FCHS grads Boykin and Daniels going pro

Two former teammates from the Fayette County High School football program saw their dreams come true last week when they were selected by NFL teams in the 2012 draft.

Fayette County graduate and former Georgia Bulldog Brandon Boykin was drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles (123rd pick).

Boykin was named the 2011 Paul Hornung Award winner for being the nation’s most versatile player last season. A Second Team All-SEC selection by the league coaches and a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist in 2011, he recorded 55 tackles, including 11 tackles for loss, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and a safety.

A threat in the return game as well, Boykin added 850 kickoff return yards and 180 punt return yards. He was also used on the offensive side of the ball in 2011, rushing for 103 yards and a score and catching five passes for 71 yards and another two touchdowns. For his career, the 5-10, 183-pound Bulldog is Georgia’s all-time leader in kickoff return yardage with 2,663, which ranks second on the SEC’s all-time list. Boykin is also the only player in SEC history with three 100-yard plays of any kind. He completes his UGA career with 159 total tackles, 20 tackles for loss, nine interceptions, four kickoff returns for touchdowns and one punt return for a touchdown.

Former Duke football standout Matt Daniels signed a free agent contract with the St. Louis Rams on Saturday.

In 2011, Daniels earned first team All-ACC and second team All-America honors after leading Duke in tackles with 126. Third in the balloting for ACC Defensive Player of the Year accolades, he ranked third in the conference in tackles per game (10.5) while becoming the first Duke safety to receive first team all-league honors since Ray Farmer did so in 1995. Following the season, Daniels represented Duke in the 2012 East-West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“Matt Daniels is everything a professional football team, a college football team, a high school football team, a junior college football team would be looking for,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “He’s the total package, a great person, great student, great football player. The reason pro football people have liked him all along is he’s a great tackler, gets his hands on the ball a lot on the secondary and rarely misses a tackle. He tackles the way you wanted people to tackle 50 years ago. He’s a great contact player and a guy that they’re gonna be able to count on.”

Daniels, who served as a team captain in 2011, played in 46 career games and compiled totals of 324 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, four interceptions, seven caused fumbles, three fumble recoveries and 27 pass breakups. On Duke’s all-time records charts, he ranks 13th in tackles, third in caused fumbles and tied for sixth in pass breakups.

“I’m extremely proud of Matt, extremely happy for him,” Cutcliffe said. “Stay injury-free and play a lot of years, young man. He could be a great football coach. I would love to see Matt pursue that career because he is a very, very special young man.”

A native of Fayetteville, Daniels will graduate from Duke on May 13 with a degree in public policy studies. He was named to the Academic All-ACC squad three times during his career.