NFL Draft: Rutgers' Star Mohamed Sanu a Steal for Cincinnati Bengals in Round Three

With the Cincinnati Bengals on the clock with the 27th pick in the draft former Rutgers receiver Mohamed Sanu received a phone call.

He thought he was going to be a Bengal, and the voice on the other line told him so. Sanu wasn’t projected to be a first rounder but some analysts such as Sports Illustrated’s Tony Pauline said it wouldn’t be a surprise for the second-round prospect to jump into the late end of the first round.

But while Sanu celebrated, he watched the television tell him that the Bengals had selected guard Kevin Zeitler. The call was a prank and Sanu would have to get back on the couch and wait.

Turns out Cincinnati did wind up calling him still anyway in the third round with the 83rd overall pick.

Getting Sanu with that pick will turn out to be quite the steal for the Bengals.

Cincinnati needed a wide receiver opposite second-year player A.J. Green for Andrew Dalton, another great draft pick from last season, to throw to. Last year’s second leading receiver Jerome Simpson recently signed with the Minnesota Vikings.

CBS Sports Rob Rang raved about Sanu’s readiness for the NFL saying, “There are plenty of receivers in the 2012 draft with greater speed and natural playmaking ability than Sanu. But for my money few are safer NFL prospects than the former Rutgers star,” and, “Sanu is better prepared than most collegiate receivers to make the NFL jump.”

As a junior Sanu became the Big East’s all-time leader in receptions with 210. For the Scarlet Knights in 2011 he caught 115 passes for 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns. He did all this with two different starting quarterbacks going in and out of the lineup. With some consistency, Sanu could really develop a strong rapport with his starting quarterback.

Sanu’s strengths lie in his underneath routes, his athleticism (Sanu was a Wildcat quarterback for Rutgers), his strength –Sanu is a big receiver listed at six-feet-two-inches and 211 pounds—his ability to just flat out catch the ball and his toughness, which might be developed from going many years in his childhood back and forth from New Jersey to his parents’ native war-torn Sierra Leone.

The biggest reason Sanu slid was because of his speed. Sanu has never really been considered a deep threat and at the NFL Combine he ran only a 4.67 40-yard dash.  The 40-time backed-up what scouts thought of his speed and explosiveness.

That only brings up the age-old argument of how efficient the Combine really is at evaluating a player. His sprint may not have been exciting, but if you watch him play you will see how he goes across the middle and cuts without fear and how he out-jumps most corners for the ball.

The Bengals will be getting a tough kid who has accomplished a lot on the field for a team that plays in one of the BCS’ bigger conferences. His strength and skill set make him a piece that will fit in pretty well right away on an offense that already features some impressive young talent.

Sanu will reward the Bengals for actually picking him and hurt those that didn’t.

Media Credits.

AP Photo/Mel Evans
Video from YouTube

The King of All Athletes using Social Media

AP Photo/Ed Reinke, file

Chad Ochocinco, wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, was being portrayed a certain way in the traditional media.

His touchdown celebrations, name change, and trade requests got him characterized as self-absorbed, an ego-maniac, and, occasionally, a clown.

So Ochocinco took went to social media to really show what he's all about, and it has worked beautifully.

He has accounts on Facebook and UStream, but is most famous for his use of Twitter.

Ochocinco has used these outlets to display his true personality and to really connect with his fans.

"It gives me a voice, the ability to reach people directly and for people to see who I am without the filter of the media, the critics or whomever," he said in an interview with USA Today.

Ochocinco has been able to change much of the public's perception of him from a guy who was only interested in himself to a man who is just enjoying his life and is trying to share the fun he's having with others.

He invites people to the movies or dinner with him ("If you're coming to Davids just tell the hostess you're here for lunch with Chad, its on 17th n meridian, lunch on me the blessing is on GOD" from 11/30/09) and challenges them to play him in video games ("Getting on call of duty people Estaban 85, let's play" from 11/30/09).

"I try to interact with every fan," Ochocinco says. "I try to respond to everybody."

While showing what a fun loving guy he is, the public has responded favorably.

Through his social media endeavors, he has also become an extremely marketable celebrity.

Ochocinco has come out with his own book, he became the first NFL player to get his own iPhone application, has appeared on late night talk shows, and is apparently even coming out with his own brand of condoms.

What's making him even more successful is that he is also back to being a productive player on the field (773 yards receiving and five touchdowns in 11 games) and his team is in first place in the AFC North. He’s an athlete first and foremost and his success on the field makes him a credible figure.

Chad Ochocinco is a fantastic example of how to best utilize social media and the good that it can do someone.

He connects with people across the globe, giving them a vantage point into his life that they wouldn't have had previously, and he gives back to the community. He also has used it to create a brand name for himself. Most importantly, he changed people's perceptions of him, getting everyone to see him how he wants them to, not as how the media depicts him.

Ochocinco gets it and he's letting the rest of us in on the fun he's having.