Top 5 West Virginia Mountaineers NFL Draft Classes of All-Time
By Ken Durbin
1. 1956
CREDIT: si.com
1. Joe Marconi, FB, 6th overall to Los Angeles Rams
2. Bruce Bosley, OT, 15th overall to San Francisco 49ers
3. Sam Huff, LB, 30th overall to New York Giants
3. Fred Wyant, QB, 36th overall to Washington Redskins
4. Bobby Moss, B, 49th overall to Cleveland Browns
11. Bill Underdonk, OT, 133rd to Cleveland Browns
This is far and away the greatest West Virginia Mountaineers draft class of all time. This class is loaded with Mountaineers in the top end of the draft with 5 picks in the top 50 selections. That is really something on the level of what a school like Alabama has achieved the past few years in the draft.
The class will always be best remembered for the future Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff. He was picked up by the New York Giants to play a new position that was just emerging called “linebacker” for future Hall of Fame coaches Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi. Huff incredible talent, combined with legendary coaching, produced a player that would earn 5 Pro Bowl nominations, 4 All-Pro nods, an NFL Championship in 1956, named to the NFL’s 1950s All-Decade Team, and a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Also in this class was one of the better offensive lineman in 49ers history Bosley. He would go on to earn 4 Pro Bowl nominations and two All-Pro nods over an impressive 14 year NFL career.
WVU’s top pick did not have as great a career as Huff or Bosley, but still managed to be a solid FB for the Rams. He earned a Pro Bowl selection in 1963 for leading the Rams to the NFL Championship that season.
Wyant, Moss, and Underdonk did not have nearly as memorable pro career’s as they did while at Morgantown. Only Wyant would stick with the team that drafted him, but he only lasted one season in Washington before ending his NFL tenure.
1956 was the year that WVU graduated a senior class that had gone 24-5 over the previous three seasons for head coach Pappy Lewis, claiming three straight Southern Conference crowns and earning an appearance in the 1954 Sugar Bowl.
This was easily one of the most dominant classes in WVU history. Their departure left Mountaineers fans heartbroken:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71fuhzYDeT4