After going up against Matthew Stafford in practice at Georgia the past three years, cornerback Asher Allen now could go up against the new Detroit Lions quarterback twice a year in the NFC North.

“Love it, love it, love it,” said Allen after being drafted in the third round by Minnesota on Sunday. “I think it’s going to be fun seeing a Georgia guy up there. We play Cleveland, so seeing Mohamed (Massaquoi) out there, I think that will be really fun.”

The Vikings open the season at Cleveland on Sept. 13 and play at Detroit in Week 2 on Sept. 20 in Stafford’s first home game.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz thinks Stafford being the man at Georgia prepared him well for the pressure of living up to the $41.7 million in guarantees coming his way and being the No. 1 overall pick.

He mentioned going out to eat with Stafford and Lions officials in Athens during a visit.

“We went to dinner and I sort of lagged behind,” Schwartz said. “Scott Linehan and Shack Harris were walking ahead with him and I was about 20 steps behind and it was amazing, every person that passed him on the street all did a double take and looked and said, 'There goes Matt Stafford.' When grown men are following you around, following us into the restaurant, he's used to that kind of scrutiny and that gave us a comfort level too."

Stafford said as much when he met the Lions media Sunday.

“I come from Athens, Georgia, so that’s about as hardcore as it gets in college football,” Stafford said at a news conference Sunday, according to the team’s Web site. “So I’m used to it. I embrace it; I love fans coming up to me and saying hi ... I’d rather them do that then be booing me when I walk into a restaurant or something like that. It’s fun. I’ll sign anything for anybody and I can’t complain – it’s a great problem to have.”

The Lions helped out Stafford a bunch by getting him some weapons to go along with Calvin Johnson. They drafted Oklahoma State tight end Brandon Pettigrew with the No. 20 overall pick and grabbed Penn State wideout Derrick Williams in the third round.

Stafford’s preseason debut will come against the Falcons on Aug. 15 at Ford Field.

Some other draft weekend tidbits:
--I was glad to see former Bulldogs linebacker Dannell Ellerbe wasn’t taken with the last pick. Being Mr. Irrelevant is worse than not getting drafted. Kicker Ryan Succop of South Carolina is the guy this year. Ellerbe is signing as a free agent with Baltimore.
--Stafford was the first Georgia quarterback drafted in the first round since Johnny Rauch in 1949, but you would think that being a Bulldog quarterback automatically meant a ticket among the elite in the draft.
Nate Davis of Ball State, a fifth-round pick, was asked the difference between himself and Stafford and No. 5 overall pick Mark Sanchez?
“Personally I don’t think there’s really anything different. I think the big difference is he went to Georgia and I went to Ball State,” Davis said, according to ninersnations.com. "Sanchez went to USC, I went to Ball State. It’s a bigger school and unfortunately they had better competition but it all worked out. It doesn’t matter what round you get drafted in, you just go out there and show yourself.”
Tampa Bay first-round pick Josh Freeman echoed those comments when he was asked why he was picked way below Stafford and Sanchez.
"I think it comes down the school I went to,'' Freeman told TampaBay.com "I mean, I've worked out with both those guys. I think they're really good. I'd take me over them. I think it comes down to they went to Georgia, which is a good, competitive team in the SEC and Mark Sanchez went to USC, who pretty much wins the Pac-10 every year. I think it really came down to them going to better schools and winning more games and stuff like that, that had me going 17th or dropping this low."
--Georgia coach Mark Richt was at a bowling alley with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo when Richt spoke to Stafford Friday night after he came to terms with the Lions. Richt was hosting a weekend reunion of quarterbacks from Georgia and Florida State.
--The Denver Post reported that Knowshon Moreno won’t be able to wear No .24 for the Broncos. A guy you might have heard about, Champ Bailey, has dibs on that number.