With so much on the line this past weekend, running back Manuel
White just tried to distract himself from what lay ahead of
him.
White even went bowling the day before the NFL draft, but every
time he looked at his phone, it only made him more nervous, so he
finally stopped checking it. But after a sleepless night, White
finally got the call he had been waiting for Sunday morning.
It was Coach Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins, asking if him
if he’d be interested in playing for them.
“(Coach) told me I could be a contribution to their
team,” said White, who was picked in the middle of the fourth
round. “I’m relieved and I’m excited about the
situation that I’m going to.”
He was followed by free safety Ben Emanuel II who was picked up
in the fifth round by the Carolina Panthers, then receivers Tab
Perry and Craig Bragg, both going in the sixth round to Cincinnati
and Green Bay, respectively. Cornerback Matt Clark and punter Chris
Kluwe were both able to sign as free agents, with Clark heading to
the New Orleans Saints with a three-year contract and Kluwe going
to the Seattle Seahawks with a two-year deal.
For Emanuel, his future with the Panthers may feel reminiscent
to his early days at UCLA since he will be joining a host of former
Bruins teammates, including DeShaun Foster, Ricky Manning Jr. and
Mike Seidman.
“My future, my life, it all hung in the balance (this
weekend),” Emanuel said. “So I didn’t know what
was going on, but now that it’s over, I’m
happy.”
The two days were also relatively stressful for both Bragg and
Perry, who each slipped to the sixth round.
While Perry was told he could go anywhere from the second round
to the seventh, he was surprised by the final selection and
all-around low selection of Bruins.
“The main knock on me was that I wasn’t productive
during the season, granted I wasn’t getting that many
opportunities,” Perry said. “But then I look at Craig
and he had a pretty good year. It had to be something
somewhere.”
Bragg, selected 195th, did have relatively slower 40-yard dash
times, but as UCLA’s all-time leading wide receiver, he was
still bitten by the anxiety bug.
“It wouldn’t be that bad if you were by yourself,
but your friends and family are calling to see what’s going
on and every time the phone rang, your heart jumps,” Bragg
said.
But even though the selection process is over, the auditioning
process has just begun. All the 2005 rookies will travel to
mini-camps next weekend and they still must sign contracts if they
are to make it the preseason camps.
“This is a weird time period,” Emanuel said.
“There is no more testing, no more looking at you. Now you
get to do what you do and play football.”