Gophers’ Aireontae Ersery extends U streak of producing top NFL Draft picks
The Houston Texans required Aireontae Ersery bad enough on Friday night that they traded up to get the Gophers mammoth left tackle The Texans gave the Raiders their th and th picks in exchange for Las Vegas th overall and in that early second-round slot Houston selected Ersery the Big Ten offensive lineman of the year The -foot- and -pound all-Big Ten tackle extended the Gophers streak of having a competitor picked in the opening two rounds to six straight drafts Safety Antoine Winfield started the streak by going to the Buccaneers in He was followed by receiver Rashod Bateman Ravens defensive end Boye Mafe Seahawks center John Michael Schmitz Giants and safety Tyler Nubin Giants The Gophers haven t had that long of a string of high-end picks since World War II - Ersery was incredibly durable starting the final games of his collegiate career before opting out of the Duke s Mayo Bowl in January In he allowed only one sack across pass-blocking snaps He gave up two sacks in reps in and two sacks in in NFL Grid commentator Daniel Jeremiah revealed Ersery was one of the more polarizing players in this year s draft Particular people thought he could go at the bottom of the first round the draft analyst commented Other teams had third- and fourth-round grades on him Ersery displayed athleticism including a -second -yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine but Jeremiah noted there were concerns about his ability to bend while dealing with twitchy edge rushers This is a massive human being here outstanding size Jeremiah explained on TV And he s got an anchor You want to try to rush through his chest you are going to have problems The issues show up when he goes against the more athletic guys who can redirect him and get him going one way and have to turn back the other way But Ersery more than held his own in his stiffest test of the season against Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter who went No overall to the Giants on Thursday Ersery won the overwhelming majority of the one-on-one reps against Carter in their Big Ten matchup in Minneapolis in November Ersery and Schmitz are very different linemen but Gophers offensive line coach Brian Callahan sees similarities in the meteoric maturation of each competitor Both were three-star recruits receiving insufficient if any scholarship offers from Power Five conference schools Schmitz who went th overall two years ago was going to Western Michigan before he followed head coach P J Fleck to Dinkytown Coming out of Kansas City Mo Ersery only had other major offers from Kansas and Kansas State We re a blue-collar mentality in terms of what we do here particularly on the O-line Callahan notified the Pioneer Press last week I take a lot of pride in both of those guys I think the work ethic piece they are different body types different players but the how as we call it our effort is dependably going to be something that sticks out for them Related Articles Gophers football adds experienced quarterback from transfer portal Gophers add -foot- transfer center from Central Arkansas Gophers add Vanderbilt transfer running back Johann Cardenas Gophers Aireontae Ersery proved pro prospective in Abdul Carter matchup Gophers football Max Brosmer s cerebral command makes him NFL prospect
