With finals approaching, it is likely that many of you missed the three-day annual event that is the NFL Draft. Each April, NFL Commissioner takes the podium at Radio City Music Hall in New York City to announce the college players that have been picked up by NFL teams for the upcoming season. Most students probably did not watch all 14 hours of the draft on their ThinkPad while studying in the ZSR (guilty), so here is a quick recap:

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that QB Andrew Luck from Stanford went first overall to the Indianapolis Colts. The Washington Redskins pulled all kinds of strings and trades to get the second overall pick in order to select QB Robert Griffin III from Baylor. For any current juniors and seniors, you may remember playing RG3 and Luck back to back at home in the 2009 season. To refresh your memory, Wake lost its season opener in a heartbreaking 24-21 loss to Baylor but came back to beat Stanford the next week 24-17.

This year, 5 Demon Deacons entered the draft: FS Josh Bush, SS Cyhl Quarles, OG Joe Looney, WR Chris Givens, and ILB Kyle Wilber. Givens was a projected 2^nd round selection, the highest of this draft class. However, the St. Louis Rams selected Givens as a steal first in the 4^th round (96^th overall). A very excited Givens was congratulated via Twitter by alumnus and current Detroit Lions CB Alphonso Smith. However, those well wishes may be set aside when Smith will line up opposite Givens when the Rams travel to Detroit in the first game of the 2012 season.

Shortly after, at 113^th overall (18^th of the 4^th round), Wilber was selected by Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. Looney was selected 117^th overall (22^nd of the 4^th round) by the NFC West Champion San Francisco 49ers. Finally, Bush was selected 187^th overall (17^th of the 6^th round) by the New York Jets.

If you were not keeping count, that means 4 of 5 Deacons were drafted. However, the excitement on Saturday did not stop there for Wake players. Within 30 minutes of the final draft pick, Quarles received an invitation to Baltimore Ravens training camp as a free agent. Later that night, TE Cameron Ford agreed to terms with the Green Bay Packers and RB Brandon Pendergrass  was signed by the Ravens and will be joining Quarles at camp. That is right, 7 Demon Deacons are reporting to NFL training camps. WakeStudent Sports would like to extend their sincerest congratulations to all the players picked up this past weekend and wish them all luck in their continuing careers.

#GoDeacs!

Nicole Soskin, Sports Editor