BUFFALO, NY - A pair of University at Buffalo football players - offensive tackle David Pruce (Chardon, OH/Chardon) and defensive back Noah Burroughs (Hempstead, NY/Hempstead) - are headed to the National Football League after signing free agent contracts on Monday.

Pruce, a 6-8, 295-pound offensive tackle, was signed by the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens. Pruce was a three-year starter for the Bulls, making 35 consecutive starts to close his UB career. Pruce was a big part of UB's much-improved offensive line play last season as the Bulls averaged 196.2 yards rushing per game over the final six weeks of the season and averaged 322 yards of total offense per game.

Pruce's play at tackle helped quarterback Joe Freedy become just the fourth quarterback in UB history to throw for over 2,000 yards in a single season. As a junior, he led the Bulls with 25 pancake blocks and also recorded 37 blocks that got defenders off their feet.

An outstanding student as well, Pruce was a two-time Verizon District I Academic All-American (1998 and 2000). He was ranked as high as the 30th best offensive tackle coming out of college by many pre-draft publications. Pruce came to UB from Chardon HS outside of Cleveland where he helped head coach Bob Doyle's teams to a 34-6 record during his prep career, including a 14-0 record and state championship in 1994.

Burroughs, meanwhile, was signed by the New York Jets after tremendous off-season conditioning and some stellar workouts for NFL clubs. In his two seasons at UB, the Hempstead, NY native made 35 tackles while playing safety, cornerback and outside linebacker and starring on special teams after transferring from Nassau Community College. The 6-2, 205-pound Burroughs projects to be a safety at the next level. He first gained NFL attention when he ran a 4.37 40-yard dash, bench-pressed 225 pounds 22 times and had a vertical leap of 37" during spring testing before his senior season.

Last year, Burroughs saw a high ankle sprain, suffered at Marshall, put a damper on his season just as he appeared ready to make a big impact at outside linebacker. He blocked a punt and had a quarterback hurry at Syracuse in the season opener, had a career-high five tackles at Rutgers and had two tackles for loss and his first sack in a win over Bowling Green. He also recovered a fumble versus Connecticut and registered a sack in the season finale versus Miami (OH). Burroughs' home in Hempstead is just miles from the New York Jets' practice facility and he grew up rooting for the Jets.

The two signings bring the number to seven (Craig Guest, Ed Ellis, Gerald Carlson, Hardy Mitchell, Josh Roth, Drew Haddad and Joe Hattendorf) of former UB players to sign NFL contracts since 1996. Ellis (San Diego Chargers), Roth (Buffalo Bills) and Haddad (Indianapolis Colts) are all currently with NFL clubs.