ACC LEADS NFL DRAFT

Look, we are quick to make a joke or two at the expense of ACC football, but things are looking up. The expansion to include Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College into the league was designed to improve the pigskin situation. It seems to be working, and yesterday's NFL draft is a positive indicator.

With Virginia's Chris Long and Boston College's Matt Ryan being chosen second and third in this year's NFL Draft, the ACC becomes the first conference in the nation to have two of its student-athletes chosen among the top four picks in the NFL Draft for three consecutive years. Who knew?

Long, who was chosen 2nd overall by the St. Louis Rams, and Ryan, who was tabbed third overall by the Atlanta Falcons, joined NC State's Mario Williams (Houston, 1st) and Virginia's D'Brickashaw Ferguson (4th, NY Jets) in 2006 and Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson (2nd, Detroit) and Clemson's Gaines Adams last year (Tamps Bay Bucs, 4th) as top four selections, something no other collegiate conference has achieved in the 71 years of the Draft.

The ACC also led all Conferences with first round selections having seven players tabbed in the first round including Long, Ryan, Virginia offensive tackle Branden Albert (15th, Kansas City), Boston College offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus (17th, Detroit), Virginia Tech offensive tackle Duane Brown (26th, Houston), North Carolina defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer (29th, San Francisco) and Miami defensive back Kenny Phillips (31st, New York Giants). The SEC and PAC-10 were second, each with six players chosen in the first round.

Phillips' selection continued a streak of 14 consecutive years for the Hurricanes to have had a player drafted in the first round.

The ACC leads all Conferences over the last three years with 25 first round selections compared to 21 for the SEC and 18 for the Big 10. The PAC 10 is next with 11 followed by the Big 12 (8).

In all, in the first two rounds of the draft the ACC had 11 players chosen, tying the PAC 10 for the most players in the first two rounds. The ACC had 9 of the first 35 players tabbed with Clemson's Phillip Merling (32, Miami), Virginia Tech's Brandon Flowers (35th, Kansas City) and Eddie Royal (42, Denver) and Miami's Calais Campbell all being chosen in the second round.

The selection of Virginia's Chris Long as the second overall pick was the second-highest selection for the Cavaliers and the highest since Bill Dudley was the NFL's first selection by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1942. The selection of Long second and offensive lineman Branden Albert 15th is Virginia's highest ever for two players combined. The next highest occurred in 1997 was James Farrior was chosen 8th and Jon Harris 25th.

(Photos by AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File, Jim McIsaac/Getty Images, AP Photo/Jason DeCrow and AP Photo/Alex Brandon)