NFL Draft: Xenia grad picked in seventh round

Gavin Gerhardt, a 2020 Xenia High School graduate who spent the last six seasons with the Cincinnati Bearcats, heard his name called on Saturday, April 25, in the final round of the NFL Draft.

The Minnesota Vikings drafted Gerhardt, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive lineman, with the 19th pick in the seventh round. He was the 235th player selected in the three-day draft.

“I’m super excited to join a great organization,” Gerhardt said in a virtual press conference with Minnesota media after the draft. “I can't thank my college experience and my college coaches enough.”

Gerhardt watched the draft with family and friends Saturday in Xenia, where he played for a Miami Valley League championship team in 2019 when he was a senior.

“We got together around 12,” he said. “Obviously, I knew that if I did get drafted, it was going to be later on, and I was ready for whatever. If that was free agency, that was fine, as long as I got an opportunity, and I was able to get an opportunity. It was amazing to sit there and watch the screen, talk with my agent, and then randomly get a phone call and know what that phone call means and how it will change my life forever. It’s very exciting. I’ve got family, friends, my fiancé's family here — people that have been in my life since I was a little kid — so I get to celebrate with them.”

Gerhardt met with Vikings coaches earlier this month in a Top-30 Visit. Teams can host up to 30 prospects at their facilities.

Obviously, I think highly of them coaching-wise,” Gerhardt said, “but they were all very good people, people that cared about me as a human being — and that's what I care most about, other human beings. Obviously, I think I'm a good football player, but me as a human being, I think that's my greatest quality. I really strive to be just like my father and be that man everyone can lean on. That's the vibe I got when I was there in Minnesota from the coaching staff.

Scouts Inc.’s pre-draft analysis on Gerhardt described him as a center with a great frame and mobility.

“He does a good job latching on to defenders, but he could improve with sustaining blocks for longer,” the scouting report read. “When run blocking, Gerhardt does a good job walling off to secure running lanes. He has good timing in his punch, though he needs to improve his hand strength as he develops at the next level.”

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert wrote that the Vikings addressed a key need by drafting Gerhardt.

“The retirement of Ryan Kelly left the starting job open heading into this offseason,” Seifert wrote, “and the Vikings had hoped to land a center earlier than this point. But that's the way the board fell, and Gerhardt will go to camp with two veterans who shared the load last season when Kelly was injured: Blake Brandel and Michael Jurgens. Brandel remains the favorite for the job, at least heading into the start of offseason workouts.”

The Vikings drafted another UC player in the second round: linebacker Jake Golday.