Colorado State Rams Football fans all across the country are rejoicing as two of their sacred sons were drafted into the National Football League Friday night.
First it was offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo, who won’t even have to move states, as he’ll be playing for the Denver Broncos. Sambrailo was selected at No. 59 overall in the second round and joins a team who was desperately in need of offensive linemen.
16 picks later, it was Garrett Grayson’s turn, as the quarterback was selected at No. 75 overall in the third round by the New Orleans Saints.
Grayson’s enjoyed a remarkable roller coaster career at Colorado State, starting out as a dual-threat quarterback but evolving into a pure pocket passer in his senior season. His escalation to greatness was well noted during the course of the 2014 season and what happened afterwards.
Grayson was one of five CSU captains last season, leading his team to a 10-3 overall record including the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl appearance and loss. Along the way, his Rams defeated rivals in the Colorado Buffaloes, Wyoming Cowboys and Air Force Falcons, but the last-minute comeback victory he led was maybe the most memorable of the season.
Somehow, some way Grayson found Charles Lovett in the end zone on a desperation 4th-and-11 play on the road at Boston College. The touchdown put the Rams ahead by the eventual 24-21 margin of victory and the win being the fourth game of the season helped catapult the team to near-greatness the rest of the year.
At the end of 2014, Grayson passed for a school-record 4,006 yards and 32 touchdowns, and helped set multiple other school records. Those include: Most 300-yard passing games in a season (11), yards per game (480.9), passing yards (4,181), passing yards per attempt (9.4) and passing touchdowns (33).
When his career was all said and done, Grayson was undoubtedly the greatest passer in Colorado State history, finishing first in yards (9,190), touchdowns (64), completions (688), attempts (1,113) and completion percentage (61.8).
After the season which ended in disappointment, Grayson only improved his draft stock by sticking out as the best quarterback at the Senior Bowl practices and in the game itself. He continued to up his stock by impressing at his Pro Day in Fort Collins, by performing well on Jon Gruden’s QB Camp and Gruden even called him the third-best quarterback in the Draft.
Now he becomes a New Orleans Saints quarterback, with the great Drew Brees starting ahead of him. If there’s anyone to learn from, it’s Brees, who has all but mastered the art of quarterbacking in the NFL. And Sean Payton, the Saints head coach, is a former quarterback who is well-known for helping sculpt Brees into the All-Pro, Super Bowl winning QB he developed into.
In fact, NFL Draft expert Mike Mayock says Grayson reminds him of Brees, high praise for the former Ram.
Notable:
– Grayson is the highest-drafted quarterback by the Saints since Archie Manning in 1971.
– Also, another quarterback was taken recently at No. 75. Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks, who has started two Super Bowls and won one in his three professional seasons.
