As another crop of NFL hopefuls waited to hear their names called by Commissioner Roger Goodell on national television Thursday, for the fourth time in five seasons a member of the Illinois football team was one of those hopefuls.

That hopeful, joined by another surprise Illini, gave the Illinois football program something that hasn’t happened since Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice went No. 2 and No. 3 overall in the 1996 NFL Draft — two first round picks.

With the 26th pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans took former Illini defensive end Whitney Mercilus, and with the 30th pick the San Francisco 49ers took former wide receiver A.J. Jenkins.

In what has been somewhat of a trend since 2008, Mercilus and Jenkins were the fourth and fifth Illini selected in the first round in the past five years, joining Rashard Mendenhall (23rd to Pittsburgh in 2008), Vontae Davis (25th to Miami in 2009) and Corey Liuget (18th to San Diego in 2011).

At 6-foot-4, 261 pounds, Mercilus’ physical traits suggest he may not be nearly as disruptive at the professional level as he was in college.

Taking a look back to the last three drafts, the Washington Redskins took Brian Orakpo 13th overall in 2009, the New York Giants took Jason Pierre-Paul 15th overall in 2010 and the San Francisco 49ers took Aldon Smith seventh overall in 2011.

Those three current NFL players are between 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-5 and weigh between 250 and 280 pounds, respectively.

At their respective combines in the 40-yard dash, Orakpo, Smith and Pierre-Paul ran between 4.74 and 4.78 seconds while in the bench press, Orakpo pumped 31 reps, Smith 20 and Pierre-Paul 19.

Combined, they have played six NFL seasons and racked up 64.5 sacks during that time. Pierre-Paul and Orakpo have been selected to the Pro Bowl, and although Smith was labeled as a snub for this past year’s team, he still had 14 sacks as a rookie.

Mercilus performed well at this year’s combine, running a 4.68 in the 40-yard dash — the fourth-fastest time among defensive linemen — and had 27 reps on the bench.

His 2011 campaign, in which he was a unanimous All-American, leading the nation in sacks (16) and forced fumbles (9), however has been a double-edged sword for the Illini sack master.

The numbers show domination, but also cause scouts to ask why he didn’t do this his first two years. It is an especially interesting question, at least as far as the 2010 season is concerned, because he had the aforementioned Liuget clogging up the middle.

Albeit a fair question, he had 16 sacks with a Big Ten schedule and sustained that same success all season long, earning a tackle for loss in all but one game.

For what it’s worth, Mercilus only started two games in his first two seasons before starting every game in 2011.

Playing with established defensive players like Connor Barwin, Antonio Smith, Brooks Reed, J.J. Watt and Brian Cushing will allow him to utilize his strength as a rusher.

Adapting to the Texans’ 3-4 scheme and the loss of Mario Williams to free agency are the early pressures in Mercilus’ new situation. But adjusting to a new defense and helping fill the shoes of a Pro-bowler is the kind of challenge a player seeking to debunk the “one-year-wonder” label wants.

Two players that were proven ended up going in the first and second picks of the first round.

As was widely speculated in the months leading up to the Draft, Stanford’s Andrew Luck and Baylor’s Robert Griffin III were taken first and second overall Thursday.

Those two have the skills to resurrect two franchises in disarray, but as far as the first round of the Draft is concerned, the majority of the excitement took place in the eight picks that followed.

While the last three draft’s have featured little first round trades in the first 10 selections, this year’s draft featured four trades in the first 10 picks.

Of the teams that made trades, the most intriguing was the St. Louis Rams. They need talented players at virtually every position, but I was surprised to see the Rams move out of the top 10 to draft LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers.

The only thing more surprising about the first round was San Francisco’s selection of Jenkins at No. 30.

Whether you turned to ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. or Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who had Mercilus being selected by the Chicago Bears at No. 19 and by the Tennessee Titans at No. 20, respectively, Mercilus’ first round appeal was clear.

The same was not true for Jenkins.

Expected by various draft experts to be chosen between the second and third rounds, Jenkins’ speed, catching ability and ball skills give Alex Smith and Jim Harbaugh another wide receiver to help spread the field as a deep threat.

With the acquisition of Mario Manningham and Randy Moss via free agency, and the selection of Jenkins Thursday, it is clear the 49ers are looking to improve a passing offense that averaged only 183 passing yards a game and rated near the bottom of the NFL in nearly every passing category.

If the last three drafts have proved anything, it’s that some trends continued and some trends didn’t. Either way, if Orakpo, Pierre-Paul and Smith can rack up a video game stats worth of sacks in the NFL, the Texans hope Mercilus’ similar physical attributes can translate the same way, while the 49ers added another dimension to their offense.

Dan is a junior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected].