In the days following the 2013 NFL Draft, former WVU and current New York Jets’ quarterback, Geno Smith fired his agents at Select Sports.

Today, Smith made it official with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation becoming the third professional athlete to sign with the entity. Roc Nation currently deals with New York Giants’ Wide Receiver, Victor Cruz, New York Yankees’ all-star second basemen, Robinson Cano as well as former Notre Dame women’s hoops star and now a member of the Tulsa Shock.

Rumors had circulated over the past week that Smith would sign with Roc Nation. Smith’s contract agent will be Kim Miale of according to New York Daily News.

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Former WVU wide receiver Ivan McCartney is apparently headed back to Morgantown. According to the Miramar Sports Twitter Account, McCartney will finish his college career as a Mountaineer senior.

Also of note, Miramar Alum WR Ivan McCartney has found a home for next year. He will be heading back to #WVU for his senior season.

— Miramar Sports (@MiramarSports) May 17, 2013

Last fall McCartney left the football program following the TCU game in early November. After McCartney wasn’t receiving the playing time expected in 2012, it seemed like McCartney and WVU Head Coach Dana Holgorsen never could get on the same page. Rumors spread that McCartney could end up playing at Florida Atlantic.

McCartney finished 2012 with nine catches for 112 yards in seven games. In total McCartney had 59 catches for 701 yards and three touchdowns in his first three years at WVU. McCartney should have immediate eligibility if he sits with good academic standing. The Miramar Native was a high school teammate of both recent Mountaineer NFL Draft Picks, Geno Smith and Stedman Bailey at Miramar High School.

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As first reported by WVSports.com, WVU quarterback Chavas Rawlins has decided to transfer from the program. Rawlins enrolled early at WVU for the spring semester to get a head start on his college career. After participating in spring football and not even getting a snap in the spring game, the dual-threat quarterback Rawlins will move on from West Virginia.

Having committed to WVU less than a calendar year ago on May 18, 2012, Rawlins created a connection with then WVU quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital. Since Spavital left West Virginia for Texas A&M in mid-January, Rawlins was left without any real connection to the staff. Add in the fact that WVU Head Coach Dana Holgorsen just brought in Florida State transfer Clint Trickett for two years plus already signed a class of 2014 quarterback in Dunbar’s William Crest, odds are Rawlins could have been the odd man out.

There are no plans yet as to where Rawlins could transfer to.

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The Big 12 Conference has some of the best coaches in the country. Whenever there’s a job opening in college football, Big 12 names are put into the conversation right away. Here’s how I rank the Big 12 Coaches:

1. Gary Patterson – TCU (116-36) – Having overcome three separate conference changes with a record eighty games above .500, Patterson’s body of work is truly impressive. One of the best defensive minds in college football, Patterson has successfully led TCU from the WAC to C-USA to the Mountain West and finally to the Big 12. Add in a 7-5 bowl record including a 2011 Rose Bowl Championship and Patterson has done it all. Maybe his best job came last year dealing with a ton of adversity. A campus wide drug scandal had three of his players kicked off the team, his star quarterback was suspended following the third game of the season, and then that start quarterback was replaced by a redshirt freshman. All of this came while entering the Big 12 conference. Patterson has been the face of stability at TCU.

2. Bill Snyder (170-85-1) – Kansas State – Snyder has revitalized the K-State program twice in his career. Before Snyder arrived in Manhattan in 1989, K-State had only been to only been to one bowl game. Snyder completely changed the way the Wildcats played football. From 1993 to 2003, K-State went to eleven straight bowl games while winning the Big 12 Conference in 2003. After Snyder retired in 2005, the program went back to its old ways under Ron Prince with two straight losing seasons in 2007 and 2008. Snyder was rehired in 2009 and K-State surged back onto the national college football map. In 2012, K-State was ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation and earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. All in all, Snyder has been named conference coach of the year twelve different times, and have won national coach of the year awards in 1998, 2011 and 2012. Bill Snyder is signed through the 2017 season with K-State.

