Cardinals snag RB Andre Ellington with second sixth-round selection
Apr 27, 2013, 8:43 PM | Updated: Apr 28, 2013, 3:17 pm
For the second time Saturday, Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim opted to use a draft pick to bolster the team’s backfield.
Keim followed up his fifth-round selection of Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor by taking Clemson running back Andre Ellington with the No. 187 pick in the sixth round.
“Wherever they need me to play, I’ll play,” Ellington said in a conference call Saturday. “I have big-play ability, that’s something I thrived off of my whole season and career in college. I feel like I’m a guy who can come in and give the offense a spark.”
In 2012, the 5-foot-9 Ellington ran for 1,081 yards (second in the ACC) and 8 touchdowns. He made the first-team All-ACC in 2012 and was named to the conference’s second team in 2010 and 2011.
The former Tigers halfback ran for 3,436 yards and 33 touchdowns (third-most in program history) during his four years at Clemson. He was a three-year starter from 2010-12.
“For me, being an undersized back it’s just a mentality thing I’ve always worked on and thrived off of,” said Ellington. “I’m not afraid to go in there and put my helmet on bigger guys coming at me.”