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Saturday, April 24, 2010
Former TCU long snapper Clint Gresham and cornerback Rafael Priest are free-agent additions to the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, while offensive tackle Nic Richmond is headed to the San Diego Chargers.
When combined with draft picks Jerry Hughes (first round, Indianapolis Colts), Daryl Washington (second round, Arizona Cardinals) and Marshall Newhouse (fifth round, Green Bay Packers), TCU will have six players from its 2009 team in National Football League camps this summer.
In his nine seasons as TCU's head coach, Gary Patterson has had 47 players sign NFL contracts.
A three-year starter, Gresham was the lone snapper invited to the 2010 NFL Combine.
Gresham is the second consecutive long snapper from TCU to reach the NFL. Former Horned Frog Jared Retkofsky has snapped for Pittsburgh the last two seasons, including the Steelers' 2008 Super Bowl championship season.
Gresham will graduate from TCU next month with a degree in entrepreneurial management and a minor in communications. He received a scholar-athlete award earlier this week from the National Football Foundation's Gridiron Club of Dallas.
Priest was a four-year starter at cornerback and a three-time All-Mountain West Conference selection. He was a third-team Sporting News All-American in 2009 and the No. 6-ranked cornerback in the nation by Rivals.com.
A native of Dallas, Priest played his final season with the Horned Frogs as a graduate student after earning his TCU degree in Spring 2009.
Priest made 50 career starts. Before being sidelined by injury, Priest had a streak of 47 consecutive starts which ranked as the third longest in the nation. He returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown against New Mexico in the fourth quarter of his final home game. He ranked second on TCU with seven pass breakups last season.
Richmond was also a graduate student in the 2009 campaign. A four-year letterman, he appeared in all 39 games over the last three seasons.
The 6-foot-8 Garland, Texas, native made 16 career starts, including all 13 contests as a sophomore in the 2007 campaign.
Labels: Chargers, Clint Gresham, NCAA Football, NFL, Saints, TCU, TCU Football