Giants pick former Ellerson receiver

The New York Giants selected Cal Poly wide receiver Ramses Barden in the third round of the NFL draft Sunday morning.

Barden, a 6-foot-6, 229-pound senior, caught 67 passes, 18 for touchdowns, for current Army coach Rich Ellerson at Cal Poly in 2008.

He is one of three Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision) receiver to have 50 or more career touchdown grabs. Jerry Rice is one of the others.

NFL.com called Barden, “the most physically imposing receiver” in the draft.

Barden’s success at Cal Poly might have put the idea of using Army 6-foot-10 junior Ali Villanueva at wide receiver into Ellerson’s head.

“I’m sure that’s influenced me. Ramses was
productive as a young player before he was a great receiver. He was a good
receiver that was a tall guy. Ali’s got three or four inches on him. Ali’s not
quite the athlete Ramses is and he’s nowhere near the receiver. He doesn’t have
the background. But he is open and like Ramses, he’s got a basketball
background and he has very strong hands. He’s a natural ball catcher. I just
said hey in that part of the field, that really frustrated folks just having
something like that that has to be defended. Anytime, you have something you
consider to be special, in our business, that’s rareability and whenever you have
rareability, you make sure you are getting the most out of it.”