Liberty wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden became the eighth player in program history to be selected in the NFL Draft when the Washington Redskins picked him in the fourth round.
Gandy-Golden was the 142nd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and is the first Flame selected in the draft since Walt Aikens was taken in the fourth round in 2014.
Gandy-Golden becomes the third player in program history to be selected in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.
Wide receiver Kelvin Edwards was selected in the fourth round in 1986 by New Orleans Saints with the 88th overall pick. The Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame selection played three seasons in the NFL (New Orleans – 1986; Dallas Cowboys – 1987-88).
Aikens was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft with the 125th overall pick. The cornerback and special teams standout played for the Dolphins the last six seasons (2014-19).
The Flames’ top NFL Draft pick was Eric Green, who was selected in the first round (21st pick) by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1990.
Liberty’s other previous NFL Draft picks include Fred Banks (1985/Round 8/Cleveland Browns), Edwards (1986/Round 4/New Orleans Saints), Richard Shelton (1989/Round 10/Denver Broncos), Donald Smith (1990/Round 10/Minnesota Vikings), Rashad Jennings (2009/Round 7/Jacksonville Jaguars) and Aikens (2014/Round 4/Miami Dolphins).
Gandy-Golden was the fourth player selected in this year’s NFL Draft by the Redskins, following Chase Young (DE/Round 1/Ohio State), Antonio Gibson (WR/Round 3/Memphis) and Saahdiq Charles (OT/Round 4/LSU).
Gandy-Golden finished his senior year with the Flames ranked No. 4 in the country in total receiving yards (1,396) and No. 5 in receiving yards per game (107.4). He also ranked No. 22 in the country in receptions per game (6.1).
Gandy-Golden finished his senior season with 1,396 receiving yards, becoming the first player in program history to record 1,000 receiving yards in three consecutive seasons (2017 – 1,066; 2018 – 1,037; 2019 – 1,396).
Gandy-Golden has rewritten all of Liberty’s career receiving records. He is the school’s all-time leader in career receiving yards (3,814), receptions (240) and receiving touchdowns (33). He also holds the program record with 17 100-yard games, seven of which came during his senior season.
The NFL Draft selection is the latest in a long line of honors for the native of Dallas, Ga. The wide receiver was a semifinalist for the 2019 Biletnikoff Award, was named the Offensive End of the Year honoree by the Touchdown Club of Richmond and garnered a spot on the 2019 Phil Steele All-America honorable mention team.
Gandy-Golden was named to the 2019 VaSID all-state team for the third year in a row. He was also one of 11 Flames named to the 2019 Phil Steele FBS Independent All-Conference team.
To help NFL scouts evaluate Gandy-Golden’s talent, the wide receiver was invited to the 2020 Reese’s Senior Bowl in January and the 2020 NFL Combine in February.
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