UConn's football program may still play second (or third) fiddle to the basketball teams, but that shouldn't take away from the individual players that have gone on to NFL success. Donald Brown, Tyvon Branch, Will Beatty, Anthony Sherman and Kendall Reyes are recent examples, and a handful of members from the 2012 squad are hoping to join that list next year.
We've followed the pre-draft progress of Trevardo Williams, Dwayne Gratz, Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Sio Moore, with Wreh-Wilson and Moore garnering the most praise from their exploits at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine.
But any perceived praise is media generated; how coaches, scouts and front-office types feel remains a work in progress with pro days and individual team workouts still on the to-list ahead of the late-April NFL Draft. For now, though, speculation is all we have and based solely on that (which, we admit isn't worth much), things are looking good for a lot of former Huskies.
WalterFootball.com has posted a five-round mock draft and four UConn players are taken: Wreh-Wilson to the Bengals (2nd round), Moore to the Cards (3rd round), Gratz to the Redskins (4th round), and Williams to the Jets (5th round). There's also tight end Ryan Griffin, who could also hear his name called on draft weekend.
In the scheme of things, mock drafts don't mean much. NFL teams have their own draft boards and their own needs, none of which we're privy to. But again: this is the time of year where speculation (and obfuscation) reign. And while reality almost certainly won't look like WalterFootball's version of it above, there has been undeniable buzz about Wreh-Wilson and Moore, and to a lesser degree Gratz. Put another way: It's reasonable to expect four -- and maybe five -- former Huskies to get drafted two months from now.