3. Bob Stoops (149-37) – Oklahoma – With eight Big 12 Championship and one National Title, Bob Stoops has kept the Oklahoma standard strong since taking over as Head Coach in 1999. Stoops has been to eight BCS bowl games in total. For Oklahoma they have seen the top tier recruits flourish under Bob Stoops as Stoops’ teams have finished in the Top 25, in twelve of fourteen times under Stoops. Expectations are always sky high in Norman, so while some think Stoops’ can’t win the big game or have failed to meet expectations, he still has kept Oklahoma more than nationally prominent as Head Coach. Stoops has also coached two Heisman Trophy winners in Jason White and Sam Bradford.

4. Mack Brown (150-43) – Texas – Though Texas hasn’t been a national title contender since reaching the National Championship Game in the 2009 season, Mack Brown still is one of the best coaches in the country. Winning a National Title with Vince Young as his quarterback in 2005, Brown has been to a bowl game fourteen times in his fifteen seasons at Texas. In the Big 12, Brown is revered as the premier coach. Brown has been is a two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year and two-time National Coach of the Year. Though he’s one of the most respected minds in the game, Brown continues to adjust. This upcoming season will be interesting as Brown adapts his offense to be up-tempo like the rest of the Big 12 Schools.

5. Mike Gundy (67-35) – Oklahoma State – Coaching at his alma mater, Mike Gundy has been very successful in his eight seasons at Oklahoma State. Gundy’s high powered offenses have produced changing the tide of the Big 12 Conference. In recent year’s Gundy’s teams have pushed traditional powers like Oklahoma and Texas. With a conference championship and Fiesta Bowl win in 2011, whenever a coaching vacancy occurs, Gundy’s name is always one of the first to pop up. Gundy is looked at as one of the league’s most respected coaches.

6. Art Briles (33-30) – Baylor – The former longtime Stephenville (TX) High School coach, Art Briles has completely evolved a very good college coach. With an offensive mind stemming from Mike Leach’s coaching tree, Briles has completely turned around the Baylor football program. Before Briles took over the last time Baylor won a bowl game was the 1992 Sun Bowl. Not only has Baylor won two bowl games since Briles took over in 2008, but more significantly Briles helped coach Robert Griffin III to a Heisman Trophy in 2011. Also, Briles is a big part of the reason as to why Baylor is set to open a new stadium in 2014.

7. Dana Holgorsen (17-9) – West Virginia – WVU Head Coach Dana Holgorsen was named FWAA First Year Head Coach of Year in 2011, when Holgorsen led the Mountaineers to a Big East and Orange Bowl Championship. That record setting Orange Bowl victory for WVU set the standard for Holgorsen. As WVU struggled transitioning into the Big 12 losing five straight games, Holgorsen avoided a lot of head as much of the struggle was blamed on the defense. Year three has Holgorsen’s offensive genius tested as it tries to replace personnel like Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey.

8. Paul Rhoads (24-27) – Iowa State – Rhoads has been able to win in the Big 12 Conference by doing something that the rest of the coaches in this conference struggle to do; win by playing defense. The former Pitt and Auburn Defensive Coordinator, Rhoads has had no trouble instituting a tough, fundamentally sound defensive mindset at Iowa State. The Cyclones have exceeded expectations and surprised many people during the Rhoads era by getting to three bowl games in the last four years.

9. Kliff Kingsbury (0-0) – Texas Tech – The former Texas Tech gunslinger, Kliff Kingsbury is back in Lubbock which has Red Raider fans absolutely stoked. People close to the program say Kingsbury virtually walks on water with the fan base at Texas Tech. After working as Johnny Manziel’s offensive coordinator during his Heisman season a year ago, Texas Tech is trying to get back to the other level the Texas schools like Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor are all on. Kingsbury, 33 is the second youngest head coach in all of FBS level football.

