Apr 25 / Rob

Four Dukes To Get A Shot In The NFL

Jags draft pick, Scotty McGee.

Arthur Moats and Scotty McGee became the first JMU football players to be drafted since 2000. Moats is heading to Buffalo to play linebacker in the 3-4 and McGee will take his 4.37 speed down to Jacksonsville to do what he does best, return kicks. Offensive lineman, Dorian Brooks and tight end Mike Caussin also will get opportunities to make an NFL roster after signing free agent deals with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars respectively. 1997 was the only other year when more than one Duke got drafted. That year Macey Brooks and Ed Perry were selected.

Obviously, JMU fans have plenty of good things to say about these guys. After the jump we’ll take a look at a few comments from coaches, scouts, and pundits about them.

Kicking things off, Adam Kaplan of Scout.com lists Moats as one of his Draft Day Steals and shared this little nugget:

Some personnel evaluators have likened Moats to Pittsburgh Steelers OLB James Harrison–a smaller player who has a great motor and is hard to keep off the quarterback.

Bills college scout, Tom Roth, was thrilled with the Moats pick and was really taken with his work ethic. He explained:

I called him and I actually heard weights in the background. A lot of guys, they’re enjoying the last couple days before the draft. It tells you about the kid’s character. He’s going to work.

Buffalo GM, Buddy Nix addressed the skepticism surrounding Moats playing at a FCS school. I would have just politely reminded the skeptics that JMU plays in the “SEC of FCS”, that nearby BCS schools Maryland & UVA failed to have more players drafted than the Dukes, and informed them that former Buffalo Bill Mr. Scott Norwood was a Duke. OK. So maybe I’d leave off that last one. Nix handled it more professionally:

But we still don’t think much about what school they come from. I mean, these guys have size, they can run and they play hard, wherever they’re from.

Jaguars GM, Gene Smith explained that Jacksonville is anticipating McGee being the “starter” returning punts. He is obviously high on Scotty’s speed.

Quick and fast. He has 4.3 speed. We did a lot of work on him. We feel very good about him as a person. He’s got home run ability. (ed. note- Yes. Home run ability.)

And finally, commenting on what he liked about Jacksonville’s draft, SportsIllustrated.com’s Ross Tucker summed it up perfectly:

G.M. Gene Smith appears to believe that players from the FCS division of college football are consistently undervalued, and I agree with him.

Congrats Arthur, Scotty, Dorian, and Mike. Go Dukes!

3 Comments

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  1. Todd / Apr 26 2010

    Word is McCarter to the Broncos and Daniels will likely get a shot somewhere too! Says a ton about the state of the program.

  2. Matt Schoner / Apr 28 2010

    go dukes! 6 guys vying for spots on NFL rosters. not too many, if any, FCS programs can boast that stat.

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