Former Georgia Tech football players Derrick Morgan and Demaryius Thomas were selected in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night.
Morgan, a defensive end, was selected by the Tennessee Titans with the No. 16 pick. Thomas, a wide receiver, was selected by the Denver Broncos with the No. 22 pick.
Georgia Tech was one of eight schools to have more than one player selected in the first round. Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Texas and Rutgers were the others.
Morgan had 12.5 sacks and 55 tackles for the Yellow Jackets as a junior last season to earn All-America honors from a variety of organizations.
At 6-foot-3 and 266 pounds, Morgan ran the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in 4.79 seconds. ESPN analysts said Morgan was the most complete defensive end in the draft.
Morgan improved each of his three seasons at Tech, posting seven sacks and 56 tackles as a sophomore after seeing spot duty as a freshman.
He will be expected to improve a pass rush that was 31st in the 32-team league last season. The Titans let two of their better pass-rushers, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Jevon Kearse, go in the offseason.
He is the most recent first-round selection from Tech since wide receiver Calvin Johnson was chosen by Detroit with the No. 2 pick in 2007.
Thomas caught 46 passes for 1,154 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior last season. He averaged 25.1 yards per catch, mostly against single coverage, to become the first wide receiver selected Thursday.
Though he wasn't able to participate in the NFL combine in Indianapolis in February because he sustained a broken bone in his foot while training, he steadily moved up the mock drafts in February and March because of his size (6-3, 224) and speed (4.38 in the 40-yard dash).
He's also a vicious blocker on the edge, willing to take on cornerbacks, linebackers and safeties.
Though his foot still is less than 100 percent, he was able to hold a workout Sunday in Atlanta, where he ran an untimed cone drill and caught passes for scouts from 10 teams.
Thomas, a native of Montrose (near Macon), will be expected to step in and fill the void left by Brandon Marshall, who was traded in the offseason after a tumultuous 2009 with the Broncos. Thomas will join former Georgia Bulldogs running back Knowshon Moreno, who was selected by the Broncos in the first round of last year's draft. Thomas might also catch passes from former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, whom the Broncos selected with their second first-round pick Thursday.
Tech's remaining first-round prospect, running back Jonathan Dwyer, wasn't selected Thursday. Dwyer, a Marietta native, rushed for 1,395 yards each of the past two seasons in Tech's spread-option offense.
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