Mustangs' Chris Gocong Drafted
by Philadelphia Eagles
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- For the
second straight year, a Cal Poly football player has
been selected in the third round of the National Football
League Draft.
Senior
defensive end Chris Gocong became Cal Poly's highest
draft choice ever on Saturday afternoon, chosen in
the third round with the 71st pick overall by the
Philadelphia Eagles. Gocong, an engineering senior,
will graduate in June.
Former Mustang linebacker Jordan Beck
was drafted in the third round, the 90th selection
overall, by the Atlanta Falcons a year ago.
Gocong, who like Beck earned the Buck
Buchanan Award as the nation’s Division I-AA
defensive player of the year, was projected as high
as the second round by draft prognosticators, including
ESPN columnist Mel Kiper Jr.
The National Football League Draft was
held Saturday and continues Sunday in New York, with
the first three rounds on Saturday and the final four
rounds on Sunday. Gocong had been courted by several
NFL teams and since the NFL Combine in Indianapolis
in late February had been flown to Cincinnati and
New York (Jets) and scouted by many other teams.
Todd McShay of Scouts Inc. covered the
NFL Combine and wrote, "One of the great stories
of this draft process has been that of Cal Poly's
Chris Gocong. A versatile defensive lineman who played
end and tackle in college, Gocong led the Division
I-AA ranks in sacks as a senior in 2005.
"Gocong obviously will be forced
to make a huge transition in the NFL," McShay
continues. "He does not have the size to play
inside, but he did show the speed in the 40-yard dash
(4.7) and overall athleticism in the vertical jump
(38 inches), broad jump (10-2), three-cone drill (7.03),
short shuttle (4.08) and long shuttle (11.35) to be
a defensive end/outside linebacker type. If nothing
else, Gocong should prove to be an effective situational
edge rusher in either a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme."
Gocong was Cal Poly's third football
player to participate in the East-West Shrine Game,
following Beck in 2005 and Stan Sheriff in 1954.
A 6-3, 265-pound Carpinteria High School
graduate, Gocong was named to the prestigious AFCA
Division I-AA Coaches’ All-America Team, the
Associated Press Division I-AA All-America Team, the
Sports Network’s All-America first team and
the Walter Camp Football Foundation Division I-AA
All-America Team. He also was I-AA.org's defensive
player of the year.
He was named Great West Football Conference
Defensive Player of the Year in November and recorded
42.0 career sacks, 1.5 sacks shy of the career mark
set by Tom Carey (1985-88).
Last season, Gocong finished first in
the nation in sacks per game (1.81), second in tackles
for lost yardage (2.35 per game) and 23rd in forced
fumbles (.31). He recorded 98 total tackles (46 solo),
including a school-record 23.5 sacks and 31.0 tackles
for lost yardage, leading the Mustangs to a 9-4 record,
a second straight Great West Football Conference championship
and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA
playoffs.
He recovered a Montana State fumble
in the end zone on Sept. 17 for his only career Mustang
touchdown.
Gocong finished the 2004 regular season
as the nation's sacks leader in Division I-AA with
17.5 (1.59 sacks per contest) and was No. 2 in tackles
for lost yardage with 21.5 (1.95 a game). Gocong recorded
71 total tackles as a junior and also notched one
interception (Humboldt State), one punt block (North
Dakota State) and two forced fumbles.
Gocong was runner-up to Beck for the
2004 Buck Buchanan Award and was named Defensive Lineman
of the Year for 2005 by the online service Football
Gazette published by Don Hansen.
Two former Mustangs were drafted in
the fourth round -- wide receiver Jimmy Childs by
the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978 and wide receiver
Robbie Martin by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1981.
Wide receiver Cecil Turner was a fifth-round selection
of the Chicago Bears in 1968.
Before Beck was picked by Atlanta a
year ago, the last Cal Poly football player to be
drafted by an NFL club was quarterback Seth Burford,
selected by the San Diego Chargers in the seventh
round of the 2002 draft.
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