Written by: Ilyas Nasir
The NFL DRAFT. The place where 32 NFL teams go to replenish their ranks. They pick, they pry, they scout. They ask questions about your mother, your father. They want to know what you ate for lunch on your first day of kindergarten. Actually, they know what you ate for lunch on your first day of kindergarten. They use all of this information to help them choose which great college player will become the next good NFL player. Players are picked from all over the country, so each year us jerseyans can expect to hear the name of a local hometown boy. It is very simple to highlight the 1st round guys(Tamba Hali, Penn State from Teaneck) so I’d rather concentrate on the long shots. Enter Wali Lundy, RB University of Virginia. Wali was the 170th pick of the 6th round. He was taken by the lowly Houston Texans, who at the time had a serious need at the position. One of the top all around running backs in the history of Virginia football, Wali owns numerous school and conference records. He played in 49 games in his career, the most in school history by a running back. Wali started 36 of those games, the most by a UVA running back in 20 years. He also set an ACC record for career touchdowns with 52, and is one of only three players in ACC history to score 50 touchdowns. Wali also has more receiving yards than a number of former ACC wideouts that are currently playing in the NFL.
If you think those numbers are impressive, check out what he did in high school. Wali was a two time New Jersey all state performer at Holy Cross High School, and was All-American at 2 different positions. During his junior year he played receiver and had 50 receptions for 1002 yards and 9 touchdowns. He also rushed for 750 yards with 11 more touchdowns and returned 1 kickoff and 2 punts for 3 more scores. It may seem impossible to top a year like that, but Wali did. As a senior running back he rushed for 2030 yards and 30 touchdowns, while catching 29 passes for 6 more touchdowns. Man, this dude was scoring points like Kobe against the Mavericks. Speaking of basketball, Mr. Lundy somehow found time to play b-ball and was a 1,000 point scorer. How does a player with these eye popping numbers slip to the 6th round? I’ll tell you how. Some NFL executives that get paid to evaluate talent, can’t evaluate talent. That’s why some guy named Tom Brady also didn’t get picked until the 6th round.
It’s this serious production and versatility that will make Wali Lundy a very good NFL running back. Barring injury, you can expect him to rush for at least 500 yards this year. But more importantly, because of his football smarts he will pick up blitzes and become a great safety valve for his quarterback- David Carr. Wali Lundy is definitely the steal of the 2006 Draft.
