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ACC Sets NFL Draft History with Picks Two and Three and Leads Conferences with Seven First-Round Picks
April 27, 2008
GREENSBORO, N.C. - With Virginia's Chris Long and Boston College's Matt Ryan being chosen second and third in this year's NFL Draft, the Atlantic Coast Conference becomes the first Conference in the nation to have two of its student-athletes chosen among the top four picks in the NFL Draft for three consecutive years.
Also, with Long, the defensive end from Virginia, being the first defensive player selected marked the third straight year the ACC has had the top defensive player chosen in the Draft following Williams in 2006 and Adams in 2007. It was also the fourth time in the past seven years the Conference has had the top defender tabbed in the draft as North Carolina's Julius Peppers (2nd, Carolina) was the top defensive player chosen in 2002. The ACC also led all Conferences with first round selections having seven players tabbed in the first round including Long, Ryan, Virginia offensive tackle Branden Albert (15th, Kansas City), Boston College offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus (17th, Detroit), Virginia Tech offensive tackle Duane Brown (26th, Houston), North Carolina defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer (29th, San Francisco) and Miami defensive back Kenny Phillips (31st, New York Giants). The SEC and PAC-10 were second, each with six players chosen in the first round. Phillips' selection continued a streak of 14 consecutive years for the Hurricanes to have had a player drafted in the first round. The ACC leads all Conferences over the last three years with 25 first round selections compared to 21 for the SEC and 18 for the Big 10. The PAC 10 is next with 11 followed by the Big 12 (8) . In all, in the first two rounds of the draft the ACC had 11 players chosen, tying the PAC 10 for the most players in the first two rounds. The ACC had 9 of the first 35 players tabbed with Clemson's Phillip Merling (32, Miami), Virginia Tech's Brandon Flowers (35th, Kansas City) and Eddie Royal (42, Denver) and Miami's Calais Campbell all being chosen in the second round. The selection of Miami's Phillips also gave the Hurricanes a first round defensive player taken in each of the past three years. The Hurricanes join Tennessee as the only schools with a defender taken in the first round in each of the past three NFL Drafts. The ACC had 33 players chosen in the two days of the NFL Draft trailing by one pick the PAC-10 and SEC which each had 34 players selected. But over the past three years the ACC has had more players selected--a total of 115--than any other Conference. The SEC is the next closest during that time with 112. Virginia Tech led all ACC teams with eight players selected including Brown in the first round. followed by Flowers and Royal in the 2nd round, DE Chris Ellis in the third round, LB Xavier Adibi (4th), DT Carlton Powell (5th), and WRs Josh Morgan (6th) and Justin Harper (7th). Six ACC teams each had three players selected including Boston College (Ryan, Cherilus and CB DeJuan Tribble), Florida State (DT Andre Fluellen (3rd), DT Letroy Guion (5th) and LB Geno Hayes (5th)),Georgia Tech (LB Philip Wheeler (3rd), RB Tashard Choice (4th) and P Durant Brooks (6th)), Miami (Phillips, Campbell and LB Tavares Gooden (3rd)), Virginia (Long, Albert and TE Tom Santi (6th)) and Wake Forest (DE Jeremy Thompson (4th), WR Kenneth Moore (5th) and C Steve Justice (6th). Clemson (Merling and G Barry Richardson (5th), North Carolina (Balmer and OLB Hilee Taylor (7th) and NC State (S DaJuan Morgan (3rd) and DT DeMario Pressley (5th) each had two players drafted, with Maryland having one player chosen (DT Dre Moore (4th). The selection of Virginia's Chris Long as the second overall pick was the second-highest selection for the Cavaliers and the highest since Bill Dudley was the NFL's first selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1942. The selection of Long second overall and offensive lineman Branden Albert 15th is Virginia's highest ever for two players combined. The next highest occurred in 1997 was James Farrior was chosen 8th and Jon Harris 25th.
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Long, who was chosen 2nd overall by the St. Louis Rams, and Ryan, who was tabbed third overall by the Atlanta Falcons, joined NC State's Mario Williams (Houston, 1st) and Virginia's D'Brickashaw Ferguson (4th, NY Jets) in 2006 and Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson (2nd, Detroit) and Clemson's Gaines Adams last year (Tamps Bay Bucs, 4th) as top four selections, something no other collegiate conference has achieved in the 71 years of the Draft.