10. Charlie Weis (1-11) – Kansas – Weis is known in the NFL as one of the top offensive coordinator’s, but as far as being a college head coach, Weis hasn’t had half the success. While at Notre Dame, Weis vastly under achieved especially in 2007 when the Irish went 3-9. At KU, obviously he took over a program in shambles. After getting close a few times, Weis still couldn’t get the Jayhawks their first Big 12 victory in two years. With an influx of JUCO recruits, Weis is hoping to quickly flip the switch and turn Kansas around.

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If 2013 is a year of the unknowns in the Big 12, take these power rankings with a grain of salt. As wide open as the Big 12 Conference looks, it comes off a year where nine of its ten teams earned bowl bids. Now many of the stars are gone like Collin Klein, Landry Jones, Tavon Austin and Joseph Randle, but having to replace those stars is what makes the league so intriguing. Here’s how this league of unknowns shapes up following spring ball in my opinion.

1. Texas Longhorns (Vegas Odds to Win League: 2/1) – Texas returns a senior class that were freshman when the Longhorns went 5-7 and missed out on a bowl game in 2010. Since then this class has played a huge role in revitalizing the Texas program. In 2011 they won eight games and a year ago won nine games. Now, coach Mack Brown has the Longhorns prepped for 2013 with a retooled tempo offense. Moving in a direction that is more similar to the rest of the conference, Brown and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite are pushing to run more plays per game. With that said Texas will rely on the most experienced quarterback in the league, David Ash. Add the fact that Brown has said Texas won’t get away from its strong run game, expect Texas’ slew of backs which includes, Malcolm Brown, Joe Bergeron and Johnathan Gray to take some of the pressure off of Ash.

2. TCU Horned Frogs (Vegas Odds to Win League: 5/1) – Gary Patterson did a terrific job in 2012 dealing with just about every possible obstacle. He dealt with a drug scandal in the preseason, a quarterback with drug problems early in the season, and most importantly he had to play the most true freshman nationally all while transitioning into the Big 12 conference. For 2013, Patterson now appears to have the Horned Frogs as one of the league favorites. The first big storyline for TCU is who will play quarterback. Battling throughout the spring was last season’s starter Trevone Boykin and Casey Pachall who was suspended for the final nine games of last year. While Pachall is a true Big 12 gunslinger, it is hard to argue with the success Boykin had on the field. He won a couple of key road games stepping in for Pachall in a time where TCU needed him. This battle will be ongoing though the end of the summer.

3. Oklahoma Sooners (Vegas Odds to Win League: 5/2) – Oklahoma Sooners’ senior running backs Damien Williams, Brennan Clay and Roy Finch will make the OU offense go in 2013. With Blake Bell likely to take over at quarterback for the Sooners, a heavy run game should be in store for Bob Stoops’ squad. After losing three games to top fifteen teams a year ago, the Sooners are looking to take that next step forward. Defensively for Oklahoma, Aaron Colvin is arguably the Big 12’s top corner, and having the ability to shut down Big 12 receivers is a luxury. Now, on the sideline the OU coaching staff looks a little different, OU has tried to get tougher upfront as new offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery have been brought into change the mentality of the Sooners in the trenches.

4. Baylor Bears (Vegas Odds to Win League: 12/1) – The way Baylor finished the 2012 season gives every reason to believe that they will be better in 2013. Rattling off three straight wins including the first over No. 1 Kansas State to get to bowl eligibility to believe that Baylor is now a mature enough team to see what success they can have. Lache Seastrunk returns as the league’s top playmaker and probably the league’s lone Heisman contender. Art Briles is creative enough to get his offense to a point where it revolves around Seastrunk but still include the strength of Tevin Reese as Bryce Petty takes over as the starting quarterback. Coming out of spring it looks like Baylor will be every bit as potent on offense as they’ve been in recent years.

5. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Vegas Odds to Win League: 5/2) – One year later and Mike Gundy still sits with the same problem. Clint Chelf, Wes Lunt and J.W. Walsh all return with starting experience as Gundy tries to figure out who the Pokes will play at quarterback in 2013. Both Chelf and Lunt started five games each while Walsh started three games. All three threw for over 1000 yards. Now Gundy will keep this competition open all the way through the start of the season, but it is an interesting problem to have. Chelf is a senior while both Lunt and Walsh are true sophomores. Gundy has a decision to make that will linger through summer.

6. Kansas State Wildcats (Vegas Odds to Win League: 20/1) – Last year Kansas State was picked to finish sixth by the Big 12 Media. Then K-State went on to prove everyone wrong by going on to win a share of the league and to represent the league in a BCS game. This year feels much different though. With no Collin Klein or Arthur Brown, both their offensive and defensive leaders from a year ago are gone. But even without those guys Kansas State just has a feel of a machine-like program with Bill Snyder at the helm. Snyder like everyone around the league is dealing with a quarterback battle between Klein’s former backup, Daniel Sams and the top rated JUCO quarterback nationally, Jake Waters. K-State still has pieces that know how to win like Ty Zimmerman and Tre Walker defensively. Expect Snyder to find a way to get this team to play well. While they aren’t making much noise out of spring, the Wildcats will be a factor once the season rolls around.

7. Iowa State Cyclones (Vegas Odds to Win League: 20/1) – All Paul Rhoads does is continued to improve on a year to year basis in Ames. The Cyclones have reached bowl games in three of the past four years under Rhoads all while being underdogs in the Big 12. Coming out of 2013, it looks like this could be the year Iowa State actually has some firepower to do more than compete. Looking at their strengths, the running back position is very deep. With Jeff Woody, James White and Shontrelle Johnson all returning the Cyclones have depth to try keep the ball out of opponents’ hands with that backfield. Where Iowa State may struggle is defensively as A.J. Klein and Jake Knott have moved on. Replacing them for sure is one Jeremiah George who filled the role for Knott after he got hurt midway through 2012. The Cyclones have pieces in place, but will they be good enough to take that next leap forward?

8. West Virginia Mountaineers (Vegas Odds to Win League: 25/1) – The spring of 2013 couldn’t have felt any more different from the spring of 2012 for the Mountaineers. Gone was the feeling of expectations and in was the influx of new faces just about everywhere on the field. WVU returns just three starters offensively in Andrew Buie, Quinton Spain and Pat Eger. The storyline all spring has been about the quarterback battle. Junior Paul Millard and redshirt freshman Ford Childress have taken about fifty percent of the reps each during spring, leaving no real leader. Then Head Coach Dana Holgorsen brought in Florida State transfer, Clint Trickett to compete with Millard and Childress for the starting job, so this is a three-horse race that will last through the start of the season. Defensively, WVU has made scheme changes as Keith Patterson takes over as the full time coordinator. He’ll rely heavily on safeties Karl Joseph and Darwin Cook to play big roles.

9. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Vegas Odds to Win League: 15/1) – In Lubbock, the Red Raiders had a crazy begging to 2013 as Tommy Tuberville bolted for Cincinnati and in came Kliff Kingsbury. The former Texas Tech gunslinger and Texas A&M play caller himself is back trying to turn the Tech program around. While the Red Raiders come off a decent season, they players still have to fully understand Kingsbury’s offense. With that said, there is talent in place like quarterbacks Michael Brewer and Davis Webb as well as talent at the receiver core in Jakeem Grant and Jace Amaro. Even though it could be an uphill climb for Tech, excitement is there as the future looks bright for the Red Raiders.

10. Kansas Jayhawks (Vegas Odds to Win League: 50/1) – The positive for Charlie Weis is that he returns a solid run game from a year ago. Now clearly Kansas didn’t win a game in the conference last year, but they did cause trouble because the Jayhawks as team rushed for over 2800 yards on the ground. Between James Sims, Tony Pierson, and Taylor Cox, the Jayhawks were able to have some success. Now coming out of spring what they have to do is continue to game plan around those guys. They have to go back to what was successful a year ago, if they do that, with a year more of experience, KU could get their first conference win in over two years.

