Marquel Lee Drafted by Raiders
4/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest linebacker Marquel Lee was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders on Saturday.
Lee was the 168th player taken in the draft. This marks the 11th year in the last 13 that a Demon Deacon has been selected in the draft. Wake Forest has had 21 players selected in the last 13 seasons.
Lee, a 6-3, 240-pounder from Waldorf, Md. (Westlake HS), earned first team All-ACC honors from the Associated Press in 2016. He led the Deacons with 105 total tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and was second on the club with 7.5 sacks. For his career, Lee totaled 291 tackles, the 19th-highest total in school history.
With Lee's selection, the Deacon have had 134 players drafted since guard Lou Trunzo was picked by Brooklyn in the 1939 NFL Draft.
Lee is the first Deacon linebacker selected since 2009 when Aaron Curry was a first round pick (fourth player overall) by the Seattle Seahawks and Stanley Arnoux was a fourth round pick of the New Orleans Saints.
As a senior, Lee finished 12th in the ACC in tackles per game with 8.1 and he was one of just 17 players in the ACC to collect 100 or more tackles. Lee was fifth in the ACC in tackles for loss and 11th in the league in sacks.
Lee served as captain at Wake Forest in 2016. He becomes the first Wake Forest player ever drafted by the Raiders.
