Marrow picked in third by Carolina

He didn't have going to Carolina on his mind. With a 4.65-second 40-yard dash and a 500-lb. bench press in the spring combines, Penn fifth year senior Mitch Marrow heard whispers from his agent, Jim Ulrich, that Green Bay would select him with its first round pick, No. 29 overall. When the Packers traded its first round pick to Miami, Ulrich predicted the Oakland Raiders would take a gamble on the former Quaker with one of two second round picks, No. 31 or 34 overall. But the Raiders' draft room preferred Washington lineman Leon Bender at No. 31 to the quicker Marrow, and then unexpectedly traded pick No. 34 away to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The pre-season All-American waited -- and waited -- slipping all the way down to the 12th pick of the third round, No. 73 overall, when Panthers head coach Dom Capers pulled the trigger. "I went in open-minded, I wasn't really expecting anything," Marrow said after receiving word that he was property of the fourth-year NFL franchise. "I'm excited to go to Carolina. It's a great opportunity." Marrow officially turns in his Red and Blue for Silver and Turquoise Thursday when he reports to the Panthers' training camp practice facility of Wofford College in South Carolina for his physical and first post-draft workout. Carolina, 7-9 last season, plans to return to the playoffs this season behind an improved defense. While Marrow may become part of the solution, he must first beat out a plethora of rookie defensive linemen for a starting position. Capers used his first round pick, No. 14 overall, on Nebraska defensive lineman Jason Peter. The fourth-year coach then selected Louisiana State lineman Chuck Wiley with the first pick of the third round. As the 13th defensive lineman selected overall, Marrow became the first Quaker to go in the draft since the Kansas City Chiefs selected Joe Valerio in the second round of the 1991 draft. There was pre-draft hoopla surrounding Penn wide receiver Miles Macik in '96, but nothing ever materialized. The Penn all-time leader with 25 1/2 sacks and 24 tackles for negative yardage, Marrow had his best college stats as a true senior in 1996, when he registered 16 1/2 sacks and 13 tackles for a loss for the 5-5 Quakers. Last season, however, the former all-Ivy struggled from the get-go -- first with mononucleosis, then with turf-toe and finally with an academic scandal as Marrow suited up despite status as a part-time student, a violation of NCAA rules. Ulrich did not comment on whether the illness, injuries or academic ineligibility hurt Marrow's draft status. But the 27-year-old agent expected the Penn fifth-year senior to have gone higher, comparing him to Oakland Raiders' defensive tackle Chester McGlockton, who recently signed a $30 million offer sheet to play for the Chiefs. "Dallas came down, took us to dinner and gave us a cell phone to keep in contact at all times," Ulrich said. "We thought they'd trade down [for Marrow]. But they took Greg Ellis at defensive end and that threw a wrench in everything. We thought the Eagles would trade down; they didn't. We thought he had a solid shot of going to Green Bay at 29. We thought he had a great shot of going to the Raiders. And it didn't work out." Marrow, however, wasn't the only all-Ivy expecting a look on draft day. Nor was he the lone Ancient Eighter to have his name called. Three rounds after Marrow went to the Panthers, the Arizona Cardinals took Dartmouth outside linebacker Zack Walz as their sixth selection, pick No. 158 overall. The 6'5" 228-pounder, who goes by the nickname "Blade," joins one of the NFL's strongest front sevens and is unlikely to see much playing time. Fifteen picks later, the Minnesota Vikings made a surprising choice in Harvard offensive lineman Matt Birk. At 6'5" and 306 lbs., the all-Ivy has NFL size paired with intelligence. But according to a scouting report on ESPN SportsZone, Birk is lacking in athleticism, and his inability to execute the long-snap accurately to the punter will hurt his chances of sticking around on special teams. With three draftees, the Ivy League has now sent five players to the pros in the past two seasons, one each from Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn. This trend bodes well for the Division I-AA football conference, which struggles to become thought of as more than just recreation from academics. Down the line, though, scouts won't judge Ivy League football based on when its star players were drafted. On-the-field performance is what counts. The same holds true for Marrow. Ulrich felt the former Penn defensive lineman deserved better than a third-round selection. If he indeed proves first-round caliber, few outside of Carolina will remember that his name still was on the draftboard even after 72 others were erased.