Colts take Ohio State offensive dynamo King 1st overall in ‘21 Draft
After a miraculous and highly improbable season, Ohio State tight end/running back Charles King’s incredible nine month rise culminated in New York City with a handshake from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. King was the first overall selection in the 2021 NFL Player Selection Meeting, being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, who are one year removed from a Super Bowl loss.
King became an enigma in the college football world midway through the season. After injuries to both of Ohio State’s top running backs, the tight end King slid into the backfield in their place. King proceeded to run for 1300 yards and added 60 catches for 800 more yards receiving. King received the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end, and was named a unanimous first-team All-American, shooting to the top of draft boards in a weak draft class.
Tight ends were taken at an alarming and historic rate in the first round, as seven came off the board in the first 32 selections, including each of the top three picks. Oregon State’s Billy Oliver went to the Cowboys at #2, while Altarrius Pope went #3 to the Saints.
In addition to the tight ends, several teams went looking for franchise quarterbacks despite the perceived weak draft class. Seven QB’s came off the board in Round 1, led by BYU’s Patrick Coddleman at 4 to the Chargers. The most notable QB selection came via the Cleveland Browns, who appear to be abandoning the Johnny Manziel project after the QB led them to an AFC Title in his rookie year of 2014. They took Lance Ward of Notre Dame at 13th overall.
Bob Diaco and his new team, the London Black Knights, were once again aggressive in the draft as they seek their first Lombardi Trophy. The Knights traded with the Lions to have two selections in round one, taking tight end Alex Oliver out of Alabama at 15 and Michigan’s star cornerback Quinton Baker at 26. The Knights added All-American guards Kai Ocalalaku in Round 2 and Sam Barron in round 4, while adding an intriguing QB prospect with Florida’s Kessler Paul at 90th overall (round 3).
| Pick | Team | Player | Position/School |
|---|
| 1 | Indianapolis | Charles King | RB-TE/Ohio State |
| 2 | Dallas | Billy Oliver | TE/Oregon State |
| 3 | New Orleans | Altarrius Pope | TE/UCLA |
| 4 | San Diego | Patrick Coddelman | QB/BYU |
| 5 | Arizona | Erik Harvey | QB/Memphis |
| 6 | Minnesota (from Chicago) | Grant Vaughn | CB/Missouri |
| 7 | Atlanta (from Minnesota) | Aaron Zozarniack | QB/Missouri |
| 8 | New York (N) | Bryan Slaughter | LB/Florida |
| 9 | Denver (from St. Louis) | Jason Culp | LB/Tennessee |
| 10 | New York (A) | Marcello Stevenson | TE/Alabama |
| 11 | Buffalo | Perceus Duncan | LB/Florida |
| 12 | Seattle (from Pittsburgh) | C.J. Brewer | LB/Ole Miss |
| 13 | Cleveland | Lance Ward | QB/Notre Dame |
| 14 | New England (from Denver) | Terrence Thomas | CB/Oklahoma |
| 15 | London (from Detroit) | Alex Oliver | TE/Alabama |
| 16 | Oakland | Lionel Henry | S/Notre Dame |
| 17 | New England | Clarence Turner | TE/Michigan State |
| 18 | Chicago (from Carolina) | Chris Richardson | TE/Alabama |
| 19 | Minnesota (from Atlanta) | Aaron Smith | DE/Minnesota |
| 20 | Houston | Kevin Mack | OT/BYU |
| 21 | Kansas City | Kentrell Garrison | WR/Texas A&M |
| 22 | Denver (from Tampa Bay) | Vincent Harrell | OT/North Carolina |
| 23 | Tennessee | Andrew Daniels | WR/Penn State |
| 24 | Washington | Courtney Sullivan | RB/Oklahoma |
| 25 | Seattle | Jason Lucas | QB/Ball State |
| 26 | London | Quinton Baker | CB/Michigan |
| 27 | San Francisco | Michael Thompson | WR/Notre Dame |
| 28 | Baltimore | Ashton Overstreet | QB/Oklahoma |
| 29 | New York (A) (from Philadelphia) | Dan Palanzanos | QB/Clemson |
| 30 | Cincinnati | She'Treese Robinson | G/Georgia |
| 31 | Green Bay | Keylon Barnes | S/Illinois |
| 32 | Miami | Tim DePaxson | LB/Florida State |
UConn Draft Picks
UConn saw a record four players get drafted. All-Big 12 wideout Rashad Harris was the first Husky selected, going in the second round to the Oakland Raiders. Free safety Ross Sinclair went in Round 3 to the New York Giants, while Ole Miss grad transfer and All-American center Ryan Smelley went in the fifth round to the Chargers. Marcus Bradford was picked in the sixth round by the Redskins.
