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Mathis, Bartell lead small contingent in NFL Draft

LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor

Draft Day Propects

FIRST DAY PICKS (Rounds 1-3)
• Jerome Mathis: Hampton speedy wide receiver/kick returner vaulted up the Draft board after scintillating performance at all-star game (Gridiron Classic, 2 TDs) and at the Combine where he broke Deion Sanders' record in the 40-yard dash, running a time of 4.31 that some clocked at 4.25. Returned five kickoffs for TD and averaged 30 yards per catch in his senior campaign.
Projected Pick: Late first or early second round

• Ronald BARTELL: Howard DB has size (6-2, 211) and speed (4.39) scouts like in a corner. Central Michigan transfer was object of much attention all year long. Highly scrutinized in the postseason including during workouts at Senior Bowl, where he was one of only two black college players invited.
Projected Pick: Third round

SECOND DAY PICKS (Rounds 4-7)
Nick Collins, DB, Bethune-Cookman
Junious Coston, C, N. C. A&T
Ben Dougherty, QB, Florida A&M
Tommy Manus, WR, Morgan State
Derrick Wimbush, RB, Ft. Valley State
Kenneth Pettway, OLB, Grambling St.

OTHERS
Walter Curry, DE, Albany State
Howard Gilmore, WR, Norfolk State
Charles Anthony, RB, Tennessee St.
Jamal Muhammad, OLB, Beth.-Ckmn.
Atcheson Conway, S, Bowie State
Miniya Smith, OT, Southern

It won't take much for black college players to do better in the 2005 NFL Draft, to be held Saturday and Sunday (April 23-24) at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, than they did a year ago.

An all-time low of just two black college products, and both those in the seventh and last round, were drafted last year, hopefully a bottoming out of a trend that has seen the list of draftees not reach double figures since 13 went off the boards in 2000.

This year should be different.

At least two players have received the kind of attention and ink that would indicate they will go early. Hampton wide receiver/kick returner Jerome Mathis and Howard defensive back Ronald Bartell have been thoroughly looked over and examined, and appear to have passed the tests to merit first-day selections.

Mathis, a speed burner, is the more likely of the two as a first-day pick. The NCAA track all-American in the 200 meters has shown that his speed translates on the gridiron. In a draft deep in wideouts, he is rated in the top ten. He could go late in the first round to a team like Pittsburgh or as late as the second round to Philadelphia.

Bartell has faced more questions but is rated just outside the top ten cornerbacks. Because of his physical skills and tremendous potential, someone will likely grab him before the first day is finished.

After these two, several players who impressed at the Combine are likely to be taken on the second day. Bethune-Cookman defensive back Nick Collins ran well (4.39) and also has size (5-11, 206) that intrigues the scouts. Florida A&M QB Ben Dougherty improved his stock with a solid Combine workout, some say that put him among the top ten QBs. N. C. A&T center Junious Coston also held his own against top competition there and has the size (6-3, 310) and toughness to merit a second-day pick. Size (6-4, 222) is also the key ingredient for MEAC receiving leader, Tommy Manus of Morgan State.

© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.


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