NEW ORLEANS – Several former Sun Belt Conference football standouts appeared in the NFL postseason during the 2019-20 season with Georgia Southern's Matt Breida playing Super Bowl LIV, five gracing the active rosters of postseason teams and Georgia State's Wil Lutz making his first Pro Bowl.
Breida has appeared in 16 games in his third season with the San Francisco 49ers. He has rushed for 623 yards on 123 attempts and hauled in 19 receptions for 120 yards with two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving. He has also recorded one tackle on special teams. His one rushing touchdown came on an
83-yard burst against the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football.
Fellow former Eagle Jerick McKinnon and Appalachian State's Ronald Blair III are on also on the 49ers' rosters on the reserve/injured list. Louisiana's Elijah McGuire is on the practice squad of the AFC champions Kansas City Chiefs.
A total of nine former Sun Belt players, including five on active rosters, were with teams that advanced to the NFL playoffs:
Arkansas State's Demario Davis and Georgia State's Wil Lutz (New Orleans Saints)
Georgia State's Chandon Sullivan (Green Bay Packers)
Georgia State's Robert Davis and ULM's Marcus Green# (Philadelphia Eagles)
Troy's Brynden Trawick (Baltimore Ravens)
Georgia State's Penny Hart* and South Alabama's Wes Saxton* (Seattle Seahawks)
Coastal Carolina's Anthony Chelsey^ (Houston Texans)
Lutz capped his record-breaking season playing in
his first NFL Pro Bowl. In the game, he connected on three extra points as his NFC squad fell 38-33 to the AFC on Jan. 26 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
*Practice squad
^Reserve/injured list
#Reserve/future list