Georgia outside linebacker Leonard Floyd was a surprising first Southeastern Conference player taken during Thursday night's opening round of the National Football League draft.
Floyd was selected ninth overall by the Chicago Bears, who traded up from 11th to grab the imposing 6-foot-6, 244-pounder who often was erratic for the Bulldogs. Yet worries about Floyd paled to concerns about Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, who months ago was the projected top pick but wound up going 13th to the Miami Dolphins.
Mississippi’s Laremy Tunsil poses for photos after being selected by the Miami Dolphins as the 13th pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL football draft, Thursday, April 28, 2016, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) Moments before Thursday's draft started, a video of Tunsil smoking from a bong was posted on his Twitter account. That followed reports Wednesday that Tunsil is facing another lawsuit from his father-in-law, Lindsey Miller, who claims the 6-5, 310-pounder attacked him last June.
"You go through adversity in life, and it's what you overcome," Tunsil said on ESPN after being selected. "I'm going to overcome this adversity, and I'm going to show everybody what I'm about."
Tunsil wound up being the third SEC player taken, with Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves going 11th to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Thursday night's draft began with the two expected quarterback selections: California's Jared Goff to the Los Angeles Rams and North Dakota State's Carson Wentz to the Philadelphia Eagles. Picks three and four were mild surprises, with the San Diego Chargers bypassing an offensive tackle for Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa and the Dallas Cowboys making the rare top-five selection of a running back by tabbing Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott.
Jacksonville picked Florida State defensive back Jalen Ramsey fifth overall, leaving the SEC without a top-five selection for the first time since 2006.
After the Baltimore Ravens selected Notre Dame tackle Ronnie Stanley, the San Francisco 49ers tabbed Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner and the Tennessee Titans moved up to get Michigan State tackle Jack Conklin, the Bears made Floyd the lowest-picked top SEC player since they took Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler 11th overall in 2006. Floyd had 182 tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss and 17 sacks in his three-year Bulldogs career, but only 4.5 of those sacks were last season.
FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2014, file photo, Florida defensive back Vernon Hargreaves, III (1) lines up for a play against Kentucky during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Gainesville, Fla. Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III and Alabama receiver Amari Cooper follow each other on Twitter. They'll get to know each other a lot better Saturday in a key matchup in Saturdays' game. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File) "I was surprised they traded up," Floyd said in an interview on the Bears website. "I knew once they got the pick that there was no way they would pass me up. I was very excited they came up to pick me, because that means they see something in me.
"I want to come in and prove myself the way I should."
Floyd gives Georgia consecutive top-10 selections for the first time in program history, with running back Todd Gurley having gone 10th last season to the Rams. He is also the fourth top-10 pick for the Bulldogs in the last eight years, following Gurley, quarterback Matthew Stafford in the 2009 draft and receiver A.J. Green in 2011.
Alabama center Ryan Kelly, the 2015 Rimington Award winner, went 18th to the Indianapolis Colts. The top expected Crimson Tide player to be picked was Reggie Ragland, but the NFL Network reported Thursday afternoon that the inside linebacker had been flagged for an enlarged aorta that will require yearly monitoring, and several teams pushed him down their draft lists as a result.
Ragland was not selected during the first round, and neither were Crimson Tide defensive linemen A'Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed. Former Ohio State and Ridgeland High safety Vonn Bell also was not picked.
The biggest story Thursday night was Tunsil, who not only had his Twitter account hacked but his Instagram account as well. After appearing on ESPN, Tunsil told reporters in Chicago that money was exchanged between him and a Rebels football coach during his time in Oxford before the interview was interrupted and he was ushered off the stage.
Tunsil was projected on most mock drafts to go sixth to Baltimore, and going 13th will bring him $7 million less.
"I believe in the young man and who he is," Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said on ESPN. "That doesn't mean mistakes haven't happened, with some of those his own doing and some not, but I know he is one of the most humble, hard-working and talented kids that I've ever been around.
"The events of tonight have been unfortunate, but that's not who he is."
Ohio State linebacker Darron Lee, who spent most of his sixth-grade year at McCallie School before moving to Ohio, went 20th to the New York Jets.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.