Super utility man Jeff McNeal and linebacker Sammie Leonard went undrafted but are fielding offers to attend training camps, as is early declaree Royce Archie. Notably not selected were former five-star defensive end recruit Sam Rourke and cornerback Jake Crowder, who left the team amidst controversy in November after fallouts and multiple run-ins with Coach Diaco.
| Pick | Player | Position |
|---|
| R2. 16 OAK | Rashad Harris | WR/UConn |
| R3. 8 NYG | Ross Sinclair | S/UConn |
| R5. 4 SD | Ryan Smelley | C/UConn |
| R6. 24 WAS | Marcus Bradford | LB/UConn |
CAC Draft Picks
14 players directly affected by CAC alumni were drafted: Coach Shea led the way with three of his USC Trojans selected. Of the coordinators, Coach Coley of Rutgers and Coach Nama of Cincinnati led the way with two of their offensive players apiece being selected. OC Matt King of Memphis coached the fifth overall pick, Erik Harvey, the quarterback selected by the Cardinals. Ball State OC Jerome Baumann was responsible for the other CAC first round pick, QB Jason Lucas.
| Pick | Player | School |
|---|
| R1. 5 ARI | Erik Harvey | QB/Memphis (OC King) |
| R1. 25 SEA | Jason Lucas | QB/Ball State (OC Baumann) |
| R2. 11 BUF | Grant Daniels | CB/Purdue (DC Smith) |
| R2. 13 ATL | Eric Jamison | LB/USC (HC Shea) |
| R2. 15 NO | Rian Scott | QB/Rutgers (OC Coley) |
| R3. 11 BUF | James Colvin | OT/USC (HC Shea) |
| R3. 14 DEN | Quinton Royal | OG/Southern Miss (OC Davis) |
| R4. 12 PIT | Jasper Haley | RB/Bowling Green (OC Malloy) |
| R4. 27 SF | David Holmes | OT/Memphis (OC King) |
| R4. 28 BAL | Will Curry | QB/Cincinnati (OC Nama) |
| R4. 29 PHI | Douglas Howard | RB/UNLV (HC Freday) |
| R5. 6 DET | Jay Weaver | CB/USC (HC Shea) |
| R6. 26 LON | Sean McLaurin | TE/Rutgers (OC Coley) |
| R7. 7 MIN | Damion Butler | WR/Cincinnati (OC Nama) |
Other Notable Draft Picks
Some other notable selections include former UConn washout David Hamilton. The quarterback was picked in the second round by the Carolina Panthers after being named an honorable mention All-American in his first and only season at Old Dominion. Heisman trophy winner Andy Merriman, the unheralded tailback out of Nebraska, went undrafted due to concerns about his height and his being a “product of the system”.
Round 2, Pick 18, CAR: David Hamilton (QB, Old Dominion)
Round 2, Pick 23, TEN: Bryce Yeracheck (DE, Nebraska)
Round 2, Pick 24, PHI: Alden Rosario (LB, Oklahoma)
Round 2, Pick 31, TB: James Null (QB, Texas)
Round 3, Pick 12, PIT: Casey Swanson (RB, Oregon)
Round 3, Pick 17, NE: Eric Bonds (RB, Alabama)
Round 4, Pick 8, NYG: Freddie Livingston (WR, Texas)
Round 4, Pick 16, CHI: Kenny Greenwood (QB, Oklahoma State)
Round 4, Pick 20, HOU: Ty Byrd (S, West Virginia)
Round 6, Pick 9, STL: Tim Reid (DT, Auburn)
Round 6, Pick 18, CAR: Tannis Sierra (RB, Arkansas)
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Muchos gracias! The Madden aspect to this is something I only recently started thinking about ... I wish I had saved the actual draft classes from two years ago when I went through the early seasons, but it doesn't make too much of a difference. Most of the important guys from early seasons made it onto the Madden 'chise, so we're all good!
You'll know when CAC time rolls around.. I like to devote a full post for the sign-up each season. I'm looking forward to seeing you join the side story if you so choose!
Good ideas on the OOC.. the mid-majors have kinda been cratered at this point with Arky State up in the Big 12 now and Marshall fading back to a good but not dominant team in the AAC. After a nice run in the early seasons, the SEC has considerably fallen off. Florida has been the best team in the conference to this point (two Heisman winners and three national title game appearances in the first five seasons), but slumped to a ~8-5 record last year after their QB got hurt. Alabama has been really bad since Nick Saban retired a few seasons back, as has South Carolina after a pair of CFP appearances themselves. Certainly could be some interesting matchups though.. none of these teams' rosters are particularly bad by any means.
USC has had some difficulty recruiting in recent years -- bad news for Coach Shea - but I think I know why that is. For reasons I do not recall, I set the Coach Progression speed to slowest when I started the dynasty wayyyyy back when, which was the wrong decision looking back. I had no intentions of ever creating coaches, which brought my attention to this, but slowest progression absolutely destroys any reasonable rate of progression. Especially with this roster, the gaps between established coaches levels and young coaches levels are .. very drastic, to say the least.
Coach Shea has been in existence for six years, has won a Natty and nearly a second, and is still only a level 10 coach (I think).. well behind the rest of the Pac-12 coaches. As such, his recruiting efforts are massively impacted; of course USC would be a Top 10-15 recruiting school every year otherwise. Sadly, I can't adjust the coach ratings through the editor (trust me, I really tried), so I'm hoping that doesn't impact CAC stuff too much moving forward.
Interesting call.. thank you for dropping that suggestion! 8 was taken by one of our redshirted guys last year, but that could be easily changed because he hasn't played yet and the number isn't "associated" with him like Josh Marriner's #26 or Shav Wade's number 3.
#5 is now vacated with kicker Mike Miller graduated. I've been thinking about #1 as well, but I do kinda like the idea of #5.