April 27, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. - Three former UCF football players, offensive tackle Patrick Brown (St. Charles, Ill.), safety Sha'reff Rashad (Jacksonville, Fla.) and safety Jason Venson (Marietta, Ga.) have all agreed to terms on rookie free agent contracts with National Football League franchises. The deals will become official as the three report to their respective teams' rookie mini camps.
Brown will sign with the Carolina Panthers while Rashad intends to sign with the New York Giants and Venson with the Cleveland Browns.
The trio helped the Knights to one of the most successful periods in the school's history including its first ever conference championship (2007 Conference USA) and first two bowl game berths (2005 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl and 2007 AutoZone Liberty Bowl).
The news comes a day after UCF was once again represented in the NFL Draft as cornerback and returner Joe Burnett (Eustis, Fla.) was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round. The quartet will all aim to add to UCF's 15 former student-athletes who made NFL active rosters in 2008, the most of any Conference USA school.
A few notes on the NFL Draft from the UCF perspective:
* Only the University of Florida had more players selected of any other school in the state of Florida. Last year, UCF tied Florida State and Miami for the most in Florida. Over the last two years, only the Gators have had more players drafted than the Knights amongst Floridian schools.
MOST PLAYERS SELECTED IN NFL DRAFT 2008-09
Florida, 5
UCF, 4
Florida St., 4
Miami, 4
USF, 3
Bethune-Cookman, 0
Florida A&M, 0
FAU, 0
FIU, 0
Jacksonville, 0
* Since joining C-USA for the 2005 season, UCF is tied for the most players drafted of any team in the league with its six, matching UTEP.
* UCF and East Carolina share the distinction of being the lone C-USA schools with least one player drafted in each of the past four seasons.
* The Knights have now had a player selected in the NFL Draft for a school-record four consecutive years.
* Overall, the Knights have had a player selected in seven of the last eight NFL Drafts. UCF is one of five schools from non-automatically qualifying BCS Conferences which can make this claim, joining BYU, Fresno State, Hawaii and San Diego State.
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.