NFL Draft: Former Gamecocks Shaw, Quarles, Hampton not selected

Connor Shaw, along with Kelcy Quarles and Victor Hampton, was a Gamecocks draft hopeful that was left on the board. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

We fully expected Jadeveon Clowney and Bruce Ellington to be two South Carolina Gamecocks to go in the NFL Draft this past weekend.

Connor Shaw, Kelcy Quarles and Victor Hampton being left on the board? Maybe one of them, sure. But all three? That’s a headscratcher.

Of course, the trio’s NFL dreams aren’t over yet. There’s the undrafted free agency period in which teams across the league can sign other players that did not go during the draft. And there are players every single year that don’t get drafted that should have been drafted.

But this weekend just goes to show what a crapshoot draft predictions can be sometime. Some who are drafted high turn into busts; others that are drafted low turn out to be superstars. The fact that Shaw, Quarles, and Hampton remained undrafted is by no means an indictment of their talent. Any Gamecocks fan will be able to speak to that. All that’s left for them to do is hope to be signed and continue to work as hard as everyone else that was drafted.

What do you think? Are you surprised, or did you think that it would play out this way? Vote in our poll and comment below.

UPDATE: Kelcy Quarles tweeted that he would be signed to the New York Giants as an UDFA: