Royalty Tours USA

Saturday, November 21, 2009

NFL future talent on display in Austin!

On November 21, 2009 it was Senior night and the last Longhorn home game as the Texas Longhorns played the Kansas Jayhawks in a Big 12 Conference game.

Royalty was on hand to take part in the festivities.

The Longhorns beat the Jayhawks 51-20 that night as they continued their run to the BCS Championship game which they ultimately lost to Alabama.

More importantly, NFL future talent was on display for us to witness.

Here's a list of players from both teams who were taken in the draft:

For the Longhorns, they are as follows:

Earl Thomas, strong safety, was chosen by the Seattle Seahawks with the 14th overall pick in the 1st round.
In that game, he did have an interception and he also ran back a punt 50 yards for a touchdown.

Sergio Kindle, defensive end, went to the Baltimore Ravens at number 43 in the 2nd round.
He was expected to go higher in the first round but his history of injuries wound up dropping his stock.

Lamarr Houston, defensive tackle was scooped up with the very next pick at 44 by the Oakland Raiders.
He had 2 sacks when we saw him play.

Jordan Shipley, wide receiver, was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals with the 84th pick in the 3rd round.
He had a big night when we saw him play. He finished that game with 10 receptions for 101 yards which included a 38 YD TD pass.

Colt McCoy, who was the 4th QB selected in the draft was taken by the Cleveland Browns with the very next pick at number 85.

He had a monster game in front of us. He threw for 396 yards completing 32 of 41 passes in the process.

Roddrick Muckelroy, a linebacker was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 4th round with the 131st selection.

As for the Jayhawks, they were represented as well.

Darrell Stuckey, free safety, was picked by the San Diego Chargers with the 110th selection in the 4th round.

Kerry Meier, wide receiver, went to the Atlanta Falcons in the 5th round with the 165th pick.

He had 9 catches for 46 yards in that game.

Dezmon Briscoe, a junior wide receiver, was chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 6th round with 191st selection overall.

He had quite a game grabbing 5 balls for 101 yards.

In addition, he ran back a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown as well.

As a whole, it was another memorable experience for royalty.

Always remember the "Eyes of Texas" are upon you.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Future NFL Stars shine in Stillwater!

On November 19, 2009, Royalty joined forces with our friends and fellow road trippers Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell, better known as USRT, the Ultimate Sports Road Trip.

This was another memorable and educational experience for all of us.

We all spend that weekend in different parts of Texas and Oklahoma.

We met at the car rental center at the Dallas airport.

We both wound up renting cars from Alamo.

I arranged to hook us both up with a great deal.

We followed each other for most of the ride to Stillwater, Oklahoma, home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

That night they played in prime time against another Big 12 foe, the Colorado Buffaloes.

As for the game, it was a very competitive see saw battle which the Cowboys came back to win, 31-28!

As for the NFL draft, we did get to see a few players who were drafted. In addition, we missed a few as well.

Here are the details regarding the players who were selected.

They are as follows:

With the 6th pick in the draft, the Seattle Seahawks selected offensive lineman, Russell Okung.
Later in the 1st round, the Dallas Cowboys took wide receiver Dez Bryant with the 24th pick. He was projected to go higher.

Unfortunately for us he had been suspended so we didn't have the privilege of seeing him shine before our very eyes that night.

Perrish Cox, a cornerback was taken by the Denver Broncos in the 5th round with the 137th overall pick.

In that game, he ran back a punt 67 yards for a touchdown.

In the 7th round with 250th pick in the draft the New England Patriots selected Zac Robinson, their starting quarterback.

We didn't see him play either because he was out of this game due to an injury.

Regardless we all made the most of our visit to the college town of Stillwater.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Royalty sees more future stars at RU!

Back on November 12, 2009, I decided to head down to New Brunswick, NJ to see some prime time college football at newly renovated Rutgers Stadium.

On this night, #23 University of South Florida came to town to play Rutgers.

It was a historical night in more ways than one.

First of all, Rutgers wound up dominating the game.

They shutout USF 31-0!

More importantly, a number of players from both teams were drafted as well.

They were as follows:

Anthony Davis, offensive tackle for Rutgers went to the San Francisco 49ers with the 11th pick in the 1st round of the draft.

Jason Pierre-Paul, defensive end for South Florida, who had 2 sacks in that game was picked by the NY Giants with the 15th selection in the 1st round.

Devin McCourty, cornerback of Rutgers was snatched up by the New England Patriots with the 27th pick in the 1st round.

Nate Allen, free safety from South Florida was taken by the Philadelphia early in the 2nd round at number 37.

Jerome Murphy, cornerback for South Florida who had an interception, went to the Rams in the 3rd round at number 65.

Ryan D'Imperio, linebacker from Rutgers was gobbled up by the Minnesota Vikings in the 7th round with the 237th selection.

In retrospect, I'm happy I spent that night out wisely.

I had a good time and I saw some future NFL players.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Royalty saw a future star play at UMASS!


Back on November 7, 2009, the King and I took a "royal" ride to Amherst, Massachusetts to a college football game before Bruin/Sabre hockey in Boston that night.

The next day we were in Foxboro to see the Miami Dolphins play the New England Patriots.

Now for an interesting correlation, the other day the NFL Draft was held.

Little did we know we were watching a potential NFL player that day.

When Roger Goddell announced with the 61st pick in the 2nd round of the NFL draft, the NY Jets select Vladimir Ducasse from UMASS.

Ducasse is an offensive lineman who the Jets have high hopes for.

As a result, they released veteran Pro Bowler Alan Faneca to make room for Vlad.

As for the royalty motto we say you never know what you're going to see at any particular game.

On paper this game seemed very insignificant.

With this selection the game will always have a lasting memory in my mind.

That day Vlad was classified as an amateur now he's viewed as a professional.

More proof when you chose royalty, you get more than you bargain for.