 in single-quarterback rookie drafts. The quarterback class isn’t as heralded this year but it still has a couple of interesting prospects, who the NFL will surely draft early, which will push Hall down in superflex rookie drafts. The only quarterback I would take over Hall is Matt Corral. I’m not enamored with this class and think it would be a mistake to overdraft a quarterback even in a superflex format.

2022 Rookie Class: An Early Look at Breece Hall, RB Iowa State