Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JUNE/JULY 2019 31 Bradley said. "We go through it and rank our players, and he was one of the top guys we have. [Defensive line coach] Giff Smith did a great job evaluating him. Our scouts and Tom and his group obviously did a great job, and they had him pegged at that position. So, we were hoping he'd fall to us." "His length is impressive," Bradley added. "He's disruptive. You've got to have a guy who can play the run, but his ability to rush [the passer] can help as well. "We didn't have as many balls bat- ted down at the line of scrimmage as we would have liked, and his abil- ity to do that with his length should help in that area as well. But he can really disrupt, he can affect the quar- terback." The Chargers also filled a pre-draft need by landing Tranquill in round four. Starting linebacker Kyle Eman- uel retired after the season, while the returning Jatavis Brown was graded by Pro Football Focus as below aver- age last season. "Very athletic and very smart," Telesco said of Tranquill. "Those are two great things to have, to have the instincts and the football speed. That's a good combination." The attraction to Tranquill went beyond his athletic skills. "Great makeup and intangibles as far as his work ethic, football intel- ligence, drive to be great," the Char- gers general manager continued. "[Tranquill] has all the traits you look for on special teams, can play mul- tiple linebacker positions for us. "I've said since the end of the sea- son that was a position group we had to add some depth to … so we're very happy to draft him." RAVENS ADD BOYKIN TO STRONG RECEIVER HAUL The Chargers showed patience and allowed the board to fall to them, and they ended up with Tillery and Tranquill, two players they desired. Baltimore was not as willing to do the same, so the Ravens traded three draft picks to move up to the No. 93 spot in order to select Boykin, who they wanted to pair with their first- round pick — former Oklahoma wide receiver Marquise Brown. Boykin is listed on the Ravens roster at 6-4 and 220 pounds, while Brown is just 5-9 and 170 pounds. The Ravens coveted the size Boykin brings to the position. "He's a really intriguing player from Notre Dame, a size, speed re- ceiver with really tremendous physi- cal gifts, an outside vertical guy," Ra- vens general manager Eric DeCosta said. "He's very physical to the foot- ball, just a big man. "We think his skill set comple- ments our offense very well." Boykin and Brown complement each other as well, but there is a com- mon theme between the two play- ers that Baltimore clearly wanted to add to its offense, which is led by the ultra-dynamic Lamar Jackson at quarterback. "What those guys bring — it's dif- ferent packages, but it's the same thing, basically — is speed," Balti- more head coach Jim Harbaugh ex- plained. "It's speed, and what Eric referred to, playmaking ability. Those two guys have it many times over. "You have a big, fast guy [in Boykin], who's a powerful guy, who can catch and get up field with the ball with his stride length and his stiff arm, and he goes up and makes catches." Harbaugh knows that Boykin is just starting to tap into his full potential as a player. "He's a developing player," the coach noted. "He is kind of a younger, Wide receiver Miles Boykin spent just one year as a starter with the Fighting Irish, but parlayed a strong season into getting taken No. 93 overall in the third round by the Baltimore Ravens. PHOTO COURTESY BALTIMORE RAVENS/SHAWN HUBBARD NOTRE DAME IN THE 2019 NFL DRAFT Pos. Name Round Overall Pick Team DT Jerry Tillery 1 28 Los Angeles Chargers WR Miles Boykin 3 93 Baltimore Ravens CB Julian Love 4 108 New York Giants LB Drue Tranquill 4 130 Los Angeles Chargers RB Dexter Williams 6 194 Green Bay Packers TE Alizé Mack 7 231 New Orleans Saints Undrafted free agent signings: OL Alex Bars, Chicago Bears; DL Jonathan Bonner, Washington Red- skins; DB Nick Coleman, Los Angeles Chargers; LB Te'von Coney, Oakland Raiders; C Sam Mustipher, Chicago Bears; and P Tyler Newsome, Los Angeles Chargers