Southerland played in all 13 games as a freshman, starting seven of them. He finished the year with 83 totals yards and five touchdowns. He was more involved as a sophomore, rushing for 120 yards and eight scores on the ground, while adding 157 yards and two touchdowns on 14 catches. Southerland’s numbers dipped as a junior with the emergence of Knowshon Moreno. He ran for just 24 yards and five scores to go along with 59 yards and one score on 11 receptions. A foot injury caused Southerland to be virtually non existent as a senior, as he had just four touches for 17 yards and one touchdown all year long.
Strengths
Southerland is a solid all around fullback prospect. He has shown the ability to be quality short yardage back, blocker, and receiver during his career. He is a good athlete that has good straight line speed for a fullback, and has potential as a runner. He is a strong runner and fights to pick up the tough yardage between the tackles. Southerland also did a good job blocking for Moreno as a junior, and has been a dependable dump off target as a receiver. He has a true fullback mentality and will do whatever it takes to make plays for his team.
Weaknesses
Durability has been a big issue for Southerland. He injured his shoulder as a sophomore, and a foot injury took away his senior year. He will need to re-establish himself as a football player since it’s basically been a year since he was effective on the field.
Future
Fullback isn’t a glamorous position and not many are drafted every year. Southerland entered the year as arguably the top fullback, but a foot injury hampered him all year. He missed the first four games of the year after surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot, and he never got back into shape the rest of the season. Southerland did bounce back at the combine, showing he is healthy and ready to go. He ran a 4.68 40 to go along with a 38" vertical, showing the foot no longer hinders him. That could be enough to allow him to hear his name called in the middle to late portion of day two.