8B
SPORTS / THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
DRAFT (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
He recorded 93 tackles as a senior but intercepted just one pass.
"Stuckey came into the season with high expectations." Nolan Nawrocki, author of Pro Football Weekly's annual draft preview, said during a teleconference. "He was disappointing for the most part this season. He's a hitter when he has a clean alley. He'll come up and make his presence felt."
Briscoe followed a similar path to this point.
Briscoe declared for the NFL draft after his junior season.
Not heavily recruited out of high school, Briscoe quickly developed into Kansas' best big-play threat. He totaled 218 catches, 3,240 yards and 34 touchdowns in three years.
"Ever since I was 7, I just wanted to play football and exceed at every level I came to play at — little league to middle school to high school to college." Briscoe said in March after the NFL combine. "Now that it's on the professional level, I'll have a chance to play with people that I admired growing up which is a blessing."
He was suspended throughout spring practices and for Kansas' first game last season — for disciplinary reasons.
But Briscoe also had issues to address.
Then, at the NFL combine in Dallas, Briscoe ran a 4.66 40-yard dash. He later improved that time to a 4.51 at Kansas' Pro Daw.
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
"Dez ran poorly," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said in a teleconference. "I did his bowl game a couple of years ago. I like him as a player. He's got big hands, strong hands. He's a little bit inconsistent, but a big physical receiver. But because he ran so slowly, I think he's going to go in the fourth round."
Still, if everything goes as expected, the next three days will make Briscoe and Stuckey's childhood dreams into a tangible reality.
"The percentage of how many college players there are to how many players actually get a chance every year is remarkable." Stuckey said. "I'm going to cherish it while I'm there."
Edited by Becky Howlett
Dermon Briscoe runs drills in front of NFL scouts at the KU pro day. The former wide receiver is predicted to be a mid-round pick alongside Darrell Sturgeon in the NFL Draft this week. Briscoe totaled 218 catches, 3,240 total yards and 34 touchdowns in his three years on the KU football squad.
FUTURE IN CANADA MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR REESING
According to many mock drafts, the chances of quarterback Todd Reesing hearing his name during the NFL draft this week are extremely slim.
But Reesing appears to have another option in his back pocket.
According to a story in the Regina Leader-Post, the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders own the negotiating rights to Reesing.
That doesn't mean that Reesing can't play in the NFL, or any other league for that matter. But if Reesing opts to play in the Canadian Football League — and if the Roughriders are also interested — Saskatchewan gets the rights to sign him.
Reesing
Each of the eight CFL teams select 35 players to place on negotiating lists. Normally, teams place players with slim chances of being drafted on their lists in order to have the best opportunity to sign them later.
If a player isn't drafted, or if he's cut from an NFL squad, the CFL team with his negotiating rights has the opportunity to sign that player.
In 2009, former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell signed with Saskatchewan after he was released from the NFL. The Roughriders owned the negotiating rights to Harrell.
Former Kansas running back Jon Cornish is currently in the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders.
Sure, Nebraska defensive tackle Dnamukong Suh wore shoes that were conspicuously Detroit Lions-like on Wednesday at an NFL youth clinic in Central Park — Honolulu blue, black and gray
NEW YORK — Looking for clues? Don't look at the shoes.
Suh said he didn't know whether he was going to the Rams first overall, the Lions second overall, the Buccaneers third overall or elsewhere in the draft Thursday night. He didn't rule out anything.
The conventional wisdom is that the Rams will take Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, the Lions will take Suh, and the Bucs will take Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCov.
"I'm definitely uncertain," Suh said, sitting on a bench, flipping a football in his hands. "I have no idea what's going to happen. Nobody's approached me and said that they want to draft me. So until that happens, I can't give you guys an answer like you're looking for.
But he's a shoe lover from Oregon, home of Nike, a company he endorses. And it should be noted that the Rams wear blue, too.
"Whether it may be Detroit, or it may be St. Louis, or it may be Tampa Bay, or who knows? Somebody could trade up and do something. It's the 75th anniversary of this draft, so you know something special's going to happen. We're already having it in prime time. So we'll have to see."
Detroit one of possible NFL destinations for Suh
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
But there is some uncertainty. The Rams haven't tried to sign Bradford and just traded defensive lineman Adam Carriker, Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth reportedly is available. Some think the Lions could acquire Haynesworth and draft a left tackle — Oklahoma State's
NFL
He's got options, right?
"By this point last year, it was pretty certain Matthew Stafford was going one," McCoy said, referring to the Georgia QB the Lions signed the night before the draft and took first overall. "Everybody thinks Sam's going one, but you don't know. Everybody knew Stafford was going one. So you don't know. If you don't know by tonight, you really ain't going to
Russell Okung or Oklahoma's Trent Williams. Some think they could take a left tackle even if they don't acquire Haynesworth.
know tomorrow.
everything's up in the air.
Teams appear to be exhausting every option.
"It's the 75th anniversary of this draft, so you know something special's going to happen."
And Mayock thinks it's Suh to the Lions at No. 2.
"Can't tell you that," Suh said, smiling. "You've got to come out and see."
All Suh can do now is wait.
He was all smiles as he played flag football with kids Wednesday, intercepting a pass and galloping the other way, rushing up the middle at the quarterback. He hung out with the 20 or so family members and friends, trying to relax.
What color suit does he have picked out for Thursday night?
Coach Jim Schwartz already recruited free-agent defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, whom he once coached as Tennessee's defensive coordinator. Vanden Bosch excelled when Haynesworth played for the Titans.
"I definitely would love to learn from somebody like that if I had the opportunity to play at Detroit and with him."
NDAMUKONG SUH
Nebraska defensive tackle
bosch, but Vanden Bosch is a fellow Cornhusker. Sut called him "a Nebraska great" and the signing "one hell of a move." Vanden Bosch has spoken highly of him, too.
Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. "However, they trade Rriker. That creates a potential hole in the defense line where people say, Oh, they might take a defensive tackle, so if we want McCoy or Suh, do we have to come up and get him? I think they're just trying to create a market.
"At the end of the day, if they don't get blown away, I think it's Sam Bradford."
"I think if you sign Kyle Vanden Bosch, you've got to put a three technique next to him." Mayock
said. "He was his most effective ... you can check the sack numbers. If he doesn't have a good three technique next to him, he's not quite the same pass rusher. I think it's the Tennessee philosophy that Schwartz is going to go through there."
I think the Rams are trying to stay open for business to the last second, and I think they feel like Sam Bradford's their guy," NFL
"I appreciate all the love he's given me and ying for me to come out there," Suh said.
"Ive got options," Suh said. "I love options. You've got to have options, especially when you've got a great big event like this."
When Suh visited the Lions in March, defensive line coach Kris Kocurek laid out his vision. Suh would be a three technique, disrupt defenses and play the run on the way to the quarterback.
Suh has never met Vanden
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