EAGAN, Minn. –The Vikings may have gotten a bargain on Colby Gossett.
The guard out of Appalachian State was actually projected by NFL Media analyst Mel Kiper to be selected by Minnesota in the third round, **but the Vikings got him in the sixth*** *with the No. 213th overall pick. He was the second offensive lineman selected by Minnesota in the draft, joining second-round pick Brian O'Neill.
Gossett started all 13 games at right guard and helped lead Appalachian State to a 9-4 season, after which he received First-Team All-Sun Belt honors for the second consecutive season.
Here are five things to know about Gossett:
1. Four-year starter
After redshirting in 2013 and missing the first four games of 2014 with an injury, Gossett started the final 46 games of his career, a streak that began when he was a redshirt freshman.
In 2015, Gossett started the season's first seven games at right guard and then slid outside to right tackle for the final six.
Gossett started 13 games – 11 at right guard and two at right tackle – as a junior in 2016.
2. Strong impression
Gossett may have gone to a smaller-division school, but the lineman proved to scouts that he can compete with top-tier athletes.
Gossett received invites to the NFL Scouting Combine, where he ranked fourth among offensive linemen with 32 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, and to the Senior Bowl, where he played left guard.
Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman said he was impressed by Gossett's performance in Mobile, Alabama:
"He got an opportunity to go down there [to the Senior Bowl] and compete at a higher level against a couple of the top defensive linemen in this draft, and he held his own."
3. Joining Georgia natives
Gossett's hometown is Cumming, Georgia, where he attended North Forsyth High School.
The lineman will join nine other Vikings on the current roster who hail from Georgia, including QB Kyle Sloter, whose hometown of John's Creek is just 16 miles from Cumming.
Other Georgia natives in the Vikings locker room are Mack Brown (Clarkston), Reshard Cliett (Thomasville), Tavarres King (Mount Airy), Caushaud Lyons (Stockbridge), Tray Matthews (Newnan), Stephen Weatherly (Snellville), Antwione Williams (Lovejoy) and Jonathan Wynn (Stone Mountain).
4. Among the few
Appalachian State isn't among the big-name colleges churning out NFL players, but the program has produced players who went on to the pros.
According to the ***Watauga Democrat****, *Gossett is the first Mountaineers offensive lineman to be drafted since 2011, when the 49ers selected Daniel Kilgore in the fifth round. Only one other lineman has been drafted out of Appalachian State: tackle Derrick Graham, a 1990 Chiefs pick.
The last Mountaineer to be drafted prior to Gossett was 2016 fifth-round selection Ronald Blair, a defensive end also picked by the 49ers.
5. Vikings coaching connection
Gossett will be learning under new Vikings Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo and offensive line coach Tony Sparano.
On the other side of the ball, however, Vikings Defensive Coordinator George Edwards served as an assistant coach with Appalachian State from 1992-95.
