In their program history, the Chattanooga Mocs football program has never had a player selected before the third round but on Thursday that narrative changed forever as offensive lineman Cole Strange forever cemented his name in the record books for being the first player to be selected before the third round when the New England Patriots called his name 29th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The #NFLDraft card that made @ColeStrange2 a Patriot.#PatsDraft | #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/Xo0vwIjcHL
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 29, 2022
The earliest before him? Just some guy named Terrell Owens back in 1996 when he was the 89th overall pick to the SF 49ers.
Strange is an exceptional young player who was thought to be transitioning to playing center at the NFL level but with the New England Patriots, he slots in at the right guard spot with David Andrews entrenched at center. This should be a more natural position for Strange who played a lot of left guard his senior year at UTC and according to Pro Football Focus Draft, he’s allowed just one sack since 2018!
He’s made an incredible jump from where he was coming out of high school as well notes our very own David Paschall…
Not sure any player has ever made a bigger jump than UTC offensive lineman Cole Strange:
No. 3,804 in 247Sports composite in 2016
No. 29 in NFL draft in 2022— David Paschall (@DavidSPaschall) April 29, 2022
Here is also a list of his accolades…
– 5-year starter on the offensive line using the COVID exception for a sixth year of eligibility in 2021
– 2021 NFL.com All-Combine Team
– 2nd Moc (Keionta Davis-2017) to compete in both the Reese’s Senior Bowl & NFL Scouting Combine
– 2021 All-America First Team: Stats Perform, AFCA, Walter Camp, HERO Sports & Phil Steele
– 2021 All-America Third Team: AP
– Jacobs Blocking Award: 2020-21, 2021
– CoSIDA Academic All-District: 2021
– FCS ADA Academic All-Star: 2020-21, 2021
– 3-time All-Southern Conference
– 4-time Academic All-SoCon
– 49 games with 44 starts
– Freshman All-America: 2017
– Graduated with a degree in Psychology in December 2020
A pretty impressive resume if I do say so myself.
As mentioned, this was the shock of the NFL Draft thus far and no better representation of that was seen more than the way Los Angeles Rams brass reacted to the news…
Rams reaction to Patriots selection of Cole Strange at #29.
This is hysterical. pic.twitter.com/ADzqt4lizQ
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) April 29, 2022
Finally, in case you missed it, here was his final pre-draft interview on Press Row with David Paschall and Wells Guthrie…
Press Row Interview (4/27) – NFL hopeful Cole Strange joins Press Row before the NFL Draft
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