- Associated Press - Saturday, April 29, 2017

Florida State receiver Travis Rudolph, whose father was shot and killed just days before the NFL draft, is one of 28 early entrants who were not selected.

Ninety-five players were granted special eligibility by the NFL to enter the draft as underclassmen, including No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett of Texas A&M. Another eight players with college eligibility remaining had graduated by the declaration deadline and were eligible, including Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was taken No. 12 overall by Houston.

Wide receiver was the most popular position among the undrafted underclassmen, with some big names beyond Rudolph not being picked. KD Cannon and Ishmael Zamora from Baylor and Ricky-Seals Jones and Speedy Noil from Texas A&M all will be looking for work as undrafted free agents.

Rudolph had a solid career at Florida State, catching 153 passes for 2,311 yards and 18 touchdowns in three seasons. He made national headlines - in a positive way - though for something he did off the field. On a visit to a Tallahassee, Florida, middle school in August, Rudolph went out of his way to eat lunch with an autistic boy named Bo Paske, who had been sitting at a table by himself.

Rudolph’s act of kindness earned him the thanks of the boys’ mother in a lengthy Facebook post, which went viral along with a video of Rudolph sitting with the son at his school.

On April 21, Rudolph’s father, 55-year-old Darryl Rudolph, was shot while working as a handyman at a night club in West Palm Beach. According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office, a gun went off in an adjacent room while it was being moved from a shelf and the bullet penetrated a wall and struck Rudolph.

Travis Rudolph watched the draft at his family’s West Palm Beach home on Saturday, with ESPN cameras in the house.

Also undrafted was Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans, who declared after just one season playing for the Hokies. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Evans passed for 3,552 yards and 29 touchdowns and ran for 846 yards and 12 scores.

A list of underclassmen who were eligible to be drafted but not taken:

KD Cannon, WR, Baylor

Devin Childress, WR, North Park

Jerod Evans, QB, Virginia Tech

Jeremy Faulk, DT, Garden City CC

Tarean Folston, RB, Notre Dame

Isaiah Golden, DT, McNeese State

Jermaine Grace, LB, Miami

Derrick Griffin, WR, Texas Southern

Titus Howard, DB, Slippery Rock

Tim Kimbrough, LB, Georgia

Jerome Lane, WR, Akron

Keevan Lucas, WR, Tulsa

Damien Mama, OL, USC

Deon-Tay McManus, WR, Marshall

Speedy Noil, WR, Texas A&M

Marcus Oliver, LB, Indiana

Aaron Peak, DB, Butler County CC

Devine Redding, RB, Indiana

Travis Rudolph, WR, Florida State

(asterisk)-Artavis Scott, WR, Clemson

Ricky Seals-Jones, WR, Texas A&M

Garrett Sickels, DE, Penn State

Damore’ea Stringfellow, WR, Ole Miss

Charles Walker, DL, Oklahoma

(asterisk)-Khari Waithe-Alexander, DE, Southern Illinois

Stanley Williams, RB, Kentucky

Joe Yearby, RB, Miami

Ishmael Zamora, WR, Baylor

(asterisk)-denotes player who had graduated by the January declaration deadline.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAp

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