When Davis Tull’s name went across the ticker Saturday afternoon after he was selected by the New Orleans Saints with the 148th pick of the NFL draft, it was a great day not only for him but also for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program. It provided another sign of success for the coaching staff — and another tool to use in recruiting.
The Saints’ selection of Tull gave the Mocs more players drafted than the state’s Southeastern Conference programs — Tennessee and Vanderbilt. He was the second player from a state school drafted, three picks after Miami selected Memphis cornerback Bobby McCain.
He also was the first player born in the state of Tennessee to be picked this year.
“That’s a great honor,” Tull told Saints reporters on a conference call. “I’m grateful for it.”
He was one of six players from Tennessee universities to be drafted. Memphis finished with three selections, while Tennessee State had two.
Tull, an FCS All-America defensive end who projects to play outside linebacker in the NFL, is the third Moc drafted during Russ Huesman’s six seasons as head coach. Buster Skrine, a fifth-round selection of the Cleveland Browns in 2011, signed a four-year, $25 million contract with the New York Jets this offseason. B.J. Coleman, a 2012 seventh-round pick by the Green Bay Packers, plays for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League.
“You hope it helps in recruiting,” Huesman said Sunday about Mocs being drafted. “We use it all the time. When we talk to players, we make it part of the conversation.”
Huesman added that on prospects’ visits, UTC makes it a point to bring them up to the fourth-floor coaches’ offices at McKenzie Arena, where pictures of former Mocs who played in the NFL — including potential Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens — grace the walls of the hallways.
Cincinnati cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris is another recent UTC player in the NFL. Tull and defensive tackle Derrick Lott, who went undrafted but signed a free-agent deal with the Tennessee Titans, hope they will have spots on UTC walls soon as well.
“I was so proud of Davis when he got drafted,” Huesman said. “He put a lot of hard work into it to get where he is today. He’s a great student who takes academics seriously, and is a real student-athlete.
“I’m very proud of Derrick; he’s such an unselfish person and a very talented guy. I think he can make a roster, but an opportunity is all you can ask for. Whatever they do with it is up to them. If they’re good enough to play, they’ll play. I think they’re talented enough, but there’s a little bit of luck involved.
“The next page for them is to make the roster.”
If the two recent Mocs needed their next source of motivation to succeed at the next level, draft weekend gave it to them. For Lott, it was the fact that 256 names were called during seven rounds, none of them his. Tull always has found reasons to keep himself from being overlooked, starting with the fact that his college career began as a walk-on at UTC.
“I think all of the things that have happened in my life and my football career up to this point have built that chip,” Tull said. “It gives me extra motivation and it helps me play with that extra edge.
“I think at the end of the day, it’s all helped me and adds fuel to the fire.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.