Former Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion Michael Strahan is perplexed Southwestern Athletic Conference players have been overlooked during the annual NFL Draft.
Strahan, who starred at Texas Southern andwas later taken in the second round of the 1993 draft by the New York Giants, told NCAA.com this week “it’s amazing” to him that only one HBCU football player (South Carolina State’s Christian Thompson) was selected in the 2012 NFL Draft.
“It’s not like great players have stopped coming out of the SWAC, so it is a surprise to me,” said Michael Strahan, formerly of Texas Southern and now a FOX Sports analyst. “I know there are only seven rounds and maybe the guys were picked in later rounds before. I am stunned by that.”
Although multiple SWAC players signed rookie free agent deals, not a single player was taken during the three-day draft held last month. Since 2005, only five SWAC players have been drafted, the last being Jaymar Johnson in 2008 when he was picked up in the sixth round by the Minnesota Vikings.
Current Grambling State head coach said some scouts have determined HBCUs are barren of talent.
“A lot of NFL scouts come with a negative mentality,” said Williams, now head “They come in thinking there’s no players there. They will grade the school instead of the player. They’ll think, ‘There’s nobody [worth drafting] at Grambling, or Jackson State or Southern. I’m not saying all scouts are like that. But I know there are some.”
