The Detroit Lions selected G/T Johnny Culbreath out of South Carolina State with the 209th overall pick (7th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  He is 6’5″, 322 pounds as he is a mammoth of a man.  Culbreath was a 4-year starter with South Carolina State and he was impressive at that level.  But the jump in competition is going to be huge, so look for the Lions to give him time to adjust to the speed and power of the game.  He is an impressive athlete for his size but the thinking here is that the Lions will try him out at guard instead of the outside.

UPDATE:  (9/4/2011) – The Lions have placed Johnny Culbreath on I.R. due to an illness.

The Detroit Lions picked 22-year old OLB Doug Hogue out of Syracuse with the 157th overall pick (5th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  He is 6’2″, 235 pounds and he runs a 4.62 40 as he’s a pretty good athlete.  Hogue played at RB his first two years at Syracuse, so he’s a work in progress at LB.  He will have to play on the outside where he will have the space he needs to operate and get to RBs and TEs.  He’s not too good in traffic at this point of his career because he has problem getting off linemen’s blocks.  Hogue played in 13 games (all starts) for Syracuse last season and he had 95 tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss, has 3 sacks, he broke up 2 passes and he had 2 interceptions.  Hogue played in 25 games (all starts) in his last two years with the Orangemen and he had 167 tackles, 26.5 tackles for a loss, 12.5 sacks, he broke up 6 passes and he had 2 interceptions.  Hogue will likely help out on special teams right away for the Lions while being coach up on D.

The Lions have picked 21-year old RB Mikel Leshoure out of Illinois with the 57th overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Leshoure is a big guy at 6’0″, 230 pounds and he runs a 4.55 40.  Leshoure plays a big man’s game as he is a power runner who also is a good pass blocker.  He is also a pretty solid receiver out of the backfield.  Leshoure played in 13 games (all starts) for Illinois last year and he carried the ball 281 times for 1,697 yards (6.0 ypc) with 17 TD grabs.  He also caught 17 passes for 196 yards (11.5 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Leshoure played in 33 games (17 starts) in his three years with the Illini in which he carried the ball 424 times for 2,557 yards (6.0 ypc) with 23 TD runs.  He also caught 37 passes for 439 yards (11.9 avg) with 5 TD grabs at Illinois.  Leshoure will team with last year’s first round pick Jahvid Best to give the Lions a Thunder and Lightning look at RB in 2011 and beyond.

The Lions picked 22-year old WR/KR Titus Young out of Boise State with the 44th overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Young is tiny at 5’11″, 174 pounds and he runs a 4.43 40.  He is a homerun threat every time he touches the ball and he has an outstanding set of hands as well as a truckload of good moves to get down the field.  Young played in 13 games (11 starts) for Boise State last year and he caught 71 passes for 1,215 yards (17.1 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  He played in 43 games (26 starts) in his four years with the Broncos and he caught 204 passes for 3,063 yards (15.0 avg) with 25 TD grabs.  Young also is an electric return man.  In the last two years at Boise State, Young returned 57 kickoffs for 1,397 yards (25.9 avg) with 2 TD returns.  He also returned 4 punts for 43 yards (10.8 avg) as well.  This was a very solid pick for the Lions as Young is a gamebreaker on special teams and he gives Matt Stafford a burner.