NFL Draft Updates: Thompson, Carrell Drafted Plus 4 Free Agent Signees
April 29, 2017 | Football
A total of four Buffs go in 2017 NFL Draft and then four others have signed with teams thus far as free agents
May 9, 2017 - Center Alex Kelley and DE Samson Kafovalu both had free agent tryouts with the San Francisco 49ers on the weekend of May 5-7 while TE Sean Irwin is scheduled for a free agent tryout with the Jacksonville Jaguars on the weekend of May 12-14.
6:25 p.m. – Inside linebacker Kenneth Olugbode has signed on with the Cleveland Browns.
He finished 16th all-time on CU's all-time tackles list with 299 career tackles. He had 13 career games recording 10 or more tackles, including seven as a senior. He played in 41 games, making 36 career starts.
Olugbode was named a second-team All-American by Pro Football Focus after his senior season when he also collected honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors from the league coaches.
6:05 p.m. – Nose tackle Josh Tupou has signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.
A formidable force right up front and center in CU's defense, Tupou recorded 166 tackles in his career, 16 tackles for losses, six sacks, 19 hurries and seven third down stops. He was honorable mention All-Pac-12 in both 2014 and 2016.
5:35 p.m. – In addition to the four Colorado Buffaloes that were drafted, OLB Jimmie Gilbert has signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers while quarterback Sefo Liufau signed with Tampa Bay.
Liufau is the owner of 99 school records (64 passing, 24 total offense and 11 others). Of those 99, he owns 84 outright and tied for the other 15). Included among the top career marks he owns are total offensive yards (10,509), passing yards (9,568) and 300-yard passing games (10) in addition to numerous single-season and game records. He was just the second CU player to serve as a team captain for three seasons (doing so in 2014, '15 and '16), the first since Pat Carney did so over 120 years ago (1891-92-93). He was named the 2016 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame (he is of Samoan ancestry). Including the Alamo Bowl, he played in 42 career games with 40 starts, the most starts ever by a CU quarterback (leading CU to a 16-24 record).
Gilbert will join teammate Ahkello Witherspoon with the 49ers, as Witherspoon was drafted Friday in the third round by the club.
Gilbert finished tied for sixth all-time at Colorado in quarterback sacks (20) for 156 yards in losses (also sixth). His 44 third down stops were the fourth-most in school history, his 31 tackles for loss were 18th and his nine forced fumbles tied for the third most.
5:06 p.m. – Colorado's four players drafted ended up ranking fifth among Pac-12 schools. Ahead of the Buffs were Utah (8), UCLA (5), USC (5) and Washington (5). Rounding out the rest of the conference behind CU was Cal (3), Stanford (2), Oregon State (2), Arizona State (1), Washington State (1) and Arizona and Oregon both did not see a player taken in this year's draft.
4:29 p.m. - Colorado defensive end Jordan Carrell became the fourth Buffalo to be selected in the 2017 NFL Draft.
The Dallas Cowboys selected Carrell with the 28th pick of the seventh round, No. 246 overall.
The four defensive players drafted are the most drafted out of CU since the 1998 draft, when four Buff defenders were also taken.
Carrell is CU's first defensive lineman to be drafted since DE Abraham Wright went to Miami in the seventh round (No. 238 overall) of the 2007 draft.
This is the first draft since 2000 when two Buffaloes were selected by the same team. That year it was guard Brad Bedell (sixth round) and Rashidi Barnes (seventh round) both being picked by the Cleveland Browns.
Carrell played two seasons with the Buffs after transferring over from American River College. In 27 games he started 26 of those and recorded 103 tackles, 6½ sacks and 15 tackles for a loss with the Buffs.
"They play a 4-3 and he's a three-technique pass rushing guy inside," CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "He really did well at his workout here and they saw the quickness. I'm excited for him.
"When we went nickel he stayed in there because he's an inside pass-rush guy. He had a lot of stamina and played a lot for us."
He earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors as a senior when he helped lead the CU defense that ranked in the top 20 nationally by allowing just 342.5 yards per game. His 695 snaps played on defense and 51 tackles with 5½ sacks in 2016, which ranked second on the team and in a tie for 10th in the Pac-12.
In fact, Carrell played the most snaps of any D-lineman for the Buffs the past two seasons. He played in 784 snaps in 2015 when he had 52 tackles, including eight for losses, had six third down stops and three forced fumbles.
