Flashback two Aprils ago. Marcus Davenport and his family are sitting in the green room at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 6-6 defensive lineman is about to make history.
We’re 13 picks into the 2018 NFL Draft when Davenport receives a phone call. It’s a number with a 504 area code.
“Coach (Sean) Peyton called me and we’re talking and he told me he really liked me and he wanted me down there,” said Davenport. “The whole conversation is blurry in my head because I was just so excited. My Dad started crying. My Mom was screaming. It’s really hard to describe the entire experience.”
The New Orleans Saints had just traded up for the No. 14 overall selection in order to draft Davenport. With that pick he became the first player in the then-six-year history of the UTSA program to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Davenport offered some advice for the players this weekend that will be where he was two years ago, waiting to be selected by an NFL team and play professional football.
“This is just a step. It doesn’t matter if you hear your name called or not. It doesn’t matter how you get in as long as you’re ready to come in and work. It’s really up to you. If you get in, you just have to make the best of it.”
Davenport is making the best of it in the Big Easy. The 2017 C-USA Defensive Player of the Year started 13 games at right defensive end for the NFC South Champion Saints last year before a foot injury prematurely ended his season. Davenport posted 31 tackles, ranked second on the team with six sacks and recorded a club-best four forced fumbles.
For three days, 255 players will have their names called as NFL Draft selections during a draft like we’ve never seen before, given the current Covid-19 climate. In the hours following the draft, many more will sign free agent deals with teams.
There is a large number of standouts from Conference USA schools that hope to join Davenport in the NFL this weekend, regardless if they’re a high round draft pick or a free agent signee. They hope to join more than 80 players from current C-USA schools that appeared on NFL rosters last season.
http://conferenceusa.com/documents/2019/7/25/Pro_Players.pdf
It will be exciting to soon find out which players can become the next Marcus Davenport, a talented C-USA student-athlete who goes to the next level, ready to work hard and make us proud, #TheCUSAWay.
