NFL teams pluck plenty of fruit from Florida
There were 25 players chosen from state or local college teams.
Former Inlet Grove star and UCF wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith was so pumped up about hearing he was being drafted as the No. 91 overall NFL draft selection by the New Orleans Saints that he couldn’t even remember what Sean Payton said to him during a phone call with the Saints head coach.
“I was too excited. There were so many emotions going on,” Smith said late Friday night by phone from his draft watch party at home in Delray Beach. “Payton called me and he told me they were going to take me and then I spoke with the GM (Mickey Loomis) and I was just so excited from there on out.”
Smith, the 10th wide receiver selected in the draft, said he had no idea the Saints were considering him as the second day wound down late Friday. “I really didn’t have any clue, but I did meet with the Saints more than once,” said Smith, a 6-foot, 200-pound receiver who led UCF in receiving
this past season with 59 catches for 1,179 yards and 13 touchdowns.
During his UCF career, Smith caught 168 passes for 2,748 yards and 22 touchdowns in 38 games, anaverage of 16.3 yards per catch and 72 yards per game. Smith’s draft stock rose with his postseason performances at the Peach Bowl, Senior Bowl, NFL Combine and UCF pro day.
Loomis, speaking to the media that cover the Saints, said the team is high on Smith. “At that point in this draft, where we were at, this is the player we had graded the highest,” Loomis said. “I wouldn’t say there was a glaring hole or anything like that. This is a player we liked a lot.”
Fifteen players with local or state colleges were drafted Saturday, bringing the overall total for three days to 25. Florida State had six players chosen to lead the way for state schools, followed by Florida and Miami (5) and UCF (4).
Derwin James (FSU), Taven Bryan (UF) and Mike Hughes (UCF) went in the first round.
Chris Herndon, who was overshadowed at tight end by David Njoku for much of his Miami career, will have plenty of eyeballs on him to start his pro career. The New York Jets took Herndon in the fourth round.
Herndon, the 107th overall pick, could be a target for first-round choice Sam Darnold, the quarterback from USC.
“One of my favorite remaining players in the draft,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said after the pick was announced. “Fluid athlete. Tough kid. Contact balance like a running back. … He did all the dirty (blocking) work that Njoku didn’t want to do the last couple of years.”
Twelve UM tight ends have been drafted since 2000. The Jets have two of them: Herndon and Glades Central High alum Clive Walford, who recently signed a free-agent deal.
Miami running back Mark Walton, whose junior season was cut short by injury, went to the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round (112th overall).