NFL Draft: Rams choose Beavercreek native in first round

The Los Angeles Rams chose Florida State defensive end Jared Verse with a 19th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night.

A Beavercreek native, Verse was a first-team All-American last season when he had 41 tackles, including 12.5 for loss and nine sacks in 13 games.

Overall, he logged 21 tackles for loss and 13 sacks for the Seminoles after notching 21.5 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks at Albany, the only school to offer him a scholarship when he was a senior at Central Columbia High School in Pennsylvania.

At the NFL Scouting Combine in February, Verse said he lived in Beavercreek until he was 13 when his family moved to North Carolina.

“That’s my whole childhood ,” he said in Indianapolis. “Up until my teenage years, I was there. I remember going outside playing with my friends at the park down the street. Doing this, doing that. My dog would get loose sometimes outside the house and run around down the block. It literally was the most harmless dog and would run around for no reason, but those are the memories I have.”

In L.A., he’ll pay for head coach Sean McVay, who also was born in the Dayton area but moved away before finishing high school.

Taylor Decker, an offensive lineman from Butler High School who played at Ohio State, was the last player from the Miami Valley drafted in the first round.

The Lions took him with the 16th pick in the 2016 draft 10 years after A.J. Hawk and Nick Mangold were picked in the first round by the Packers and Jets, respectively.

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