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Five Long Beach Footballers Sign NFL Deals

Five Long Beach football players signed to NFL teams over the last weekend, including four who signed as undrafted free agents.

Lakewood alum Matt Pryor went from the Lancers to TCU where he had a solid four-year career on the O-Line that saw him earn second-team All-Big 12 honors last season. Pryor was drafted in the sixth round by the Eagles, who had a big need on the offensive line.

Pryor was considered a surprise pick who wasn’t on many teams’ radars—he wasn’t invited to the Draft Combine, proving that all you need is one team to believe in you.

Josh Fatu, a Lakewood alum who played at LBCC before going on to USC, signed undrafted with the Lions.

Joining Fatu in Detroit is Long Beach Poly alum JoJo Wicker, who spent three years at Arizona State before declaring early for the Draft. Gerard Wicks, another Poly alum, had a full career at Washington State and was signed undrafted by the Saints, one of several teams he worked out for before the draft.

Finally Matt Boesen, also an LBCC product, came out of TCU to sign an undrafted free agent deal with the Bills.

The quintet joins a large contingent of local players already in the league—stay tuned for a full NFL camp preview in the next few weeks.

Mike Guardabascio
An LBC native, Mike Guardabascio has been covering Long Beach sports professionally for 13 years, with his work published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous awards for his writing as well as the CIF Southern Section’s Champion For Character Award, and is the author of three books about Long Beach history.
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