JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Eugene Monroe never really thought much about his first NFL start. He figured it would come this season. He knew it would probably come against a big-name defensive end, especially since the Jacksonville Jaguars play in a division filled with them. Other than that, he never envisioned how it would play out. Then he started watching tape this week.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - First-round draft pick Eugene Monroe has ended a 12-day holdout by signing a five-year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Financial details of the contract weren’t immediately available. Monroe, a 6-5, 320-pound left tackle taken with the eighth pick from Virginia, joined his teammates for practice last night. He probably won’t play in Monday night’s preseason opener at Miami.

When he arrived at the University of Virginia in 2005, Eugene Monroe was touted as a future first-rounder. It was not hyperbole. The Jacksonville Jaguars yesterday selected Monroe, a 6-5, 309-pound offensive tackle, with the eighth pick of the NFL draft. The Plainfield, N.J., resident was among the players who accepted invitations to attend the proceedings at Radio City Music Hall in New York. He waited little more than an hour before Jacksonville’s pick was announced.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have upgraded their offensive line by selecting left tackle Eugene Monroe with the eighth pick in the NFL draft.

From the University of Virginia came the fourth player taken in the 2006 NFL draft—D’Brickashaw Ferguson—and last year’s second and 15th picks: Chris Long and Branden Albert, respectively. It shouldn’t take long for another former Cavalier’s name to be called today. Offensive tackle Eugene Monroe may well go second, to the Rams, or third, to the Chiefs, on the opening day of the NFL draft. On either team, Monroe would be reunited with a former U.Va. teammate Long in St. Louis, Albert in Kansas City.