The San Diego Chargers selected former Duck Igor Olshansky in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft as the 35th pick overall.
Immediately after, Kansas City took 24-year-old Junior Siavii with the No. 36 selection.
Olshanksy, who will turn 22 on May 3, declared early for the draft after choosing to forgo his senior year in Eugene. The Ukraine native is looking forward to moving on and beginning his professional career.
“I didn’t think about football until my junior year in high school,” Olshansky told Chargers.com. “I’ve only been playing for six years, so my best football is ahead of me. I’m happy to be a San Diego Charger.”
His flexibility to play at any position along the defensive line is what intrigued NFL scouts. He started all 13 games for the Ducks last year, where he played both defensive end and tackle.
“The thing about him is he’s got great size,” Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer told Chargers.com. “He’s a very tough, physical, hard-nosed guy who gives great effort all the time.”
Leading up to the draft, Olshansky said he had no idea where he would go and what team would take him. Olshansky said many other teams, including Kansas City and Dallas, left impressed with his pre-draft workouts. His strength proved to be his greatest asset with 43 bench press repetitions at 225 pounds to secure the record among NFL prospects. He also ran the 40-yard dash in 4.95 seconds.
Despite entering only his seventh year of football, Olshansky remains confident that he can make an immediate impact at the professional level.
“I’m going to do whatever it takes,” Olshansky said. “I can play anywhere. I consider myself a good run stopper. I could stop the run anywhere along the line of scrimmage.”
With the next pick at No. 36, Kansas City turned to Siavii because the coaches were fascinated with his athletic ability for his size at 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds.
“The way we looked at it was there’s one thing he has that you can’t coach — that’s size,” Kansas City head coach Dick Vermeil told Chiefs.com. “He’s very inexperienced and very raw, (but) I think this kind of guy can develop into a dominating player one day.”
Siavii, who started every game last season and finished with 43 tackles and two sacks, will be looked upon to improve a Kansas City defense, which ranked 30th in the league against the run, giving up more than 146 yards per game.
“I hope to have an effect on our defense,” Siavii told Chiefs.com. “I hope to be a run-stopper in the middle and get some sacks.”
The American Samoa native teamed up with Olshansky as part of an effective defensive line at Oregon last season. They held running backs Steven Jackson of Oregon State and Michigan’s Chris Perry to a combined 101 yards in two of Oregon’s eight wins in 2003. Both Jackson and Perry were first-round picks Saturday at No. 24 to St. Louis and No. 26 to Cincinnati, respectively.
Siavii said he was happy to hear about going to Kansas City because it was a team he wanted to go to.
“When I came out there, I had a good time with the coaches,” Siavii said. “I told the coaches and everybody there to ‘get me, I need to be out there.’”
Siavii later was asked by Chiefs.com whether he believes he can come in and play right away.
“Don’t be too surprised if it happens,” he said. Two more former Ducks were selected on the second day of the draft. Wide receiver Samie Parker was taken in the fourth round at 105th overall to Kansas City. San Francisco chose safety Keith Lewis in the sixth round at the 198th pick overall.