Nick Daschel is a veteran sports writer and columnist who has worked on the West coast for nearly three decades. Nick has covered the Pac-10 for about 15 years, primarily focusing on the Northwest schools.
Note: With the NFL draft approaching later in April, we thought it would be fun to look back at the Pac-10’s top draft picks of the past decade (2000-09) to see where we would pick them. Continuing today and ending sometime close to the draft on April 25, we’ll count down a first round worth of Pac-10 draft picks, from 32 to 1. The list includes five quarterbacks, five running backs, five defensive linemen, six linebackers, three defensive backs, three wide receivers, three offensive linemen and two tight ends.
4. SEDRICK ELLIS, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, DT
Linebacker Keith Rivers was a great Pac-10 player. So, too, was Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing. But it didn’t hurt that those USC linebackers had something in common: They benefited from the dirty work done by brutish nose tackle Sedrick Ellis.
“Best D-lineman I’ve ever seen,” former USC offensive tackle Sam Baker once told the Seattle Times. “I wouldn’t know how to prepare for him.”
The measure of a great defensive tackle isn’t sacks and tackles for losses – though the 6-foot-2, 285-pound Ellis had plenty of each – but offensive linemen assigned to block him. Ellis usually had two taking him on, and often it wasn’t enough. Ellis’ strength – he ripped off more bench press reps than another other defensive tackle at the NFL combine – was too much for most linemen to handle. Despite the double and triple-teams, Ellis had 17½ sacks and 28½ tackles for losses during his career.
Ellis finished his career in 2007 as a two-time First-Team All-American and Pac-10 Morris trophy winner. Ellis went seventh to Minnesota in the 2008 NFL draft, sharing high pick honors with California’s Andre Carter among Pac-10 defensive players this decade.
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