After days of waiting, several Bruin football players finally learned their NFL destinations.
Only three Bruins were selected during the NFL Draft: Bruce Davis went to Pittsburgh with the No. 88 overall pick, special teams standout Matthew Slater was chosen by New England with the No. 153 overall pick, and safety Chris Horton was one of the very last players selected when Washington chose him with the 249th overall pick.
Many pundits pegged Davis as a second or third-round pick, but Davis fell to the very end of the third round where the Steelers finally nabbed him. He played as a defensive end in four years at UCLA, tallying 24.5 sacks in his career. He will likely transition to outside linebacker in the Steelers’ 3-4 defensive alignment.
“I’m so ready to go to Pittsburgh,” Davis said in a conference call. “I couldn’t have picked it better myself. I can’t wait to get there.”
Slater was a surprise pick for the Patriots, who traded up in the fifth round to select him. Slater played wide receiver and defensive back at UCLA, but his main value in the NFL will most likely be his kick-returning prowess and special teams coverage ability.
The Patriots officially listed Slater as a wide receiver, even though he never caught a pass in his Bruin career.
“For me, I’m willing to do whatever coach (Bill) Belichick and his staff and the organization want me to do,” Slater said in a conference call. “Obviously, I look forward to contributing on special teams.”
Horton had one of the longest waits of any player drafted ““ he was the fourth-to-last selection of the entire draft.
Horton was one of three defensive backs the Redskins picked, along with Kareem Moore of Nicholls State and Justin Tryon of Arizona State.
After the draft, a number of former Bruins signed NFL contracts.
Safety Dennis Keyes signed with Arizona, wide receiver Brandon Breazell signed with Kansas City and cornerback Trey Brown signed with Chicago.
Running back Chris Markey was invited to Chicago’s minicamp, and defensive lineman Kevin Brown was invited to a minicamp with Seattle.
It was another relatively poor showing for UCLA in the NFL Draft.
None of the players were selected during the first day of the draft, which consisted of the first and second rounds, and the total of three Bruins drafted pales in comparison to USC’s 10.
Other top Pac-10 schools had more players drafted. Six California players were selected as well as five Arizona State players. The only teams in the conference with fewer than three players selected were Oregon State, Washington, Washington State and Stanford.
Last year the Bruins had just one player drafted ““ kicker Justin Medlock.
In 2006, only three players were drafted, but two of them, tight end Marcedes Lewis and running back Maurice Jones-Drew, went in the first two rounds.