Rocket Insider Question and Answer
4/28/2003 12:00:00 PM | Football
April 28, 2003
Carl Ford
Sport: Football
Year: Senior
Major: Communications
Hometown: Monroe, MI
It was pretty intense on Sunday (the second day of the draft). Every time the phone rang it was one of my friends or relatives, and I was like, 'Can't talk now. I'll call you back in little bit.' I got a few calls from teams earlier in the draft but nothing happened. It got down to the seventh round and I was like, 'Well, here we go.' Finally Green Bay called. It was Ray Sherman, their wide receivers coach. He said, 'How you doing?' I said 'You know, I could be doing a little better.' He said, 'Well, you should be doing real good because we're about to draft you with the next pick.' We finally saw my name go across the screen on ESPN and I got tackled by 20 people at the same time. It was a good feeling. People were crying. My parents were crying.
I had aunts, uncles, friends, cousins, nephews. People driving by and honking their horns. In the two days of the draft, I'd say about 60 people were over at the house.
Man, it would have been tough. The whole thing was for the family, really, you know, seeing my name come across the screen. I knew if I didn't get drafted I would have signed as a free agent and came in took somebody's job. But it was good for my family to see my name on TV, and it was good for the University of Toledo to see somebody from the program get drafted.
Green Bay, Wisconsin is a lot like my hometown of Monroe, Michigan. It's 100,000 people and Monroe is maybe 40,000 so it's just like two Monroes. It's a cozy town. People are passionate about their Packers. When I went there for my workouts I could feel the tradition. I think it's the most unique team in the NFL and in some ways the most prestigious team in the NFL. I'm just happy to be a part of it. And I want to do the Lambeau Leap, too.
Actually last summer Brian Jones and I practiced it a little bit when we were throwing the ball around the Glass Bowl. But I never got to try it in a game. When I went for my visit two weeks ago I asked Coach Sherman, 'Where do they do the leap?' He said 'Right here.' I got a good look and measured it and said I'll practice it when I get back to Toledo.
- August 9, 2002 - Brian Jones
- August 16, 2002 - William Bratton
- August 23, 2002 - Frank Ofili
- August 30, 2002 - Manny Johnson
- September 6, 2002 - Tom Ward
- September 13, 2002 - Astin Martin
- September 20, 2002 - David Gardner
- September 27, 2002 - Carl Ford
- Octobert 4, 2002 - Dontà Greene
- October 11, 2002 - Kacy Stevens
- October 18, 2002 - Chris Tuminello
- October 25, 2002 - Jehu Anderson
- November 1, 2002 - Elise Donovan
- November 8, 2002 - Nick Kaczur
- November 15, 2002 - Trinity Dawson
- November 22, 2002 - Teresa Kahle
- November 29, 2002 - Sammy Villegas
- December 6, 2002 - Abraham Habte
- December 13, 2002 - Brock Dodrill
- December 20, 2002 - Brandon Hefflin
- January 6, 2003 - Anton Currie
- January 13, 2003 - Mary Blessing
- January 20, 2003 - Jim Clement
- January 27, 2003 - Dipesh Rao
- February 3, 2003 - Kelly Walker
- February 10, 2003 - Iiris Hilvo
- February 17, 2003 - Lorant Divald
- February 24, 2003 - Phil Alexander
- March 3, 2003 - Julie Hillis
- March 10, 2003 - Keith Triplett
- March 17, 2003 - Karin Hoogendam
- March 24, 2003 - Monica Ribero
- March 31, 2003 - Matt Harris
- April 7, 2003 - Stephanie Young
- April 14, 2003 - Gina Muratori
