Kansas Football standout offensive lineman and St. Louis hometown star Dominick Puni was selected in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft on Friday evening, going to the San Francisco 49ers at pick No. 86.

Puni becomes KU’s highest-drafted player since 2008, when Aqib Talib was selected in the first round (pick 20) by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s the first Jayhawk offensive lineman selected since Hakeem Adeniji was a sixth-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 and the highest drafted Kansas offensive lineman since Mike Wellman was picked in the third round (pick 81) by the Los Angeles Rams in 1979.

Puni grew up in St. Charles, Missouri, one of the largest suburbs in the St. Louis metro area. He attended Francis Howell Central and played football all four seasons for the Spartans. He is the second FHC alumnus to be drafted to the NFL, following Pierre Desir (2014), and Puni is also the highest-drafted alumni from FHC.

Despite that, Puni was lightly recruited coming out of high school. This led him to start his career in 2018 at the University of Central Missouri, a Division II school. Puni started for Central Missouri in 2019, then saw his 2020 season canceled due to COVID-19 and missed much of his 2021 season due to injury. Eventually, he found a spot at Kansas, where he started 25 games and emerged as an NFL prospect.

“The path has been crazy,” Puni said Friday. “I mean, I started at Central Missouri, Division Two. Not a lot of people know about it. So just kind of a shout out to small school guys all over. But transferring to Kansas really helped, just allowing people to be able to see me on a higher stage — power five, and then taking it to the NFL.”

Pro Football Focus gave Puni a grade of 80.6 as a starter at left tackle in 2023. His grade placed him 11th nationally at his position.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Puni clocked in at 5.35 seconds in the 40-yard dash with a 1.86-second 10-yard split. Puni also posted a 30-inch vertical jump, an 8-foot/11-inch broad jump, a 7.47-second 3-cone drill, and a 4.4-second 20-yard shuttle.

Now being a part of an explosive 49ers offense, Puni sees this as an opportunity to help the defending NFC champions vie for their sixth Super Bowl title.

“I just think my ambition is really I want to help the team in any way,” Puni said. “I want to be able to play. My thing is versatility. So, you know, center, guard, tackle, wherever they can put me, wherever I can play, where I can help the team. That’s really my ambition.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: I had the pleasure of actually growing up in the same neighborhood as Dominick. His older brother and I were best friends, and all of us in the neighborhood played backyard football together. I’m so proud to see Dominick make this tremendous step to the NFL)