Draft day has always been nervous time for Hokies. Frankly, we rarely have done too well, and what’s even more frustrating is that UVA often walks away with more picks while fielding mediocre teams with few really good players. We really need to find their PR guy and pay him (or her).

So we’ve already gone through the first round picks. Tremaine Edmunds is headed to the deep cold and snows of Western New York (a place that has almost no resemblance, culturally, with New York City) to play for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills had sort of messed themselves in Hokie Nation by mistreating and trading Tyrod (An act that that they will probably regret since I am not impressed with their QB pick. -More about that in a Draft commentary this week.)

Of course the wild and amazing news of Terrell bounding into the 1st round and going to my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, (It’s cold and snowy there, but not nearly as bad as Buffalo - though Buffalo has way more in common with Pittsburgh.) There are comments flowing like he’s going to play a Safety position much like Troy Polamalu (hard, dynamic, and downhill). It will be interesting to see how it develops and exciting to have a Hokie on my team of teams.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounds were very quiet for Tech. It was sort of disappointing because there were several players that graded out to be great picks in the 3rd and 4th. So Friday evening was a dud. Saturday started out with that blank 4th, and I started to get a bit concerned that all of the attention to the Edmunds brothers had sapped all of the football karma out of their teammates’ chances.

It was a very pleasant surprise to see Tim Settle get picked up in the 5th round (by the Washington Redskins (my 2nd favorite team). First, it was a local trip for the Stonewall Jackson High School Manassas resident. I don’t know whose pro gear decorated Tim’s room but it was a good bet that he had something that was burgundy and gold.

Just a few picks later, Wyatt Teller was grabbed up by Buffalo to beef up their iffy O-Line. He joins Tremaine and Logan Thomas (They could form a Hokie Club Chapter!) There will be shuffling, and the 5th round is no guarantee.

Then the 6th round passed, and there were no ringtones on the ESPN draft tracker for any more Hokies. I tried to keep track of things on the phone, but Saturday evening church socials are not to be turned down, so it took a bit to get back to the tracker to filter out the Hokies from the background noise. Low and behold, it turns out that Greg Stroman is going home, too. Greg is another Stonewall product, and must have had a Gray angel puting in a word for his old #DBU students.

Notice I didn’t put numbers on them. I figure getting drafted is a whole lot like the old philosophical question and answer; “what do you call a person who struggled, faught, and scraped through medical school, and often barely passed his exams?”... DOCTOR...

Yes, there is a sort of a pecking order where the top 3 or 4 round picks get more bonus money, and they often get harder and longer looks in camp, but being drafted into the NFL is a dream for every single one of these players, and now for these five young men that dream is a reality. The ball is in their half of the field and it’s now up to them to move it.

In slightly related news, there was a very quick big tweet that came out about 2 hours ago!

As predicted, someone thought enough of old Uncle Drew to give him a good look, and got him on board pretty fast!

GOOD LUCK Andrew!!!!

So, we leave you with a flourish from the Gobbler Country archives. There might be a few more UDFA contracts offered, but the official 2018 NFL Draft is now over, and new lives await these six Hokies!

John Schneider - SB Nation

GO HOKIES!!!!