2013 NFL Draft: Ray Graham and other Pitt players not selected

For the second straight year, Pitt didn't have a player selected in the NFL Draft. Considering that's correlated to two of Pitt's worst seasons in recent years, that's not a huge surprise. Pitt has had some good players, but has had a true lack of talent the past couple of seasons.

Guys like Jarred Holley, Ryan Turnley, and Tino Sunseri hearing their names called was admittedly a long shot. But the one guy that did appear to factor in was running back Ray Graham. Graham was called a mid-late round pick by many, but when the smoke cleared, he wasn't selected.

Even more puzzling were some of the running backs that went ahead of Graham. Particularly, UMass' Michael Cox went to the Giants in the 7th round. I don't know a lot anything about Cox, but his 2013 stats of 710 yards, 3.6 yards per carry, and five touchdowns against significantly weaker competition were wholly unimpressive. That's particularly the case when you stack his season up against Graham's (1,042 yards, 4.7 yards per carry, 13 touchdowns).

And it's also not as if Cox previously had a better season. His career rushing yardage of 879 didn't even top Graham's total from last season.

The concerns are still there about Graham's injury, obviously. And I won't argue against the point that he had several mediocre games last season. But it seemed as if the monster 172-yard game against Notre Dame this past year didn't even happen. My guess is that the poor combine performance in the 40-yard dash he had hurt his chances, but I'm still a bit surprised he didn't get a nod.

Still, Graham will get his shot, so don't feel too badly for him. By the end of the Draft, his phone has likely been ringing non-stop with offers to join teams' camps.

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