Early Sack Leader Diyral Briggs, Bowling Green

Last year South Florida’s DE George Selvie burst onto the national scene after just two games into the 2007 College Football season when he led the country in sacks and tackles for loss (TFL). Now it’s safe to say that if Selvie enters the 2009 NFL Draft as a junior he will certainly be a first round pick.

Now I am not saying senior defensive end Diyral Briggs has the same draft potential as Selvie, Briggs is only about 6’ 4” 230 pounds, so he will probably be converted to outside linebacker, but Briggs is in the same elite company this season after the first two games. He currently leads the nation with 5 sacks and is ranked 2nd in the nation with 5.5 TFLs with an additional 3 quarterback hurries after only two games. He did this against some solid teams, he recorded 2 sacks in Bowling Green’s stunning upset over Pitt in week one and last weekend against Minnesota he recorded 3 more sacks. So his stats are not inflated by playing against some non division-one powder puffs. Briggs is very strong and explosive and is definitely a sleeper pick and someone to keep an eye on for the 2009 NFL Draft.

Last season (2007), Briggs was a first-team All-MAC selection, played in 12 games and led Bowling Green with five sacks. His seven tackles for loss ranked him second on the team.

In 2006 as a sophomore he played in all 12 games and started the final six, he totaled 69 total tackles, including 10.5 tackles for a loss and seven sacks. He was named MAC Player of the Year following the game at Ohio and tallied double digit tackles in back-to-back games against Eastern Michigan (10) and at Central Michigan (11).

As a freshman in 2005 he played in all 11 games and had five TFLs, recorded 4.5 sacks for a loss, recovered three fumbles and had 11 QB hurries.

High School: Chose Bowling Green but was heavily recruited by Miami, Maryland, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Pitt, South Carolina and Illinois. He went to the Virginia Tech Nike Camp after high school and this is what his high school Coach (Commins) said. “I took him there and he did extremely well there. It was about 45 degrees outside and raining and he ran on the grass and he ran a 4.68 on the grass, so he’s probably a solid 4.6 right now. So he’s looking really good.”