Matthew Rea

Matthew Rea (born November 25, 1991) is a former gridiron football fullback. He previously attended Michigan State University, where he played college football for the Spartans and studied finance. where he was a player while the team won three league championships. He also played lacrosse at Rochester Adams and was a member while the lacrosse team won two league championships. Rea committed to play for the Penn Quakers at the University of Pennsylvania, and he maintained redshirt status in 2010. In 2011, he played in all 10 games for the Quakers as a backup defensive tackle. He was not eligible to play in 2012 due to rules related to transferring,

Professional career Rea participated in the regional and national CFL Combines in Toronto. He achieved the highest value of 29 repetitions of the bench press at the regional combine as well as 31 repetitions at the national combine, the most among running backs. Rea was selected in the fourth round of the 2015 CFL draft by the Saskatchewan Roughriders with the 35th overall pick.