ACC tops 30 players chosen in the NFL Draft for sixth straight year

by CU Athletic Communications - Sat Apr 24 20:03:23 GMT-04:00 2010

Greensboro, NC—For the sixth straight year, the Atlantic Coast Conference had over 30 of its players selected in the annual National Football league Draft which concluded Saturday afternoon, as 31 former ACC standouts were chosen by NFL teams.

Since 2005, the ACC and the Southeastern Conference are the only two leagues in the nation to have had 30 selections in the NFL Draft in each of the past six years.

In all, the ACC was third this year among conferences in draftees selected. The SEC led all leagues with 49 followed by the Big Ten with 34, the ACC (31), The Big 12 (30), the Pac-10 (29), the Big East (18) and the Mountain West (13).

Atlantic Division champion Clemson (C.J. Spiller, Jacoby Ford, Ricky Sapp, Crezdon Butler, Kavell Connor) and Coastal Division runner-up Virginia Tech (Jason Worilds, Kam Chancellor, Ed Wang, Brent Bowden, Cody Grimm) led all ACC schools each with five players chosen in the draft.

ACC Champion Georgia Tech (Derrick Morgan, Demaryius Thomas, Morgan Burnett, Jonathan Dwyer) and Miami (Jimmy Graham, Darryl Sharpton, Jason Fox, Dedrick Epps) were next, each with four players chosen.

Florida State (Patrick Robinson, Myron Rolle, Dekoda Watson) had three players chosen in the Draft, followed by Maryland (Bruce Campbell, Nolan Carroll), North Carolina (E.J. Wilson, Cam Thomas), NC State (Ted Larsen, Willie Young) and Wake Forest (Brandon Ghee, Chris DeGeare) each with two players chosen.

Boston College (Matt Tennant) and Virginia (Chris Cook) each had on player chosen.

The ACC also kept up its streak of having at least one Top 10 selections in each of the past five years. Since 2006, the ACC is the only conference in the country to have had a Top 10 selection in each year.

This year, Clemson running back C.J. Spiller, the ACC’s Player of the Year, was drafted 9th overall by the Buffalo Bills. The Conference has also had 34 first round draft picks since 2006, the second-most of any conference, trailing only the SEC (36).

Also since 2006, the ACC has seen 179 of its players drafted into the National Football League, the second highest total of any conference in the nation, trailing only the SEC (198). The Big Ten is third during this time with 162, followed by the Pac-10 (155), the Big 12 (143) and the Big East (91).

In all, 18 NFL teams selected players from the ACC. The World Champion New Orleans Saints (Patrick Robinson, FSU; Jimmy Graham, Miami; Matt Tennant, Boston College), the Pittsburgh Steelers (Jason Worilds, Virginia Tech; Crezdon Butler, Clemson; Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech and the Tampa Bay Bucs (Brent Bowden, Virginia Tech; Cody Grimm, Virginia Tech; Dekoda Watson, Florida State), each drafted three ACC players, the most of any NFL team.

The ACC and the 2010 NFL Draft

No. Name, School, Pos. Rnd Selection Team

1. C. J. Spiller, Clemson, RB 1st 9th Bills

2. Derrick Morgan, Georgia Tech, DE 1st 16th Titans

3. Demaryius Thomas, Georgia Tech, WR 1st 22nd Broncos

4. Patrick Robinson, Florida State, CB 1st 32nd Saints

5. Chris Cook, Virginia, CB 2nd 34th Vikings

6. Jason Worilds, Virginia Tech, OLB 2nd 52nd Steelers

7. Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech, S 3rd 71st Packers

8. Jimmy Graham, Miami, TE 3rd 95th Saints

9. Brandon Ghee, Wake Forest, CB 3rd 96th Bengals

10. Darryl Sharpton, Miami, LB 4th 102nd Texans