Patriots Draft EIU's Grugier-Hill

There must be something the front office of the New England Patriots likes about players from Eastern Illinois as they drafted a Panthers player for the second time in the last three years.  On Saturday afternoon the Patriots selected linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill with the 33rd pick of the 6th round, the 208th overall pick.

Grugier-Hill joins a Patriots roster that could see one of his former teammates as the starter on the other side of the ball with 2014 second round pick Jimmy Garoppolo in the mix to be the starter at quarterback to open the upcoming season.

Grugier-Hill was a two-time first team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection at linebacker even though he is projected to move to safety at the NFL level.  As a senior he had 70 tackles with 16.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries and one interception while missing two games.  He led the team in tackles as a junior with 97 adding three interceptions and 9.5 tackles for loss.

Grugier-Hill ran a 4.45-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-2, 208 pounds at his pro day last month. He ran a 1.52-second 10-yard split with a 6.89-second 3-cone, 4.20-second short shuttle, 38.5-inch vertical leap, 10-foot, 9-inch broad jump and 15 bench press reps at 225 pounds.

He becomes the 15th Eastern Illinois player drafted in the NFL and the second by the Patriots.

Eastern Illinois All-Time NFL Draft Picks
1944 – Bill Glenn, Chicago Bears (19th round)
1964 – Rob Butler, Chicago Bears (16th round)
1966 – Roger Haberer, Chicago Bears (19th round)
1974 – Nate Anderson, Washington Redskins (16th round)
1977 – Ted Peterson, Pittsburgh Steelers (4th round)
1980 – Tom Pettigrew, Los Angeles Rams (8th round)
1983 – Jeff Christensen, Cincinnati Bengals (5th round)
1987 – Roy Banks, Indianapolis Colts (5th round)
1989 – Dave Popp, New York Giants (7th round)
1993 – Brad Fichtel, Los Angeles Rams (7th round)
1995 – Ray McElroy, Indianapolis Colts (4th round)
1999 – Chris Watson, Denver Broncos (3rd round)
2010 – Otis Hudson, Cincinnati Bengals (5th round)
2014 – Jimmy Garoppolo, New England Patriots (2nd round)
2016 – Kamu Grugier-Hill, New England Patriots (6th round)