Samuel Womack selected 172nd overall by San Francisco 49ers in 2022 NFL Draft

Toledo’s secondary made quite the splash in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

With the 172nd overall pick, the San Francisco 49ers dove into the Rust Belt and selected Toledo cornerback Samuel Womack.

Womack’s selection comes six picks after his teammate Tycen Anderson was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals. Womack and Anderson make program history as the first pair of Toledo defensive backs selected in the same NFL Draft. Additionally, the duo is the first MAC secondary pairing to each warrant NFL Draft selections since Sean Murphy-Bunting and Xavier Crawford were chosen out of Central Michigan in 2019.

Womack was the ultimate pass breakup specialist during his days in the MAC. In 2019, he ranked fourth in the FBS with 15 deflections. After a pandemic-shortened season limited his statistical capabilities, Womack bounced back to check in at third in the country in pass breakups with 15 in 2021. Since 2005, only 10 college football players accumulated more breakups than Womack’s 39 as a Rocket.

He cracked First Team All-MAC honors as a senior in 2021 and was on the preseason watchlist for the Jim Thorpe Award. The 5’10” and 187 pound cornerback corralled two picks in his final campaign, securing a 49-yard interception return in the Bahamas Bowl — his final collegiate game. While Womack did not receive an NFL Draft Combine invite following the Bahamas Bowl, he participated in the 2022 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Pasadena, CA.

The last three draft picks to come out of Toledo are all members of the secondary. Before Womack and Anderson heard their names called in the fifth round, Ka’dar Hollman was the program’s most recent selection in 2019 and signed with the 49ers in February. Along with Hollman, Womack’s new colleagues in the San Francisco cornerback room include Emmanuel Moseley, Charvarius Ward, Ambry Thomas, Deommodore Lenoir, Darqueze Dennard, and Dontae Johnson.