HIGHLIGHTS

People often refer to the NFL as a copycat league, but this is ridiculous: During an eight-pick stretch in the third round, teams selected seven receivers and a tight end.

That group included Washington State’s Jason Hill, selected 76th by San Francisco. He was one of the best receivers in the Pacific 10 Conference, with 111 of his 148 career receptions resulting in first downs.

Fresno State teammates Marcus McCauley and Paul Williams were also selected in the third. McCauley, a very physical cornerback, was chosen by Minnesota; Williams, a receiver, went to Tennessee.

Williams is the younger brother of J.D. Williams, a first-round pick by Buffalo in 1990, and the late Curtis Williams, the University of Washington defensive back who was paralyzed by an on-field collision.

With the 92nd pick, Buffalo took Stanford quarterback Trent Edwards, a player widely projected to go in the second round. He will probably back up Bills starter J.P. Losman.

The best player not taken might have been Louisville running back Michael Bush.

If there was an out-of-nowhere pick in the third, it was Kent State cornerback Usama Young, who was selected by New Orleans even though he didn’t garner an invitation to the scouting combine. The Saints said he is Kent State’s “finest” defensive player since Pittsburgh Steelers great Jack Lambert.

When it was over, 11 hours and four minutes had passed -- a league record for the first three rounds.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Round 3

*--* N. TEAM PLAYER P HT WT COLLEGE 65. Oakland Quentin Moses DE 6-5 261 Georgia 66. New Orleans-a Usama Young CB 5-11 186 Kent State 67. Dallas-b James Marten OT 6-8 309 Boston College 68. Tampa Bay Quincy Black OLB 6-2 240 New Mexico 69. Arizona Buster Davis ILB 5-10 239 Florida State 70. Denver-c Ryan Harris OT 6-5 305 Notre Dame 71. Miami Lorenzo Booker RB 5-11 191 Florida State 72. Minnesota Marcus McCauley CB 6-1 203 Fresno State 73. Houston Jacoby Jones WR 6-3 210 Lane 74. Baltimore-d Yamon Figurs WR 5-11 174 Kansas State 75. Atlanta Laurent Robinson WR 6-1 193 Illinois State 76. San Francisco Jason Hill WR 6-1 204 Washington State 77. Pittsburgh Matt Spaeth TE 6-7 270 Minnesota 78. Green Bay James Jones WR 6-1 207 San Jose State 79. Jacksonville Mike Walker WR 6-2 209 Central Florida 80. Tennessee Paul Williams WR 6-1 205 Fresno State 81. N.Y. Giants Jay Alford DT 6-4 304 Penn State 82. Kansas City-e Tank Tyler DT 6-2 306 North Carolina State 83. Carolina Charles Johnson DE 6-2 270 Georgia 84. St. Louis-f Jonathan Wade CB 5-10 195 Tennessee 85. Seattle Brandon Mebane DT 6-1 309 California 86. Baltimore-g Marshall Yanda OG 6-4 304 Iowa 87. Stewart Bradley OLB 6-4 254 Nebraska Philadelphia-h 88. New Orleans Andy Alleman OG 6-4 305 Akron 89. Green Bay-i Aaron Rouse SS 6-4 223 Virginia Tech 90. Philadelphia Tony Hunt RB 6-2 233 Penn State 91. Oakland-j Mario Henderson OT 6-6 302 Florida State 92. Buffalo-k Trent Edwards QB 6-4 231 Stanford 93. Chicago-l Garrett Wolfe RB 5-8 186 Northern Illinois 94. Chicago Michael Okwo ILB 6-0 232 Stanford 95. Indianapolis Daymeion Hughes CB 5-10 190 California 96. San Diego-m Anthony Waters ILB 6-3 245 Clemson 97. San Ray McDonald DE 6-4 276 Florida Francisco-m 98. Quinn Pitcock DT 6-3 299 Ohio State Indianapolis-m 99. Oakland-m Johnnie Lee WR 6-0 186 Texas El Paso Higgins

*--*

a-from Detroit; b-from Cleveland; c-from Washington; d-from Buffalo through Detroit; e-from St. Louis; f-from Kansas City; g-from Denver through Jacksonville; h-from Dallas; i-from NY Jets; j-from New England; k-from Baltimore through Buffalo; l-from San Diego; m-compensatory selection