"JC always has a smile on his face," MacIntyre said. "He is in a good niche there. He has a good first step and good hips and can pass rush well inside. He had a hard year with his dad dying and he overcame that. His work ethic, he's already earned his degree — he's done really well. I'm just really excited for him."
10:25 a.m. – Colorado Buffalo safety Tedric Thompson was drafted Saturday by the Seattle Seahawks with the fourth pick in the fourth round, No. 111 overall, in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Following Chidobe Awuzie (Dallas, second round) and Ahkello Witherspoon's (San Francisco, third round) selections in the second and third round of the draft of Friday, Thompson gives CU three defensive backs to go in the draft. This is the fourth time in the common draft era (since 1967) that CU has seen three defensive backs selected in the same NFL Draft; the others were in the 2000, 1980 and 1977.
CU is joined by Florida, Michigan, Ohio State and Washington as schools in this year's draft to have three defensive backs selected.
Thompson becomes the seventh Buff to be drafted by the Seahawks, the last being wide receiver Paul Richardson in the second round (No. 45 overall) of the 2014 draft.
"It just feels like a blessing to see my older brother get drafted a couple years ago and to see two of my best friends get drafted yesterday, so it is just a blessing to God to be able to be able to play football again," Thompson said. "It's a blessing to go to a great organization; Pete Carrol of course was a great head coach when I was growing up in Los Angeles, California, to see him at USC, so it's a great feeling.
"I'm just trying to go in and where ever I am needed or where ever they want to put me, I'm going to try to the best of my ability to make sure that they are happy with what they got."
Thompson had a distinguished career at CU where he appeared in 43 games with 38 starts for the Buffaloes. During his senior season when he was a second-team All-America selection of CBSSports.com, he led the Pac-12 in interceptions with seven. That mark that tied for the most in CU single-season history and also tied for the third-most of any player in the country in 2016 (trailing the eight by Florida State's Tarvarus McFadden and West Virginia's Rasul Douglas).
Thompson also collected first-team All-Pac-12 honors his senior season from the Associated Press. He also joins his older brother, Cedric, who was a fifth round pick of Miami in the 2015 NFL Draft and currently on the Minnesota Vikings roster.
6:25 p.m. – Inside linebacker Kenneth Olugbode has signed on with the Cleveland Browns.
He finished 16th all-time on CU's all-time tackles list with 299 career tackles. He had 13 career games recording 10 or more tackles, including seven as a senior. He played in 41 games, making 36 career starts.
Olugbode was named a second-team All-American by Pro Football Focus after his senior season when he also collected honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors from the league coaches.
6:05 p.m. – Nose tackle Josh Tupou has signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.
A formidable force right up front and center in CU's defense, Tupou recorded 166 tackles in his career, 16 tackles for losses, six sacks, 19 hurries and seven third down stops. He was honorable mention All-Pac-12 in both 2014 and 2016.
5:35 p.m. – In addition to the four Colorado Buffaloes that were drafted, OLB Jimmie Gilbert has signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers while quarterback Sefo Liufau signed with Tampa Bay.
Liufau is the owner of 99 school records (64 passing, 24 total offense and 11 others). Of those 99, he owns 84 outright and tied for the other 15). Included among the top career marks he owns are total offensive yards (10,509), passing yards (9,568) and 300-yard passing games (10) in addition to numerous single-season and game records. He was just the second CU player to serve as a team captain for three seasons (doing so in 2014, '15 and '16), the first since Pat Carney did so over 120 years ago (1891-92-93). He was named the 2016 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame (he is of Samoan ancestry). Including the Alamo Bowl, he played in 42 career games with 40 starts, the most starts ever by a CU quarterback (leading CU to a 16-24 record).
Gilbert will join teammate Ahkello Witherspoon with the 49ers, as Witherspoon was drafted Friday in the third round by the club.
Gilbert finished tied for sixth all-time at Colorado in quarterback sacks (20) for 156 yards in losses (also sixth). His 44 third down stops were the fourth-most in school history, his 31 tackles for loss were 18th and his nine forced fumbles tied for the third most.
5:06 p.m. – Colorado's four players drafted ended up ranking fifth among Pac-12 schools. Ahead of the Buffs were Utah (8), UCLA (5), USC (5) and Washington (5). Rounding out the rest of the conference behind CU was Cal (3), Stanford (2), Oregon State (2), Arizona State (1), Washington State (1) and Arizona and Oregon both did not see a player taken in this year's draft.
4:29 p.m. - Colorado defensive end Jordan Carrell became the fourth Buffalo to be selected in the 2017 NFL Draft.
The Dallas Cowboys selected Carrell with the 28th pick of the seventh round, No. 246 overall.
The four defensive players drafted are the most drafted out of CU since the 1998 draft, when four Buff defenders were also taken.
Carrell is CU's first defensive lineman to be drafted since DE Abraham Wright went to Miami in the seventh round (No. 238 overall) of the 2007 draft.
This is the first draft since 2000 when two Buffaloes were selected by the same team. That year it was guard Brad Bedell (sixth round) and Rashidi Barnes (seventh round) both being picked by the Cleveland Browns.
Carrell played two seasons with the Buffs after transferring over from American River College. In 27 games he started 26 of those and recorded 103 tackles, 6½ sacks and 15 tackles for a loss with the Buffs.
"They play a 4-3 and he's a three-technique pass rushing guy inside," CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "He really did well at his workout here and they saw the quickness. I'm excited for him.
"When we went nickel he stayed in there because he's an inside pass-rush guy. He had a lot of stamina and played a lot for us."
He earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors as a senior when he helped lead the CU defense that ranked in the top 20 nationally by allowing just 342.5 yards per game. His 695 snaps played on defense and 51 tackles with 5½ sacks in 2016, which ranked second on the team and in a tie for 10th in the Pac-12.
In fact, Carrell played the most snaps of any D-lineman for the Buffs the past two seasons. He played in 784 snaps in 2015 when he had 52 tackles, including eight for losses, had six third down stops and three forced fumbles.
"JC always has a smile on his face," MacIntyre said. "He is in a good niche there. He has a good first step and good hips and can pass rush well inside. He had a hard year with his dad dying and he overcame that. His work ethic, he's already earned his degree — he's done really well. I'm just really excited for him."
10:25 a.m. – Colorado Buffalo safety Tedric Thompson was drafted Saturday by the Seattle Seahawks with the fourth pick in the fourth round, No. 111 overall, in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Following Chidobe Awuzie (Dallas, second round) and Ahkello Witherspoon's (San Francisco, third round) selections in the second and third round of the draft of Friday, Thompson gives CU three defensive backs to go in the draft. This is the fourth time in the common draft era (since 1967) that CU has seen three defensive backs selected in the same NFL Draft; the others were in the 2000, 1980 and 1977.
CU is joined by Florida, Michigan, Ohio State and Washington as schools in this year's draft to have three defensive backs selected.
Thompson becomes the seventh Buff to be drafted by the Seahawks, the last being wide receiver Paul Richardson in the second round (No. 45 overall) of the 2014 draft.
"It just feels like a blessing to see my older brother get drafted a couple years ago and to see two of my best friends get drafted yesterday, so it is just a blessing to God to be able to be able to play football again," Thompson said. "It's a blessing to go to a great organization; Pete Carrol of course was a great head coach when I was growing up in Los Angeles, California, to see him at USC, so it's a great feeling.
"I'm just trying to go in and where ever I am needed or where ever they want to put me, I'm going to try to the best of my ability to make sure that they are happy with what they got."
Thompson had a distinguished career at CU where he appeared in 43 games with 38 starts for the Buffaloes. During his senior season when he was a second-team All-America selection of CBSSports.com, he led the Pac-12 in interceptions with seven. That mark that tied for the most in CU single-season history and also tied for the third-most of any player in the country in 2016 (trailing the eight by Florida State's Tarvarus McFadden and West Virginia's Rasul Douglas).
"Tedric is a young man who overcame a lot to be where he is today," CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "Even while he was at CU, his work ethic and his tenacity to keep going is what has made him special. It's a great pick by the Seattle Seahawks because he fits their system perfectly, that middle-roaming safety."
He finished his career with 13 interceptions, tied for fifth on CU's all-time list as well as tied for the most over the last 23 seasons. He also concluded his career tied for sixth in pass deflections (34) and 38th in tackles with 246 (172 solo).Thompson also collected first-team All-Pac-12 honors his senior season from the Associated Press. He also joins his older brother, Cedric, who was a fifth round pick of Miami in the 2015 NFL Draft and currently on the Minnesota Vikings roster.