Former Ole Miss DL Breeland Speaks Earns UFL Defensive Player of the Year Honors: ‘It feels good; Just got to keep going’
Former Ole Miss star Breeland Speaks has earned UFL Defensive Player of the Year honors after the defensive end enjoyed a monster season for the Michigan Panthers this year.
The one, the only … BREELAND SPEAKS ‼️🔥
Congratulations to THE Defensive Player of the Year 💪@Bspeaks9 x @TheUFL pic.twitter.com/IAHDPWNgx6
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) June 7, 2024
Speaks takes home the award in the inaugural season of the merged XFL/USFL.
We messaged with Speaks following the announcement and asked him how it feels to earn this award.
“It feels good; Just got to keep going.”
Breeland Speaks on winning DPOY
The Jackson, Miss. native led the UFL with 9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss this spring. He recorded the most tackles for loss in a single game (4) and was the only player to record 3 sacks in two different games.
While in Oxford, Speaks put up 127 total tackles across three seasons for Ole Miss, including 15 TFLs and nine sacks. His most productive season came in 2017 where he tallied 67 tackles (27 solo), eight TFLs and seven sacks.
Perhaps his most memorable fumble recovery came against Mississippi State when the 6-foot-3, 285-pounder recovered a fumble for Ole Miss and infamously waved —at State head coach Dan Mullen.
Breeland Speaks recovered a fumble, and says “hi.” pic.twitter.com/Ee4i7Pb0wM
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) November 24, 2017
Speaks was a second-round draft pick of the Chiefs in 2018. As a rookie, he played in all 16 regular season games, recording 24 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 forced fumble.
Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury in preseason and was placed on injured reserve on August 31, 2019. The Chiefs later waived Speaks in September 2020.
During that 2020 season, Speaks spent time on the Las Vegas Raiders’ and Dallas Cowboys’ practice squads. He then signed a reserve/future contract with the New York Giants in January 2021 but was later waived by the team in May.
Last season, Speaks led the USFL in sacks and was named All-League at season’s end.
When your DPOY, we’re gonna make sure everyone knows it 🙌
Proud of our guy, @Bspeaks9 👏🔥 pic.twitter.com/FZr8AiSuhB
— Michigan Panthers (@USFLPanthers) June 7, 2024
Speaks’ Michigan Panthers play the Birmingham Stallions today in the UFL Conference Championship game for a chance to play in the first-ever championship game after the two leagues merged.
The game will take place at Protective Stadium in Birmingham and is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on ABC.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
