The San Diego Chargers have been vastly improving their game in recent seasons and last year ended with a solid 11-5 record and a divisional playoff win. The team’s defense is among the best in the league and has actually won first place among many statistical rankings. Will the team improve upon their record and make it to the Super Bowl in 2009? One indication of future success may lie in the team’s draft choices for the new season.
Who did the San Diego Chargers select for their draft choices in this ultra-competitive year? Their first round pick was cornerback Antoine Cason from the University of Arizona. The second selection, in round three, was full back and running back Jacob Hester from Louisiana State University, followed by running back Marcus Thomas from the University of Texas-El Paso. Rounding out the draft list were cornerback DeJuan Tribble from Boston College and offensive tackle Corey Clark of Texas A&M.
What was the reaction of fans and experts to the team’s draft selections? There was heavy reaction for the team’s first pick, cornerback Antoine Cason, a second generation NFL defensive back and also a past winner of the Jim Thorpe Award for Top Defensive Back. Cason finished his career at Arizona with an impressive 15 picks and a campus record of 349 interception return yards. Cason played as a starter and faithfully started 46 career games in his amateur career. He must have learned that talent from his father Wendell Cason, a Pac-10 defensive back who once played with the Atlanta Falcons.
Jacob Hester also received favorable mention, as this running back and full back player is a solid athlete. He took his amateur team to the 2007 BCS National Championship and finished with a record of 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns. For his final two seasons he started in his very tough college conference. Next, the Chargers decided to draft Marcus Thomas, a big and powerful running back that had built a career in college as a leading rusher. Thomas was also one of the few players in his school’s history to score more than 100 points in a season. The team is expecting Hester and Thomas to help fill the void left by exiting player Michael Turner. DeJuan Tribble is a two-time All-ACC pick and a very fast player who tied a school record by scoring three interception returns for touchdowns, while Corey Clark has played as a three-year starter for the Aggies and received honorable mention for the All -Big 12 choice in 2007.
However, the rest of the team’s draft picks did not garner as much praise as the first two. In fact, Thomas’ pick was met with some skepticism as it was a bit of overkill for a team that had only a small amount of picks. Tribble has led many to wonder if his small size will be a negative factor while Clark also underwhelmed. The San Diego Chargers are hoping to either lean on Hester and Cason or surprise us with the talents of their lower tier players. You can be that the Chargers are planning for victory this season and if 2007 proves anything it’s that you can’t count them out.
