Tigers Lead Big 12 With Six NFL Draft Picks Coffman, Brown, Sulak All Go On Day Two Of Draft <!-- remove this block --> <!-- end block -->
April 26, 2009
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Columbia, Mo. -
What a weekend it was for the Mizzou Football program, related to the 2009 NFL Draft. Three more Tiger standouts had their names called, bringing MU's total for the draft to a Big 12 Conference-best six.
Chase Coffman (3rd round, Cincinnati Bengals),
Colin Brown (5th round, Kansas City Chiefs) and
Stryker Sulak (6th round, Oakland Raiders) became the newest wave of Tigers infiltrating the ranks of the National Football League, bringing the total number of players drafted under Head Coach
Gary Pinkel to 16 overall, including 14 total in the last five drafts (2005-09).
As of late Sunday evening, two other Tigers had signed free agent contracts following the draft, with at least four others accepting invitations to workout for NFL teams. Record-setting QB
Chase Daniel signed a free agent deal with the Washington Redskins shortly after the draft was over, and LB
Brock Christopher signed with the Atlanta Falcons.
Other Tigers who reportedly had accepted invitations to upcoming tryouts included QB
Chase Patton (Chicago Bears), PK
Jeff Wolfert (Chicago Bears), S
Justin Garrett (Cincinnati Bengals) and WR
Tommy Saunders (Tampa Bay Buccaneers).
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<!-- STORY AD ENDS HERE --> Mizzou led the Big 12 with its six draftees in 2009. Here's a rundown of how the Big 12 teams fared in the draft this year:
- MIZZOU - 6
- Oklahoma - 5
- Texas - 4
- Texas Tech - 4
- Nebraska - 3
- Texas A&M - 2
- Baylor - 1
- Colorado - 1
- Kansas State - 1
- Oklahoma State - 1
- Iowa State - 0
- Kansas - 0
Nationally, only four schools had more draft picks than the Tigers. Here's a look at the top schools in this year's draft:
- USC - 11
- Ohio State - 7
- Oregon State - 7
- South Carolina - 7
- MIZZOU - 6
- Georgia - 6
- LSU - 6
- Oregon - 6
- Cincinnati - 6
The last time Mizzou had this many picks in an NFL Draft was back in 1981, when a total of seven Tigers were selected, with all going in the seventh round or above. Tigers taken that year included OT Howard Richards (1st round, Dallas Cowboys), RB James Wilder (2nd round, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), DB Eric Wright (2nd round, San Francisco 49ers), DE Wendell Ray (5th round, Minnesota Vikings), DB Johnnie Poe (6th round, New Orleans Saints), DB Bill Whitaker (7th round, Green Bay Packers) and DB Ron Fellows (7th round, Dallas Cowboys).