As always, there were plenty of surprises during the NFL Draft and several of them happened to involve the schools we follow here at Stars & Slights.
The biggest news was certainly Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen falling all the way to the Carolina Panthers who selected him with the 48th overall pick.
This will be viewed by many as a bad thing, but I see some positives in the fall for Jimmy. The biggest knock on him is his perceived "cockiness" and this will certainly take him down a peg or two. It's important to be humbled (though the many sacks he took in college certainly helped) and there's no doubt Mr. Clausen now has a very different perspective from which to learn and work.
Also, Carolina is a very talented team. The big problem for them was an oft-injured Jake Delhomme. With the Rajun' Cajun' now in Cleveland, Clausen has a shot to be the guy in Charlotte once he's ready.
For me, the most exciting moment of the draft came four picks later when Brian's Pittsburgh Steelers selected Virginia Tech defensive end Jason Worilds, who will move to outside linebacker in Pittsburgh's 3-4 defensive set.
Worilds was the first Hokie drafted and will take his relentless motor and strong work ethic to an organization that values those things perhaps more than any other team in the NFL.
Some other surprises included Irish wide receiver Golden Tate slipping to the 60th overall pick (far lower than I would have taken him) and former Hokie walk-on Cody Grimm was selected in the 7th round.
Grimm is an undersized linebacker who has worked extremely hard and made himself into one of the Hokies' leading tacklers and an NFL safety prospect picked up by Tampa Bay. Truly inspiring.
Here is the complete list of players drafted from both schools. Best of luck to all of those drafted and to everyone signing free agent deals as we speak (type).
Notre Dame
QB Jimmy Clausen- Carolina, Round 2
WR Golden Tate- Seattle, Round 2
OT Sam Young- Dallas, Round 6
C Eric Olsen- Denver, Round 6
Virginia Tech
LB Jason Worilds- Pittsburgh, Round 2
S Kam Chancellor- Seattle, Round 5
OT Ed Wang- Buffalo- Round 5
P Brent Bowden- Tampa Bay, Round 6
S Cody Grimm- Tampa Bay, Round 7
