Clemson in the 2009 NFL Draft

April 27, 2009

Overall * Clemson safeties Chris Clemons and Michael Hamlin were drafted on consecutive picks in the fifth round this year, as Clemons was taken with the 165th pick by Miami, and Hamlin was the 166th pick by Dallas. This marked the first time in history two Clemson players were taken with consecutive draft choices. The previous closest took place in the 1991 draft when Doug Thomas was taken as the 51st selection by the Seattle Seahawks and John Johnson was the 53rd pick by the San Francisco 49ers.

* Clemson had both of its starting safeties drafted in the fifth round on Sunday. This is the first time two players from the same position have been taken in the same draft since the 1999 draft when Clemson had three linebackers taken. Those three players in 1999 were Rahim Abdullah, Chris Jones and O.J. Childress.

* Getting drafted has been a good sign for Clemson players when it comes to making an NFL club. Over the last nine years 18 of the 19 Clemson players that have been drafted have gone on to play in the NFL. Over the last 24 years 72 of 86 drafted players from Clemson have gone on to play at least one game in the NFL.

* Clemson had three defensive players taken in the 2009 draft. That means 16 Clemson defensive players have been drafted over the last nine years.

* Clemson had four players selected in this year’s draft, the second most selections in one year in the last 10 seasons. The only year with more Tigers taken since the beginning of this century was in 2007 when five Clemson players were selected. The record is 10 in the 1983 draft.

Clemson Player Notes * Dorell Scott was the first Clemson player taken in the 2009 draft. He was a fourth round pick of the St. Louis Rams, the 103rd player taken in the draft. He was the third player taken by the Rams in the last four years. Tye Hill was a first round pick by that franchise in the 2006 draft and Dustin Fry was a fifth rounder by the organization in the 2007 draft. Scott’s selection marked the fourth straight year a Clemson defensive lineman was drafted. Charles Bennett was drafted by Tampa Bay in 2006, Gaines Adams by Tampa Bay in 2007 and Phillip Merling was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in 2008.

* Chris Clemons was taken in the fifth round by the Miami Dolphins, the 165th player taken. It marks the second straight year a Clemson player was taken by the Dolphins. Miami took Phillip Merling with the first pick of the second round last year.

* Michael Hamlin was taken in the fifth round by the Dallas Cowboys, the 166th player taken. Hamlin is the first Clemson player taken by the Dallas Cowboys since Keith Jennings was a fifth round pick in 1989. He is the first Clemson defensive back drafted by the Cowboys since Charlie Waters was a third round pick by that franchise in 1970. Waters went on to a Pro Bowl career with the Cowboys.

* James Davis was taken in the sixth round by the Cleveland Browns, the 195th selection in the NFL draft. He is the first Clemson player taken by the Browns since Rahim Abdullah was drafted in the second round in 1999. He is the first Clemson running back drafted by the Browns since Kevin Mack was a first round selection by the Browns in the USFL Supplemental Draft of 1985. Mack went on to be named to the Pro Bowl with the Browns. He combined with Ernest Bynar to become one of just three running back combinations in NFL history to each rush for over 1,000 yards in the same season.

ACC Notes * For the fourth consecutive year the Atlantic Coast Conference was a pacesetter at the annual National Football League (NFL) annual draft, as the league was the only conference in the nation to have four of its players drafted among the first nine selections of the 2009 Draft.

* The Conference became the first conference to achieve the feat since the ACC did it four years ago in the 2006 NFL Draft. It also marked the 9th time in the history of the NFL Draft that a league has managed to have four picks among the first nine choices. The Big Ten set the record with five picks in the 1967 and 1996 Drafts.

* Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry was the first ACC player selected when he was tabbed fourth overall in the first round by the Seattle Seahawks. Curry was followed, in short order, by Maryland wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, who was tabbed seventh by the Oakland Raiders; Virginia offensive tackle Eugene Monroe, taken eighth by the Jacksonville Jaguars; and Boston College defensive lineman B.J. Raji, who was selected ninth by the Green Bay Packers.

* With five players selected in the first round overall–North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks was the 29th pick on the first round by the New York Giants–the ACC has had more first round selections in the NFL Draft than any other conference with 30 first rounders chosen since 2006, the first year the Conference became a 12-team league. The SEC is second with 29 first round selections.

* Overall, the ACC had nine of the first 45 players selected in the Draft, the most of any Conference in the nation among the Top 45.

* The Conference did have its unprecedented streak snapped of three consecutive years when the league supplied the first defensive player chosen in the draft by the barest of margins when LSU defensive end Tyrone Jackson was tabbed third overall, just ahead of Wake Forest’s Curry. No other league has ever gone more then two consecutive years with the top defensive player chosen. The ACC now has supplied the top defender in four of the past eight years of the Draft.

* In all, the ACC had 33 players drafted, trailing only the SEC (37). Over the past four years the ACC has had 158 players drafted, again second nationally only to the SEC (159).

* Maryland and North Carolina led all ACC schools with five players chosen each, followed by Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Wake Forest with four each; Boston College and NC State with two as well as Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech with one each.

* Although Miami did have its impressive streak of 14 consecutive years with a first round draft pick snapped, the Hurricanes continued their string of string of consecutive seasons with a player in the NFL Draft to 35 straight years with outside linebacker Spencer Adkins drafted on the 6th round. Miami has now had a player taken in every NFL Draft since 1974.

* Florida State also continued its skein of 22 straight years with a player taken in the top three rounds when defensive end Everettte Brown was chosen in the 2nd round by the Carolina Panthers.