DETROIT, Mich. -- Pick number 159. Round 5. Selection 24. Former Big Red offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad is joining the Kansas City Chiefs after being selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. Nourzad becomes the first Big Red to be selected in the draft since 2013 when JC Tretter was picked 122nd overall by Green Bay.

The 2022 graduate of the Big Red was a former two-time All-America offensive lineman, earning a third-team offensive line nod in the 2020 season and a second-team look in the 2021 season, a year when he was the long Ivy Leaguer to make the list. Nourzad was named an All-Ivy first-teamer and the Ivy League Offensive Lineman of the Year by Phil Steele in his final season with the Big Red. Since graduating, the Marietta, Ga., native finished his final two years of eligibility at Penn State, where he appeared in 24 games, including making 21 starts, most often at center. He helped the Nittany Lions to a 21-5 overall record including two New Year's Six bowl game appearances.

Nourzad was the only player with Cornell experience to be picked in the draft. Jalyx Hunt, who spent three seasons on East Hill before transferring to Houston Christian, was selected as the 31st pick in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles. The pair marks the first duo with Cornell experience to be selected in the same draft class since the 1997 season when Seth Payne and Chad Levitt were both selected in the fourth round.