Following the first round of the NFL draft, traditional high school football powers Texas, Florida and California might have to move over and make room for New Jersey.
The Garden State had seven former high school standouts drafted in the first round, topping Texas for the most native players chosen in the first round. Texas followed with six selections while California had three and Florida, shockingly, had none.
California and Florida tied for the most first round picks last year with five apiece.
Knowshown Moreno of Middletown South.
Photo by Alan Maglaque
Virginia’s Eugene Monroe, a graduate of Plainfield High School, was the first New Jersey player taken as he went to the Jacksonville Jaguars with the eighth pick. B.J. Raji of Boston College, who attended Westwood Regional, went to the Green Bay Packers with the next pick.
Georgia’s Knowshown Moreno of Middletown South went to the Denver Broncos at No. 12 and Ohio State’s Malcolm Jenkins from Piscataway went 14th to New Orleans.
USC linebacker Brian Cushing of Bergen Catholic went 15th to the Houston Texans and Connecticut’s Donald Brown of Red Bank Catholic was picked by the Indianapolis Colts at No. 27. Rutgers’ Kenny Britt of Bayonne was the No. 30 pick to the Tennessee Titans.
Monroe, Moreno, Cushing and Jenkins were all first team all-state picks during the 2004 season while Brown was a second team selection. Moreno and Cushing were also first team picks in 2003 while Raji was a member of the third team offense. Moreno also made the all-state team his senior year in 2005. Britt was not a member of an all-state team while in high school.
Texas, and particularly the city of Dallas, had three of the top ten picks including the top two picks in Georgia’s Matthew Stafford and Baylor’s Jason Smith. Stafford, selected by the Detroit Lions, played at Highland Park while Smith, tabbed by the St. Louis Rams, played at W.T. White. Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree, who played at Carter in Dallas, slipped to the No. 10 pick where he was chosen by San Francisco.
Other Texans chosen in the first round included Texas’ Brian Orakpo of Lamar by the Washington Redskins, Oklahoma State’s Brandon Pettigrew of Lee by Detroit and Missouri’s Ziggy Hood of Palo Duro by Pittsburgh.
California had just three selections in Mark Sanchez and Clay Matthews of USC and Alex Mack of California. Sanchez, who played at Mission Viejo, went to the New York Jets while Matthews, who prepped at Agoura, went to the Green Bay Packers. Mack of San Marcos went to Cleveland.
Florida did not have a selection in the first round, however Western Michigan’s Louis Delmas of North Miami Beach was chosen with the first pick of the second round by Detroit.
Maryland (Aaron Maybin, Mount Hebron; Darrius Heyward-Bey, McDonogh), North Carolina (Aaron Curry, E.E. Smith; Hakeem Nicks, Independence), Ohio (Eric Wood, Elder; Chris Wells, Garfield) and Missouri (Josh Freeman, Grandview; Jeremy Maclin, Kirkwood) each had two players chosen while Louisiana (Tyson Jackson, West St. John), Alabama (Andre Smith, Huffman), Illinois (Larry English, Marmion Academy), South Carolina (Robert Ayers, Malboro County), Virginia (Percy Harvin, Landstown), Tennessee (Michael Oher, Briarcrest), Mississippi (Peria Jerry, Madison Central) and the District of Columbia (Vonate Davis, Dunbar) each had one.