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The Big 12 Conference has seen its leading passer, pass catcher, and all-purpose play maker graduate. Gone are seven senior quarterbacks from 2012 including Kansas State’s Heisman Finalist, Collin Klein, Oklahoma’s Landry Jones and West Virginia’s Geno Smith. Also both Biletnikoff Award finalists in Baylor’s Terrence Williams and WVU’s Stedman Bailey have moved onto the NFL. Add that the electrifying Tavon Austin was a top ten NFL draft pick, and all of a sudden, what was the most offensive driven league a year ago, has many questions entering the 2013 season.

“It just is going to happen. This is college football, they’re going to leave every three-four-five years,” said Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops, “This year is one of those years where there is a number of excellent quarterbacks that are moving on. A new batch is coming up so it is exciting to see who can do what.”

In spring camps throughout the Big 12, much of the conversation has been about who will win quarterback battles around the league. There are four quarterback battles that could carry on all the way until the start of the regular season.

Start at K-State where veteran Head Coach Bill Snyder tries to replace Heisman Finalist, Collin Klein. Snyder has brought in the nationally top rated junior college quarterback, Jake Waters to compete with Klein’s former backup, Daniel Sams. With two really unknown commodities trying to take over for a guy that scored 39 total touchdowns, Snyder has his work cut out for him.

In Stillwater, Mike Gundy is sitting in the same predicament he sat with last year at this time. Three capable guys in Clint Chelf, Wes Lunt and J.W. Walsh, all saw the field in 2012 and truly all were effective. All three threw for over 1000 yards, while both Chelf and Walsh threw ten plus touchdowns each.

Then at TCU, Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs enter 2013 as one of the league’s favorites, but the dynamic between the rehabbed Casey Pachall and upstart Trevone Boykin could be the most interesting storyline of the season. With Pachall missing the final nine games of the 2012 season after being suspended, Boykin stepped in as a freshman only to throw for 1,853 yards, score 18 total touchdowns and help TCU win key road games in Austin and Morgantown.

Speaking of Morgantown, filling Geno Smith’s shoes already was interesting as Paul Millard and Ford Childress each received about fifty percent of the snaps during spring. Now insert, Florida State transfer Clint Trickett bringing immediate eligibility this fall and now Dana Holgorsen has a three horse race. The spotlight will shine on Holgorsen’s decision dealing with a quarterback controversy since he named Case Keenum the starter when he was at Houston in 2007.

At the University of Texas Mack Brown comes off his first nine win season since 2009 when Texas finished as the National runner up. For Texas entering 2013 unlike most of the Big 12, the Longhorns bring in an established starter. David Ash has the most starting experience of any gunslinger in the league.

“We’re really pleased with him (David Ash), he had an outstanding spring and his leadership skills are good,” said Brown, “We do feel like it’s a great advantage for us having an older quarterback with experience.”

That experience could pay off as Brown gears his offense to be more up tempo for the 2013 season leaning on Ash and running backs Malcolm Brown, Johnathan Gray and Joe Bergeron.

Elsewhere in the league, add another Leach disciple to the list of Big 12 coaches, because the Kliff Kingsbury era is underway in Lubbock. Texas Tech drew a record crowd of 16,116 at their annual spring game. Needless to say the fan base is fired up.

“I loved the atmosphere,” Kingsbury said about the Texas Tech spring crowd, “It was a great crowd and our kids were fired up.”

Also, at Baylor, Lache Seastrunk has to be the league’s top returning play maker. In the final six games that Baylor played, Seastrunk averaged 138.5 yards and a touchdown per game on the ground. As junior Bryce Petty is set to become one of seven new quarterbacks in the Big 12, he probably has the greatest luxury playing alongside Seastrunk to take pressure off of him.

Meanwhile, Iowa State Head Coach Paul Rhoads is tooling his team around sophomore quarterback Sam Richardson. There’s no better way to do that than with experience in the run game. With the duo of James White and Jeff Woody, Rhoads should be able to do that.

