Releases: Penn | Yale

DALLAS -- From #IvyFootball to the NFL.
 
Penn wide receiver Justin Watson and Yale linebacker Foye Oluokun were each selected in the 2018 NFL Draft, as Watson was taken by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fifth round with the 144^th overall pick and Oluokun was chosen by the Atlanta Falcons in the sixth round with the 200^th overall pick.
 
It marks the 46^th NFL Draft that saw multiple Ivies selected and the first since 2013, when Cornell’s JC Tretter (Green Bay, currently with Cleveland), Harvard’s Kyle Juszczyk (Baltimore, currently with San Francisco) and Princeton’s Mike Catapano (Kansas City) were drafted. 
 
Watson, perhaps the best wide receiver ever to come out of the Ivy League, joins fellow Ivies Ryan Fitzpatrick and Cameron Brate (Harvard) on the Bucs. He is the 46th Quaker all-time to be selected in the NFL Draft, and first since Jeff Hatch by the New York Giants in 2002. Watson's selection gives Penn football five alumni currently on NFL rosters heading into the 2018 season. He joins former teammates Alek Torgersen '17 (Arizona Cardinals) and Ryan O'Malley '16 (New York Giants) as well as Brandon Copeland '13 (New York Jets) and Greg Van Roten '13 (Carolina Panthers).
 
Oluokun is the first Bulldog to be drafted since 2011, when Shane Bannon went to Kansas City in the seventh round, and the highest Yale draftee since Nate Lawrie was taken with the 181^st overall pick by Tampa Bay in 2004. Oluokun finished 13th on the school's career tackling list with 271 stops and helped Yale win go 9-1 last fall and take its first outright league title in 37 years after making the move from safety to linebacker.

Watson and Oluokun are hoping to join the list of Ivies in the NFL, as 12 former #IvyFootball standouts were on active rosters last season, with two (Juszczyk, Brown's James Develin) earning Pro Bowl nods and culminating with Develin playing the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots.