Wyatt Houston one of several Aggies hoping for an NFL chance

LOGAN – After years of conditioning drills, taking hits and attending classes, NFL hopefuls across the country will be sitting and waiting the next three days in hopes of hearing their names called. The three rounds of the 2017 NFL draft will start today and run through Saturday.

USU has players included in that list of hopefuls. Sixteen players worked out for NFL scouts during USU’s Pro Day on March 31, and NFLDraftScout.com lists seven different Aggies as prospects. Austin Stephens is ranked as the No. 25 overall center in the draft, Devin Centers is listed as the No. 36 free safety while running back Devante Mays and guard Jake Simonich are each ranked No. 47 at their positions.

Tight end Wyatt Houston, who caught 86 passes for 933 yards and nine touchdowns during his Aggie career, is one of the Aggie hopefuls. He said he doesn’t expect his name to be called in the first two days, but has been in contact with “a decent amount of teams” and is “waiting around to see what happens.”

“I’m trying to lay low and enjoy some time with my family,” he said, “before things get a little crazy.”

Houston said there are a lot of good tight ends in the draft and is prepared to go the free agency if needed.

“With all the tight ends you never know what is going to happen in the sixth or seventh round,” he said. “Free agency is just kind of hearing what teams have to say and who calls first.”

Austin Albrecht is ranked No. 63 among offensive tackles, and Daniel Gray is ranked No. 79 among corners.

Two Aggie players were selected in last year’s NFL draft. The Cincinnati Bengals selected linebacker Nick Vigil at No. 87, then, on the very next pick, linebacker Kyler Fackrell’s name was called by the Green Bay Packers. The Aggies had at least one player selected in each NFL Draft from 2011 to 2014.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Posted in USU

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.