Colorado University Athletics
Woelk: Our First 'Mock Draft' Of All-Time CU Players
April 26, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It started innocently enough. Some Colorado Athletic Department staffers discussing the upcoming NFL Draft, then drifting into the territory of all-time Buffs NFL Draft picks (266 total).
The question soon arose: If you were building an NFL team today, which Buff would be your first overall pick?
The possibilities are intriguing, to say the least. If you are concentrating on defense first, do you go with Alfred Williams? Or how about Charlie Johnson, Dick Anderson, Chad Brown, Greg Biekert, Herb Orvis, Joel Steed, Jimmy Smith or Michael Lewis?
The questions are the same on offense. Kordell Stewart? Rashaan Salaam? Michael Westbrook? Or maybe Byron "Whizzer" White, Stan Brock, Nate Solder, Cliff Branch, Boyd Dowler, Chris Brown, David Bakhtiari or John Wooten?
Those questions led to debate and some interesting arguments. How would players from older eras have fared in today's game? Would today's weight training, nutrition and overall strength and conditioning techniques kept them among the upper echelon of today's players?
Questions, of course, that can't be answered — but it didn't stop us from deciding to hold our first-ever Colorado Buffaloes NFL Draft. Five members of the department with a decent knowledge of CU history completing a draft lasting seven rounds.
The rules were simple: anyone who ever wore a Buff uniform was eligible. No restriction on era. Obviously, their performance in college weighed heavily in the process, but we also had the benefit of knowing how these players performed at the next level — and don't forget, some of these men were two-way players in college and the pros.
Some of the names won't be familiar to younger Buffs fans, but had extraordinary NFL careers. For instance, Charlie Johnson was a three-time All-Pro nose tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles. Dick Anderson started at safety for the only undefeated NFL team in history (1972 Dolphins), was selected to the NFL's Silver Anniversary first team and was a three-time All-Pro. Stan Brock had a 16-year NFL career as a starting tackle. Cliff Branch was a four-time All-Pro selection at wide receiver. Mark Haynes was a four-time All-Pro cornerback with the Giants.
What quickly became clear as the draft unfolded is that it wasn't as easy as originally expected. There are literally dozens and dozens of great players from over the years from which to choose — and there were really no right or wrong answers.
After our draft, we went to CU sports information guru and history expert Dave Plati to judge our selections.
"I can't overly argue against the first-round picks," Plati said. "It's a combination of solid foundations plus knowing with five 'franchises' you were going to have plenty of good choices to build on. You could look at the entire seventh round and call everyone at that point a steal. Perhaps the greatest mid-round pick was Mark Haynes as a fourth-rounder. Interesting that four of the five snared an offensive lineman in the top two, but then Chris Naeole is sitting there as a total steal in the fifth round."
(Plati then also added his "supplementary" draft, selecting from players still on the board.)
Here are our picks. Take a look and feel free to let us know what you think. If you have the urge, grab a couple fellow Buffs fans and hold your own draft — or just pick your own team and send it our way.
The following list includes players in the order taken, the year they were drafted in the NFL and the "team" who drafted them this year.
Participating CU staffers included Associate A.D. Lance Carl, Director of Digital Strategy Curtis Snyder, Associate SID Jason Clay, SID assistant Ryan Megay and CUBuffs.com contributing editor Neill Woelk.
ROUND ONE
1. OT Stan Brock (1980), Woelk
2. DE Alfred Williams (1991), Carl
3. S Dick Anderson (1968), Snyder
4. OG Andre Gurode (2002), Clay
5. DE Herb Orvis (1972), Megay
ROUND TWO
1. HB Byron "Whizzer" White (1938), Woelk
2. OT Nate Solder (2011), Carl
3. G John Wooten (1959), Snyder
4. S Michael Lewis (2002), Clay
5. LB Jordan Dizon (2008), Megay
ROUND THREE
1. WR Cliff Branch (1972), Woelk
2. CB Jimmy Smith (2011), Carl
3. LB Chad Brown (1993), Snyder
4. WR Charles E. Johnson (1994), Clay
5. RB Chris Brown (2003), Megay
ROUND FOUR
1. NT Charlie Johnson (1977), Woelk
2. TE Daniel Graham (2002), Carl
3. NT Joel Steed (1992), Snyder
4. CB Mark Haynes (1980), Clay
5. CB Chidobe Awuzie (2017), Megay
ROUND FIVE
1. LB Greg Biekert (1993), Woelk
2. LB Ted Johnson (1995), Carl
3. QB/WR Boyd Dowler (1959), Snyder
4. TE Christian Fauria (1995), Clay
5. OG Chris Naeole (1997), Megay
ROUND SIX
1. QB Kordell Stewart (1995), Woelk
2. WR/KR Ben Kelly (2000), Carl
3. OT David Bakhtiari (2013), Snyder
4. DT Tyler Brayton (2003), Clay
5. CB Deon Figures (1993), Megay
ROUND SEVEN
1. RB Rashaan Salaam (1995), Woelk
2. WR Michael Westbrook (1995), Carl
3. WR/KR Walter Stanley (undrafted), Snyder
4. TE/OT Matt Lepsis (undrafted), Clay
5. WR Paul Richardson (2014), Megay
TEAM DAVID PLATI "SUPPLEMENTARY DRAFT"
1. RB Bobby Anderson (1970)
2. WR Mike Pritchard (1991)
3. DB Chris Hudson (1995)
4. RB Eric Bieniemy (1991)
5. OG Joe Garten (1991)
6. TE J.V. Cain (1974)
7. C Jay Leeuwenburg (1992)
8. LB Matt Russell (1997) (compensatory pick)
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
