Three UCLA football players found homes in the National Football League this weekend during the 2015 NFL draft, which lasted seven rounds from Thursday to Saturday.
Eric Kendricks was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round with the 45th overall pick, after the Bruins were shut out of the first round for the first time in three years. The Minnesota Vikings reunited Kendricks with former teammate and fellow Lott IMPACT Trophy-winning linebacker Anthony Barr, whom the Vikings took at the 9th pick in last year’s draft.
“I feel like I got drafted again,” Barr tweeted Friday. “I can’t believe it.”
Owamagbe Odighizuwa went in the third round of the draft, selected by the New York Giants with the 74th overall pick.
“I promise to give you everything I have from the day I step foot in the state of (New York),” Odighizuwa tweeted Friday.
The final Bruin selected in the draft was quarterback Brett Hundley, who had to wait until the fifth round to hear his name called. Hundley is the first UCLA quarterback to be drafted since Cade McNown. The Chicago Bears drafted McNown in 1999 with the 12th overall pick.
“Good things come to those who wait,” Hundley tweeted after his selection Saturday.
The Green Bay Packers took Hundley with the 147th overall pick. Originally predicted to go in the second round by CBS Sports, Hundley is expected to play behind Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who led the team to a Super Bowl victory in 2011.
Three more Bruins will get a shot at making an NFL roster after signing as undrafted free agents. Defensive lineman Ellis McCarthy was picked up by the Miami Dolphins, offensive lineman Malcolm Bunche went to the Philadelphia Eagles and defensive back Anthony Jefferson will join the Chicago Bears.
McCarthy was projected to go undrafted by CBS Sports as was Bunche, while Jefferson was predicted to go in the fifth or sixth round.
Compiled by Claire Fahy, Bruin Sports senior staff.