Now that the Derby and the festivities surrounding it have ended Louisville fans will look forward to Thursday night and the NFL Draft. Due to a scheduling conflict this years Draft was pushed back from its usual late April date. A lot of folks have complained about this because it has allowed for all of these mock draft folks to extend their tearing down and building up of NFL hopefuls. One of the mock draft guys has had at least 30 different players in his top 10 and at least 6 different players in the top spot.
I haven’t really payed much attention to all of those mock draft guys as I figure they like all journalist are just looking for hits to their respective sites. I did come across one draft article this weekend that I found interesting. Bryan Fischer of College Football 24/7 wrote a good one over at NFL.com about “The Best Draft Classes In ACC History.” Even though our Cardinals haven’t had a snap in the conference yet and won’t officially become members until July 1st Bryan added them to his article.
Here’s what he wrote:
Taking into account Hall of Fame careers, Pro Bowls, years as a starter, games played and overall depth (i.e. lack of busts), here’s a stab at the best draft classes that all current ACC have produced.
Louisville
Best draft class: 1991 (Ted Washington, Browning Nagle, Jerry Crafts, Mike Flores)Highest overall pick: Ken Kortas (9th overall, 1964)
Other top classes: 1955, 1983, 1997, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014
Notable: The Cardinals haven’t played a single game in the ACC but land on this list thanks to past accomplishments and future conference affiliation. The 1991 class had all four players start at least 13 games, led by four-time pro bowler and Super Bowl champion Ted Washington. It’s tough to pick just one group because of limited numbers, but the 2014 class might wind up being the best based on projections.
Thursday night looks to be a very promising one for the University of Louisville and could potentially be the best draft class in school history. It could also produce the highest draft pick in school history if Teddy Bridgewater finds himself in the first eight players taken. As mentioned in the article above Ken Kortas currently holds that spot selected 9th overall, in 1964.
Teddy Bridgewater, Calvin Pryor & Marcus Smith are the Louisville guys expected to hear their names called first on Thursday night. Teddy and Calvin were invited to be in the green room. If those three guys go in the first 3 rounds as expected, Louisville will have 13 NFL picks in top 3 rounds since 2002. The Cards have had 6 NFL Draft picks in the past five years.
Other Cardinals hoping to hear their names called on Thursday night include: ILB Preston Brown, S Hakeem Smith, WR Damian Copeland, C Kamran Joyner, OT Jamon Brown, FB B.J. Butler, and RB Senorise Perry.
I am looking forward to the draft and I do think it is going to be an incredible night for a group of guys who deserve greatness. This group has already made their mark on the Louisville Football program with the wins and the BCS Sugar Bowl Trophy. On Thursday night they could have a curtain call by being one of the best NFL Draft classes in University of Louisville history. Be sure to tune in at 8:00pm on ESPN and watch these guys realize their dreams. L1C4