Taylor Moton picked by Carolina Panthers in second round of NFL draft
Taylor Moton became the first Lansing area NFL draft pick in eight years Friday night when the Carolina Panthers selected him with the final pick of the second round, 64th overall.
Moton, an Okemos native and four-year starting offensive lineman at Western Michigan University, is the seventh offensive lineman chosen in this year’s NFL draft.
“God blessed me. I’m just so thankful,” Moton told Lansing State Journal colleague Cody Tucker, who spent Friday evening with Moton and his family at their Okemos home. “My grandfather is definitely smiling down on me from heaven.”
Moton’s grandfather, a major influence in his life, passed away in 2010.
Moton, projected as a second- or third-round pick, is the second Western Michigan player taken in this draft, following receiver Corey Davis, who went No. 5 overall Thursday night to the Tennessee Titans.
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Moton is the highest NFL draft pick from Greater Lansing since Waverly’s Muhsin Muhammad was chosen 43rd overall by the Panthers in 1996. He is the first area player selected since the Packers took East Lansing’s Brad Jones in the seventh round in 2009.
As a fifth-year senior, Moton helped Western Michigan to an undefeated regular season and the program’s first Mid-American Conference championship since 1988. He played both tackle and guard during his college career, but is projected by most analysts as a guard at the NFL level.
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He is the fourth player from Western Michigan selected in the last two NFL drafts and, other than Davis, the highest selected Broncos player since the Lions took Louis Delmas with the first pick of the second around in 2009.
Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.