April 23, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. -
This is the time of year on a college campus where many seniors are actively looking for jobs. This weekend, several UCF football players hope to have lucrative jobs come to them as the NFL holds its annual Entry Draft at New York City's fabled Radio City Music Hall.
The first two rounds will be drawn beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday with the third through seventh rounds starting at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Both ESPN/ESPN2 and the NFL Network will broadcast the entire event live.
With 2008 first-team All-American Joe Burnett (Eustis, Fla.) a certain lock to be picked and many other Knights poised to join him on NFL rosters after this weekend, UCF will likely expand upon its 15 NFL active roster players from this past season, the most of any Conference USA school.
Since joining Conference USA for the 2005 season, UCF has had the second-most players drafted of any team in the league with its five, trailing only UTEP's six. UCF, East Carolina and UTEP share the distinction of being the lone C-USA schools with least one player drafted in each of the past three seasons.
This weekend, the Knights will also have a player selected in the NFL Draft for the fourth consecutive year for the first time in school history. UCF previously had runs of three straight years with a draftee from 1991-93, 2002-04 and the active streak from 2006-08.
Overall, the Knights have had a player selected in six of the last seven NFL Drafts. UCF is one of six schools from non-automatically qualifying BCS Conferences which can make this claim, joining BYU, Fresno State, Hawaii, San Diego State and UTEP.
A year ago, the Knights had three players selected in the NFL Draft, matching Florida State and Miami for the most of any college in the state of Florida. RB Kevin Smith was taken in the third round by the Detroit Lions, offensive guard Josh Sitton was chosen in the fourth round by the Green Bay Packers and tight end Mike Merritt was a seventh round selection of the Kansas City Chiefs.
To see the next wave of future NFL superstars come through Bright House Networks Stadium, get your 2009 UCF football season tickets today! Ticket information is available either online at UCFAthletics.com or by calling (407) 823-1000.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.