Saturday represented “redemption day” in the NFL draft for a few Georgia Bulldogs.
Brandon Boykin and Orson Charles each went in the fourth round, and each was projected as a higher pick than that. Charles, a tight end who had a season of eligibility remaining, had to wait until the Cincinnati Bengals took him with the 116th pick overall early Saturday afternoon. Boykin, a defensive back and kick returner, went seven picks later to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Both were all-conference selections and highly productive players at Georgia, only to see their NFL stock devalued before the draft.
Charles had already been hurt by poor workouts when he was arrested for DUI in Athens on March 9. Boykin suffered a broken leg in the midst of an impressive performance in the Senior Bowl in February. So instead of getting a call on the first or second day as they hoped, Boykin and Charles had to wait until Day 3 to realize their NFL dreams.
“I was a little upset it didn’t happen sooner,” said Boykin, who was enjoying a party with family and friends at home in Fayetteville on Saturday afternoon. “But after not getting my name called [Friday], I knew it’d definitely happen soon [on Saturday]. And when I finally got the call, I was really excited. At this point, everybody’s on an even level and you just have to go out and prove yourself. That’s no different than I’ve always had to do.”
Charles said the arrest impacted his draft status, but he said he just tried to be honest with the teams that asked him about it.
“I just [told] them that it was a one-time mistake and that it won’t happen again,” Charles said on a teleconference call with reporters.
Ben Jones was the first Georgia player selected Saturday, taken by Houston with the 99th pick overall. Place-kicker Blair Walsh became the sixth Bulldog drafted when he was chosen by Minnesota in the sixth round. Offensive lineman Justin Anderson went to Indianapolis with the first pick of the seventh round. Defensive lineman DeAngelo Tyson went to Baltimore with the 236th pick, 17 picks from the end.
Offensive lineman Cordy Glenn was chosen by Buffalo with the 41st pick overall during the second round Friday.
Boykin said all the Georgia players leaned on each other as they were waiting to hear from the NFL.
“We talked the whole time,” Boykin said. “... I was telling them to hang in there; they were telling me to hang in there. We were just trying to be there for one another, not really knowing what was going to happen. But we all knew we were going to get our shot.”
