Seattle Seahawks Select UCLA RB Zach Charbonnet in NFL Draft
Zach Charbonnet is headed to Seattle.
The Seahawks took the former UCLA football running back with the No. 52 overall pick in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft on Friday night. Charbonnet was the first Bruin off the board, and he is the highest running back picked out of Westwood since DeShaun Foster went No. 34 overall in 2002.
Charbonnet will join 2022 second round pick and former Michigan State standout Kenneth Walker III in the Seahawks' backfield. Walker rushed for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns on 228 carries last season, and he was the runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Seattle has already made four picks in this year's draft, selecting Illinois' cornerback Deon Witherspoon and Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round on Thursday. Auburn edge rusher Derek Hall was their first pick on Friday, taking him at No. 37.
Charbonnet will now be coaches by former USC head coach Pete Carroll, as well as former USC running back Chad Morton at the positional level.
UCLA has now had a running back drafted in four consecutive years – former UC Davis transfer Joshua Kelley went in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, former wide receiver Demetric Felton went in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft and former Duke transfer Brittain Brown went in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Charbonnet was the best of the bunch, though, going higher than each and every one of them and becoming the first Bruin to go in either of the first two rounds since coach Chip Kelly took over in 2018.
The 6-foot, 215-pound ball-carrier put up career numbers as a senior this fall, ranking No. 15 in the country with 1,359 rushing yards, despite missing three games due to minor injuries. He finished the year with 135.9 rushing yards per game, which ranked No. 4 in the FBS.
Adding in his 321 receiving yards on 37 catches, Charbonnet ranked No. 7 in total yards from scrimmage and No. 1 in scrimmage yards and all-purpose yards per game.
The Oaks Christian School (CA) product rushed for 14 touchdowns on top of his efficiency from scrimmage, helping him earn All-American honors from the AP, FWAA and Sporting News. Charbonnet was also a semifinalist for the Doak Walker and Walter Camp Awards earlier this season, and he made the All-Pac-12 First Team.
In just 22 career games with UCLA, Charbonnet was able to rack up 3,014 total yards and 27 touchdowns on 6.6 yards per touch after becoming the ninth Bruin to record back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Charbonnet now ranks No. 14 on UCLA's all-time rushing yards list and No. 13 on the program's all-time scrimmage yards list.
Including his two years at Michigan before transferring to UCLA, Charbonnet racked up 3,935 total yards and 39 total touchdown at the college level.
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, offensive guard Jon Gaines II and offensive guard Atonio Mafi are among the Bruins who are most likely to come off the board next. The second and third rounds will wrap up Friday night, and the fourth through seventh rounds will take place Saturday.
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