For an anxious college football player, there's nothing quite like the NFL Draft. For a Dallas Cowboys player, there's not much like reliving that moment.
"The experience of going through the draft is unlike anything else," Cowboys center Travis Frederick said. "Just when you get that call, and you know your dreams are coming true. You're getting a chance to play in the NFL."
"There's just so much emotion," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. "There's the emotion of the dream coming true, and finally being relieved. There's the emotion of Jerry Jones being on the other end of the phone, and seeing all the hopes and dreams that I had. You soon realize, that that dream was far from reality, when I got here with Bill Parcells, when every time he said my name, it was a bleep-bleep before and after, you know?"
But the best draft story we heard from the Cowboys this week -- came from Pittsburgh native and former Penn State linebacker Sean Lee, who was at home with his family the night of the draft.
"I had a chance to get picked by the Steelers," Lee explained. "They passed on me. I think my family was not very happy about that, and so the house was kinda down and frustrated.
"And then I get a call from an unknown number, and it's Mr. Jones. He said I'm gonna be a Cowboy. So I go running up the stairs, and I come into my house, and I tell my family -- half the house -- that I'm gonna be a Cowboy. They're cheering. And my buddies, on the other end of the house, were like 'oh no! We gotta root for the Cowboys?!?'"
"I just think for all young players, this is an exciting time," Witten said, "for not only them and their families, but a huge accomplishment to go chase it. And it flies by, so hopefully they enjoy it."
And we're less than a week away...