NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Southern Conference had five players selected in the 2011 NFL Draft this weekend (April 28-30). Chattanooga's Buster Skrine, The Citadel's Cortez Allen and Appalachian State's D.J. Smith, Mark LeGree and Daniel Kilgore were all chosen by NFL teams.
Allen was selected as the 128th pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers. This selection marks only the third time in school history that The Citadel Football team has had players selected in the National Football League (NFL) Draft in consecutive years.
Allen, selected in the fourth round by the 2011 AFC Champions, follows teammate Andre Roberts who was picked in the third round of the 2010 Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. The 6-1, 197-pound defensive back from Ocala, Fla., became the first defensive back and 13th Bulldog drafted by the NFL (16th drafted to play professional football). Allen is also the first defensive player selected in the NFL draft since the Baltimore Colts selected linebacker Brian Ruff as the 304th pick in 1977.
Allen, who started attracting the attention of NFL scouts after his junior season, recorded two interceptions for 112 yards against Samford in 2009, marking the second-highest single-game number of interception return yards in Southern Conference history. As a 2010 second team All-Conference selection, Allen's stock rose after his performance at the 2011 Annual East-West Shrine Game® and 2011 NFL Scouting Combine.
Skrine was chosen by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round. He was the sixth pick in the round, the 137th selection overall.
Skrine was a two-time First Team All-Southern Conference Defensive Back. He is the first Moc to be selected in the NFL Draft since Terdell Sands was chosen by the Kansas City Chiefs in the seventh round in 2001.
A native of Woodstock, Ga., Skrine was a four-year letter winner at right corner for the Mocs. A team captain in 2010, he finished the year with 39 tackles, including 29 solo stops. He recorded five interceptions in his career, playing in 42 games with 29 starts.
Skrine helped turnaround Chattanooga's football program, improving from 1-11 in 2008 to 6-5 in 2009. UTC again went 6-5 in 2010 and Skrine's play on defense was a huge piece of the rebuilding process. UTC went 5-3 in the ultra-competitive Southern Conference last season, its most league wins since 1985.
After guiding the Mocs to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1990 and 1991, Skrine saw his stock shoot up since the NFL Combine. He posted an unofficial 4.29 in the 40-yard dash based on the NFL Network's hand time at the Combine. He also had the fastest official time in the 60-yard shuttle at 10.75. That number was listed as a 'recent best' on NFL.com/combine. He was second in the 20-yard shuttle at 3.90 and second in the three cone drill at 6.44.
The Seattle Seahawks drafted safety LeGree with the 25th selection of the fifth round (156th overall), the San Francisco 49ers tabbed offensive lineman Daniel Kilgore with the 32nd selection of the fifth round (163rd overall) and the world-champion Green Bay Packers picked linebacker D.J. Smith with the 21st selection of the sixth round (186th overall) on Saturday at Radio City Music Hall.
Appalachian's three selections in the seven-round NFL Draft breaks the previous school record of two, which ASU had in 1990 (Derrick Graham and Keith Collins), 1992 (Gary Dandridge and Mike Frier) and 2008 (Dexter Jackson and Corey Lynch).
The Mountaineers' three draftees were as many or more than 38 of the 66 programs that play in automatic-qualifying conferences for the Bowl Championship Series, including 2011 BCS Championship Game participant Oregon and other traditional powers such as Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA and Virginia Tech. ASU was the only non-NCAA Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) program with multiple selections in this year's draft.
LeGree (6-0, 210) is only the second three-time consensus first-team All-American in Appalachian history, joining two-time Buck Buchanan Award winner and three-time NFL Pro Bowler Dexter Coakley. A 6-0, 200-pound senior defensive back, LeGree finished his career as the active leader in NCAA Division I with 22 career interceptions, four more than any other FCS or FBS player active in 2010. The 22 interceptions are good for second in Southern Conference history and third in ASU's all-time annals. Despite opposing offenses steering away from the ball-hawking safety for much of the year, LeGree picked off five passes as a senior, good for a tie for 20th nationally. He also broke up eight passes and made 49 tackles in his final collegiate campaign.
Kilgore (6-3, 308) anchored Appalachian's prolific offensive front as the starting right tackle for all 13 games in 2010, en route to first-team all-conference and third-team all-America recognition. In 11 regular-season games as a senior, Kilgore amassed 46 knockdowns and 20 pancake blocks while never grading below 81 percent, including two grades of 90 percent or higher (91 vs. Chattanooga and 90 vs. Elon). After spending much of his collegiate career at tackle, Kilgore projects as a guard/center as a pro.
Smith (5-11, 239) led the SoCon and ranked fifth nationally with 144 total tackles while also recording four-and-a-half tackles for loss, two sacks, five quarterback hurries, four pass break-ups, an interception and a fumble recovery as a senior. He finished his career with 525 tackles, the most among all Division I players (FCS or FBS) active in 2010. His 525 career stops rank fourth in SoCon history and he joined three-time NFL Pro Bowler Dexter Coakley as the only players in ASU history to surpass the 500-tackle plateau. Smith is a three-time all-conference honoree and two-time first-team all-American.