Sean Lee (#45) and company keep the NFL tradition alive at "Linebacker U"
Schools earn nicknames for a reason and anyone who follows college football knows where the greatest linebackers come to play ball. Penn State continued to showcase its “Linebacker U” status by having all three starting linebackers drafted in the 2010 NFL Draft. This marks 6 linebackers drafted in the past four drafts for JoePa.
The first LB to go was Sean Lee in the 2nd round to the Dallas Cowboys (55th pick). LB Navorro Bowman was drafted in the 3rd round by San Francisco (91st pick), and the St. Louis Rams picked up the final of the starting trio in Josh Hull in the 7th round (254th pick).
It was a good day to be a Nittany Lion in the draft. A total of six players were drafted including 1st rounder DT Jared Odrick (28th pick, Miami). Other notables drafted were TE Andrew Quarless (154th pick, Green Bay) and TE Mickey Shuler (214th pick, Minnesota). Unfortunately, the school’s record setting quarterback Darryl Clark was not drafted, but he will more than likely sign a non-drafted free agent deal with several NFL teams.
Penn State and Iowa led the Big 10 in most draft picks for 2010. Iowa also saw six Hawkeyes drafted over the weekend. The 2009 conference champs, Ohio State Buckeyes, only managed to get 4 players drafted and none earlier than the 4th round in LB/DE Thaddeus Gibson (116th pick, Pittsburgh Steelers).
