On the third and final day of the NFL draft, Georgia completed a record-tying draft class, Georgia Tech finished the seven rounds with no players selected and Edmund Kugbila had reason again to thank his mother.
The Bulldogs had four players chosen in the final four rounds of the draft, giving them eight for the entire 254-player operation, tying the 2002 class for the most from Georgia in a seven-round draft. One of 120 FBS teams, coach Mark Richt’s Bulldogs supplied a full 3 percent of NFL team’s draft needs this weekend.
After linebackers Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree were taken in the first round Thursday, and defensive tackle John Jenkins and safety Shawn Williams were chosen in the third round Friday, four more Bulldogs were chosen Saturday — cornerback Sanders Commings (fifth, Kansas City), wide receiver Tavarres King (fifth, Denver), linebacker Cornelius Washington (sixth, Chicago) and safety Bacarri Rambo (sixth, Washington).
Seven of the eight came from defense, a feather in the cap of Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, hired in January 2009. Nose guard Kwame Geathers, who elected to leave school after his junior season, went unselected.
The 2002 class was led by defensive end and first-round pick Charles Grant, linebacker Will Witherspoon and tight end Randy McMichael.
This year’s players were part of the SEC’s 63-player NFL shipment, the largest of any conference. The ACC had 31 players drafted (a school-record 11 from Florida State) and the Big Ten 22.
The vast discrepancy between Georgia and Tech, which was shut out for the first time since 2005, helps explain how the Bulldogs have won the past four from the Yellow Jackets by increasing margins. Tech has had two players chosen in the past three drafts (wide receiver Stephen Hill in 2012 and running back Anthony Allen in 2011) — its thinnest three-year haul since 2001-03, when two Yellow Jackets (not counting a selection in the supplemental draft) were taken over that span.
Cornerback Rod Sweeting, defensive tackle T.J. Barnes and defensive end Izaan Cross were players who were expected to have a shot at being chosen.
One player with Tech ties was chosen — Marist School grad Cooper Taylor, who played two seasons at Tech before transferring to Richmond. He was chosen in the fifth round by the New York Giants. Taylor said he was at home when he got a call from a Giants scout, whom Taylor figured was just checking in with him to make sure he could be reached. Instead, the scout informed him he was being selected and handed the phone to Giants coach Tom Coughlin.
“It still hasn’t hit me,” Taylor said. “I’m so excited, I can’t explain it.”
A number of in-state players were chosen Saturday, including Western Kentucky defensive end Quanterus Smith (sixth, Denver) from Grayson High, Notre Dame safety Jamoris Slaughter (sixth, Cleveland) from Tucker High, Jacksonville State wide receiver Alan Bonner (sixth, Houston) from Newnan High, San Diego State wide receiver Brice Butler (seventh, Oakland) from Norcross High and Vanderbilt guard Ryan Seymour (seventh, Seattle) from Camden County High.
As for Kubila, a guard from Central Gwinnett and Valdosta State, he finished a most unlikely path to the NFL when Carolina took him with the 11th choice of the fourth round.
Kugbila was born in Ghana and lived there until the age of 10, when his parents won a visa lottery that enabled the family to move to the United States. Kugbila tried football as a seventh-grader at Richards Middle School in Lawrenceville, but was ready to give it up after a year. His mother, Lucy, prodded him into trying another year. Listening to Mom has brought him to the NFL’s doorstep.
“Now I can’t imagine not having shoulder pads on,” he said. “I thank my mom every day for pushing me for one more year. Look where it’s got me now.”
A low SAT score kept him from an FBS scholarship, but he became an All-American and won a Division II national championship at Valdosta State. On Saturday, Kugbila was celebrating with family and friends. In his thoughts was the late Dennis Roland, Kugbila’s coach at Central Gwinnett, who died after his junior season in January 2008 after a battle with lymphoma.
“The first time he saw me, he said, ‘You’re going to the NFL,’” Kugbila said. The comment particularly struck him given that Roland’s son, also Dennis, was at the start of an NFL career that still continues. On Saturday, Kugbila traded text messages with the younger Roland, an offensive lineman with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Said Kugbila of his coach, “I just know he’s looking down with smiles right now.”
