Godfrey, Conner
picked on second day
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

CHARLOTTE — The Carolina Panthers continued their NFL Draft by taking Charles Godfrey, a safety from Iowa, in the third round Sunday and Dan Conner an outside linebacker from Penn State.

Godfrey played cornerback at Iowa, but is projected to be a safety in the NFL. He had five interceptions for the Hawkeye’s last year.

“I’ve had meetings with a lot of teams and they asked me about playing free safety or corner,” Godfrey said. “That was the one thing about my value coming in was being able to play more than one position in the secondary.”

Conner played middle linebacker at Penn State last year. The three years before, he played on the weak side.

The Panthers were looking for linebacker help after releasing Dan Morgan, who was slowed by several injuries over the course of his career at Carolina. He missed most of the 2007 season because of a concussion.

Carolina addressed its linebacker needs last year by drafting Jon Beason in the first round.

“I expect to talk to them a little bit later and get more information,” Conner said. “I’m able to play a couple of different positions at linebacker, so wherever they would need me I think I could plug in."

The Panthers did not have a fourth-round pick, having traded it to Philadelphia in a package that landed them the 19th overall pick, which they used on tackle Jeff Otah.

In the fifth round, Carolina took pass-catching tight end Gary Barnage from Louisville. Barnage, who is 6-6, 243 pounds, caught 53 passes for 655 yards last year.

Barnage, who runs a constant 4.6 40-yard dash, said he grew up a Panthers fan, even though he’s from the Jacksonville area. He even won some extra allowance from his father when the Panthers beat the Jaguars the first time the teams played.

“I know when they came in with Jacksonville as an expansion team, I actually liked the Panthers over Jacksonville even though Jacksonville is my home,” Barnage said. “I don’t know what it was. I just really liked them.”

Barnage could give the Panthers another target in the passing game. Teams often double up on receiver Steve Smith and then daring the Panthers to throw to other receivers.

“I feel like I can stretch the field against safeties and linebackers,” he said. “I feel that I can get open against safeties and linebackers.”
The Panthers finished their draft with three picks in the seventh round. They grabbed North Carolina defensive end Hilee Taylor to try to address their lack of depth along the defensive line. Mike Rucker retired at defensive end, while Kris Jenkins was traded to the New York Jets earlier this year. They also did not resign defensive tackle Kindal Moorehead.

The Panthers went back to taking offensive linemen, taking Mackenzy Bernadeau of Bentley College and Geoff Schwartz of Oregon.

Schwartz blocked for the Panthers’ first-round draft choice Jonathan Stewart.