Sunday, April 26, 2009

Cowboys select 12, Highland Park alum first overall pick in 2009 NFL Draft

By Erin Rice

The Dallas Cowboys opened the 2009 NFL Draft as many expected, by setting a first in franchise history: they made no picks on day one. With zero first round draft picks, and trading out of the second round, Dallas' first selection came on Sunday in the third round (69th) with outside linebacker Jason Williams from Western Illinois. From there, the Cowboys made 11 more picks, with the focus largely on special teams.

dallascowboys.com

Jason Williams

Some of the picks included fourth rounder Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee, the first quarterback Dallas has selected in the draft since 2001 and only the fourth in 20 years. "I don't know when we've drafted a quarterback with the caliber of quarterbacking we have on the team. This is obviously a development move," said Jerry Jones in a post-draft press conference. McGee went to Burnet High School in central Texas.

The Cowboys grabbed up a couple more players from Texas universities including defensive end Brandon Williams from Texas Tech and safety/linebacker Stephen Hodge from TCU. Hodge was a first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection in 2008, with a career-high 81 tackles that year. In 2007, Hodge led the nation for defensive backs with eight sacks.

In the fifth round (172nd), Jones and co. chose Southern California kicker David Buehler, which was the highest pick the Cowboys have made for a kicker since 1986. In all, Dallas came away with seven defensive players, four offensive, and one kicker.

nfl.com

Matthew Stafford

The overall first pick of the draft is a familiar face to North Texans. Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford was a standout at Highland Park High School. While in Dallas, Stafford was three times chosen All-State, as well as a Gatorade Player of the Year and EA Sports National Player of the Year as a senior. He started in eight games for Georgia as a true freshman and was named Freshman All-Southeastern Conference. Stafford is noted as a "classic drop-back passer" with incredible arm strength. Leaving Georgia after his junior year, Stafford was selected by the Detroit Lions to a six-year, $78 million contract, with $41.7 million in guarantees, the highest ever guaranteed sum allotted to an NFL player.

Billy Joe Gabriel

Of area colleges, TCU lead the charge with five now-former Horned Frogs selected in the draft, which also made it the most picked-from school in Texas and 10th-most nationally. Going first was linebacker Jason Phillips, selected as a fifth round first pick by the Baltimore Ravens. He is the only defensive player in Mountain West Conference history to be a first- or second-team all-conference selection in four consecutive seasons. In 2008, he was a first-team All-MWC pick and honorable-mention All-American. Phillips totaled 315 career tackles and started all but one game over the last four seasons.

In addition to Hodge and Phillips mentioned above, the other TCU players selected on Sunday were outside linebacker Robert Henson (Washington Redskins), tailback Aaron Brown (Detroit Lions), and center Blake Schlueter (Denver Broncos).

Punting specialist Thomas Morstead from SMU was selected in the fifth round by the New Orleans Saints. According to SMU's press release, "he was a 2008 preseason All-Conference USA pick after leading the league and ranking eighth in the nation in punting average at 44.6 ypp in 2007. His 2008 average of 41.5 ypp ranked 30th in the nation. He downed 20 punts inside the 20 with only three touchbacks, and helped SMU rank 21st in net punting."

The University of North Texas has a great music program.

See more stories in:

• Colleges & Universities > Southern Methodist University
• Colleges & Universities > Texas Christian University
• Highland Park ISD > Highland Park ISD High Schools > Highland Park High
• Football > College Football
• Football > NFL > Cowboys

Comments

Todd Jones Staff

Erin, be nice to UNT!

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Mike Orren Staff

Sorry, cowgirl, but for your own protection we don't allow people to post their phone numbers here.

6 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )