Gold & Blue Lunch: Draft nuggets after the picks, signings

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Lunch scoured the metadata of the 2016 NFL draft and distilled a few nuggets:

— The Big 12 had 25 players drafted, by far the fewest of the Power 5 leagues. The SEC led with with 54 picks, followed by the ACC (47), the Pac-12 (39) and the Big Ten (35). Membership disparities played a role, obviously, because the Big 12 actually matched the Big Ten in picks per school, with 2.5 each.

— Baylor led the Big 12 with six picks, though we won’t allow Art Briles to take credit for Rico Gathers. The Bears never miss a chance to toot their horn these days and pointed out that they had the most draft picks in Texas ahead of Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Houston, all of whom had three players chosen.

— West Virginia and TCU were next in the conference with five each. Texas, which produced no draft picks in 2014, saw only one player drafted this year.

— Carolina chose Daryl Worley in the third round, validating his somewhat maligned decision to skip his senior season. The Panthers must have been starving for corners, because they drafted three of them, including Oklahoma’s Zach Sanchez (another junior) in the fifth round.

— West Virginia’s Nick Kwiatkoski was the first of only two Big 12 linebackers drafted.

— Oklahoma’s Eric Striker, a two-time coaches All-Big 12 selection, was not among the 21 outside linebackers drafted. It’s hard to imagine him being ignored after the way he played against West Virginia last fall.

— Trevone Boykin looked mighty athletic dodging WVU defenders last year in Fort Worth but ran a sluggish 4.77 in the combine 40 and had mixed feelings about switching to receiver. After going undrafted, Boykin signed with Seattle.

— The Bengals got a fourth-round steal in Baylor defensive tackle Andrew Billings at No. 122 overall. Some personnel departments gave him a low-first, high-second grade.





More Sports

High School Sports
Class A Girls Basketball All-State List
Cameron's Ashlynn Van Tassell chosen captain, joined by teammate Kenzie Clutter on firs team.
March 19, 2024 - 1:12 am
High School Sports
Odds and ends: Free-throw shooting, experience major factors in Charleston; shot clock discussion surfaces again
A look back at some key figures and memorable soundbites over the course of two state tournaments that featured 56 games in 10 days.
March 18, 2024 - 5:53 pm
WVU Sports
3 Guys Before The Game - Searching For Mr. Right (Episode 539)
What factors will determine how long the search lasts for WVU's new basketball coach?
March 18, 2024 - 3:05 pm
Sports
Charleston's Osborne, Fairmont State's Anderson first recipients of MetroNews Joe Retton MEC Coaches of the Year
The Golden Eagles men's squad and Falcons' women's team garnered Mountain East Conference regular season and tournament titles, while both squads surpassed the 25-win mark for the season.
March 18, 2024 - 12:00 pm