Finally arguably the top Big 12 rushing attack from a year ago in James Sims, Tony Pierson, and Taylor Cox return for Charlie Weis. The Jayhawks, a mess at quarterback, seemed to be able to stay in games with a solid running attack. This could be the year Kansas gets back in the Big 12 win column.

In the trenches, the Big 12 looks very experienced upfront. Oklahoma lost Lane Taylor to the Philadelphia Eagles with the fourth overall pick, but four other starters return including Gabe Ikard. Also Texas returns four of five starters and maybe most importantly, Kansas State returns all five offensive linemen.

The Big 12 is as wide open as ever considering all the offenses in the league don’t really have an identity at this point. Yes, of course, Holgorsen, Gundy, Kingsbury and Art Briles are going to sling the ball around still but how much different will Texas look with the changes on their offense? With so many question marks it’s safe to say that there isn’t a consensus favorite.

“I think you have to give credit to the league in general because everybody is good enough to make a run. At one time there was just two or three of us that was better than everyone else that you figured that one of the two or three would win the league for maybe a ten year span,” said Mack Brown, “That’s not the case anymore, we’ve all got to play better because everyone in the league is good, you have to play every week.”

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Can Geno Handle the Big Apple?
When former WVU quarterback Geno Smith was selected thirty-ninth overall by the New York Jets in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, the obvious questions immediately sparked. Is Geno Smith going to start from day one? Has Geno Smith had conversations with Mark Sanchez? How will Smith transition from Dana Holgorsen’s air raid offense to Marty Mornhinweg’s west coast style? Finally, is Geno Smith mature enough to not only handle playing in the NFL, but also ready to handle playing in the NFL while playing for a team in the biggest media capital of the world?

My answer to that last question is simple, Geno Smith is terrific with media for the most part. From his time at West Virginia, he’s learned how to give great answers to what reporters ask him to talk about. Groomed very well, Smith understands how to say a lot without saying anything controversial. Go back to last week, his first two press conferences, one shortly after being draft thirty-ninth overall and the other the next day in Florham Park, Smith was asked many different questions, but from what I saw, and heard, he really handled it well.

Now, while Smith has handled his first two real media sessions well, the recent Yahoo Sports report by Jason Cole brings question marks about Smith’s character that range similar to the Nolan Nawrocki report. Additionally, Smith firing his agents have been questioned by just about everyone publically. While, Smith may or may not have been tuned out during visits with NFL Coaches, GM’s and other personnel during the draft process, the bottom line is Smith will have to come off to the New York media as if he cares about nothing else besides football. If Smith can quickly get rid of those notions surrounding his character, he’ll be fine. Smith has to prove like he did in Morgantown, that he’s a leader, a film rat and a commander of the offense, otherwise he’ll be eaten up in New York.

Which WVU Undrafted Signee is in the Best Spot?
For the seven former Mountaineers that we not drafted (Shawne Alston – New Orleans; Jeff Braun – Baltimore; Josh Francis – Detroit; Terence Garvin – Washington; Josh Jenkins – Seattle; Joe Madsen – Pittsburgh; J.D. Woods – Pittsburgh), it is clear as is for most free agents that they signed where they would have the best opportunity to crack the fifty-three man roster. But of those guys, in my opinion J.D. Woods is in the best spot, not only to make the team but make a splash.

We’ll start with the fact that Woods was nearly drafted by the Miami Dolphins with pick 250. According to Woods, Miami had him believing he was going to be draft, but instead they nabbed a defensive player. Regardless, Woods ends up in a very viable spot, just up I-79 signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In a pretty thin receiving core, Woods has a legitimate chance to play. Leading receiver Mike Wallace has moved onto Miami, and second leading receiver, tight end, Heath Miller still is injured with the ACL is unlikely to come into training camp ready to play. Now Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders are still in town after Pittsburgh matched New England’s restricted free agent offer to Sanders. But after there isn’t reason to believe Woods can’t contribute.

