Thirty-two players were taken in last night’s NFL draft first round, says Captain Obvious. While we know LSU won the night in terms of schools, and the SEC in terms of conferences, the state of Texas was the winner in terms of high-school prospects.
A total of seven players who played their high school ball in the Lone Star State heard their name called last night. They were:
No. 3: Ohio State CB Jeff Okudah, Detroit Lions -- Grand Prairie, Texas
No. 17: Oklahoma WR CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys -- Richmond, Texas
No. 20: LSU OLB K’Lavon Chaisson, Jacksonville Jaguars -- Houston, Texas
No. 21: TCU WR Jalen Reagor, Philadelphia Eagles -- Waxahachie, Texas
No. 23: Oklahoma LB Kenneth Murray, Los Angeles Chargers -- Missouri City, Texas
No. 27: Texas Tech LB Jordyn Brooks, Seattle Seahawks -- Houston, Texas
No. 31: TCU CB Jeff Gladney, Minnesota Vikings -- New Boston, Texas
As you’ve no doubt noticed, none of those guys carry Texas or Texas A&M next to their name.
There are reasons for this. As the class of 2017 was making its college decisions, UT was transitioning between Charlie Strong and Tom Herman, and Kevin Sumlin was on his long, slow descent out of College Station.
Texas A&M took a 28-man class that rated 13th in the country, led by 4-star linebacker Anthony Hines and filled with a lot of guys who won’t hear their names called during the draft this year or next. UT signed a 17-man class that placed 25th; 4-star quarterback Sam Ehlinger and 3-star offensive tackle Sam Cosmi will almost certainly be drafted next year.
Okudah was a 5-star prospect who held offers from everyone in the country but was part of a Buckeye exodus joined by 5-star linebacker Baron Browning and 4-star running back JK Dobbins.
Texas was in the hunt for Chaisson down to the end, but the Houston prospect (obviously) picked LSU. Experts said Lamb favored Texas early in the process but Strong was late with an offer.
No one else in the group garnered serious interest from the future first-rounders, to both schools’ regret.