At six-foot-one, 190 pounds, Woods can play inside or outside. With not much else at the receiver position, Woods can possibly even make the team as a fourth or fifth receiver. Woods will be battling Steelers draft picks’ Markus Wheaton and Justin Brown as well as free agent signing Plaxico Burress.

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Former Florida State quarterback Clint Trickett will transfer to West Virginia. After visiting Morgantown for West Virginia’s spring game on April 20th, Trickett had also been interested in Auburn and South Florida. Trickett announced via twitter that he will attend WVU.

It’s official, I will finish my academic/athletic career at WVU. This is a dream come true to be playin for the state I love. #CountryRoads

— Clint Trickett (@ClintTrickett9) May 1, 2013

West Virginia’s two horse quarterback race now becomes a three man race. Trickett is set to come in and compete for WVU’s starting quarterback race with Paul Millard and Ford Childress.

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Former WVU and current New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith has fired agents at Select Sports according to Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal. Smith cannot hire another agent for another five days.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News also says that Smith believed he “would be and should be the” the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. It is clear that Smith is frustrated after not only failing to be the No. 1 pick, but in addition fell out of the first round.

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Former West Virginia offensive guard, Jeff Braun became one of six former Mountaineers to sign an NFL contract via undrafted free agency. Braun made it official signing with the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night following the conclusion of the 2013 NFL Draft.

“I’m very excited, I know there is not many opportunities in the NFL, so to be able to have this is a good thing, so I’m excited for the chance that I have,” said Braun.

Having started 39 games during his college career, Braun knew playing at the professional level was a possibility. At West Virginia’s pro day, Braun put up twenty-nine bench press reps while also running a 5.26 forty-yard dash proving his foot speed. In addition Braun’s ability to perform well in position drills proved to scouts that he had the skill to play at the next level.

“I got very good feedback. They were very excited about what I did. The knock the whole time was my athleticism,” said Braun, “Then I put up some really good numbers that were very comparable with guys that went to the combine so it showed that I took the effort in my training since January to really focus on my weaknesses.”

Braun started to garner attention from NFL teams. The Miami Dolphins sat down to interview Braun right after his pro day and additionally the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars and St. Louis Rams all expressed interest in the West Virginia offensive lineman. Add in the fact that the Detroit Lions kept dialogue with Braun through day three of the draft; Braun believed he had a shot to be drafted.

“I watched the whole thing, I really did, and the Ravens actually called me early seventh round and I talked to them the whole week and a half leading up to the draft, so I knew there was a good possibility that I could get taken,” said Braun.

Baltimore drafted center Ryan Jensen from Colorado State-Pueblo late in the sixth round, leaving Braun to believe that he was going to go undrafted. Quickly the draft came to a close and Braun received an offer from the Ravens to sign as an undrafted free agent.

“The offensive line coach (Andy Moeller) called me to let me know their interest. He actually called me earlier in the week and said you’ll hear from me later in the week,” explained Braun, “Then in the seventh round he’s the one that gave me the call and then at he called once again at the end of the draft and said, ‘congratulations you’re a Baltimore Raven.’”

Braun, now a Raven can start trying to achieve his goals. That goal is being with the team on opening day.

“Right now my goal is to take it a step at a time, right now it’s to get through mini camps and make some noise. Then it’s to get through training camp and earn a spot on the 53-man roster, I just have to take it one step at a time,” said Braun.

Playing here at West Virginia, Braun started thirteen games at left guard, thirteen games at right tackle, twelve games at right guard and one at center. Being versatile is something that can help Braun achieve his goal.

“It’s tremendous help. If you want to play in the NFL you better offer a lot different variety because you’re not going in there at one position unless you’re the best at your position or you’re a starter,” said Braun, “I need to be able to have many different tools in my belt and I think I have that.”

Braun begins rookie camp with the defending champion Ravens next weekend.

*This also ran as a story in today’s Daily Athenaeum*

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