'It was a surreal moment' - A look back at historic 2005 NFL draft

'It was a surreal moment' - A look back at historic 2005 NFL draft'It was a surreal moment' - A look back at historic 2005 NFL draft

April 27, 2018

By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. -- This could be a historic weekend for Auburn in the NFL draft. Over the next couple of days, a record number of former Tigers could be taken off the board. Six would set the school record in the modern seven-round era, but as many as seven or even eight former players could hear their names called and realize their lifelong dream.

Thirteen years ago, it was a different group of Auburn players that made history.

Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams, Carlos Rogers and Jason Campbell were teammates on the 2004 Auburn team that went undefeated and won an SEC championship. They were friends, roommates, and on April 23, 2005, they were all drafted in the first round. It was the first time an SEC school had four first-round picks in the same year.

"That's something that we all can take to our graves," Williams said. "Nobody can ever take that away. I don't care what people say we did in the league. Guess what? Nobody can ever take that away from us. I feel like that was just super cool. Four guys who grind together, played on the same team and who were great friends."

Here's a look back at how that historic night unfolded.

Round 1, Pick 2, Miami Dolphins

Of the four players who went in the first round, Brown was the only one who attended the NFL draft in New York City that year. After a stellar senior season, the highly coveted running back was invited to take part in the festivities and brought his family with him.

"When I first got the invite, just given the caliber of guys that I played with, I would've thought going into it that Carnell or one of those guys -- Carlos being the Thorpe winner -- those guys would be there," Brown said. "And for me to get that invitation to be along with some of the guys that I watched in college and held in high regard, that meant a lot to be along with those people.

"Never did I think that I was going to be the No. 1 or the No. 2 pick. Obviously, being invited to the draft, you think there's a great chance to be drafted in the first round, but you still don't know."

Brown watched from the green room as the San Francisco 49ers took quarterback Alex Smith with the first pick. Next, it was the Miami Dolphins who were on the clock, and ironically enough, it was the first draft for new head coach Nick Saban. When the NFL commissioner stepped to the podium and announced the pick, he called Brown's name.

"It was a surreal moment," Brown said. "To even think about it now, I don't remember the feelings I had because when my name was called, it's kind of like everything went blank. I couldn't believe it. To be drafted as the No. 2 pick to the Miami Dolphins, and after all the hard work, the ups and downs throughout college, to have that experience, I just don't remember much about it.

"From the walk to the stage, being on stage and looking out, it's all kind of a blur because I didn't really take it in. It was just such a surprise. I was in disbelief."

His Auburn teammates, all watching from home with their families, were elated to see Brown walk across the stage and hold up the Dolphins jersey.

`When Ronnie went No. 2, I was excited for him," Williams said. "I mean overwhelmed and happy for him and his family. I know personally how much work he had put into it, how much he wanted that moment."

Round 1, Pick 5, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Unlike Brown, Williams played in the Senior Bowl where he was coached by Jon Gruden, the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the time. The two immediately clicked.

A month later at the NFL combine, Gruden walked up to Williams right before he was about to run the 40-yard dash and said, `Hey Cadillac, come here. I don't really care what you run in this 40. If you're there at the fifth pick, I'm taking you.'

Fast forward to draft night. The Dolphins took Brown at No. 2. Williams knew the Chicago Bears, at pick No. 4, also had their eyes on a running back. It was either going to be him or former Texas running back Cedric Benson. But when the commissioner called Benson's name at No. 4, Williams wasn't upset. It was quite the opposite because he knew he was going to get to go play for Gruden and the Buccaneers.

"I was so ecstatic," Williams said. "Everybody in my family was like, `Why are you excited?' I couldn't really tell some people. I was just like, `I might have an opportunity to go to Tampa.'"

Sure enough, he got the call a few minutes later.

"Once Tampa got on the clock and that phone rang, Lord have mercy," Williams said. "All glory be to God. The feeling is nothing like I've ever experienced in my life. It's something that's very overwhelming to get that call and knowing that I was about to finish my dream of playing in the National Football League and getting drafted."

Round 1, Pick 9, Washington Redskins

If two picks in the top five wasn't enough, Auburn made it three in the top 10 when Rogers was chosen four picks later at No. 9 by the Washington Redskins. It was the first time in SEC history and only the fifth time in NFL draft history that three players from the same school were taken in the top 10 of the first round.

"That was exciting because those are your teammates," Campbell said. "It's like a brotherhood. To see those guys going, getting drafted -- three of them in the top 10 -- that was exciting to see that happen. I know how hard they worked, and I know what it meant to their families. And I know what it meant to Auburn to have three guys in the top 10."

"It's crazy because looking back on it, we're all still friends," added Williams, who was Rogers' roommate while at Auburn. "We all stay in contact, play a lot of golf together. We still kind of relive some of those glory days."

Rogers, the Jim Thorpe Award winner the previous season, went on to play 10 seasons in the NFL and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2011.

Round 1, Pick 25, Washington Redskins

And then there was one. Campbell didn't have the luxury of getting drafted early that night. He had to wait it out. And while he had been hearing that he could go anywhere from No. 15 to No. 25, there was no guarantee that he would even go in the first round.

But finally, at No. 25, the Redskins took the senior quarterback and drafted their second Auburn player in the first round, bringing Rogers and Campbell together again.

"We just like winners," head coach Joe Gibbs said at the time. "If they go undefeated, we like them. We're hoping some of that will carry over to the Redskins."

Campbell remembers being overcome with both excitement and relief.

"You're relieved that you're not still on the board," he said. "You don't have to keep wondering and worrying. And then you're excited because now you know your dream is official.

"You have to visualize it first. And then when it actually happens and you're able to touch it, it's just something that you can't really explain. You realize that, `Man, just four or five years ago, I was still in high school.' And now I'm playing with the big boys in the pros that I watch on Sundays when I was in college. It was all surreal.

"The thing that was ironic was that our whole backfield went in the first round. That doesn't really happen all the time. I think that was something special in itself that you could say that the whole starting backfield on the football team all went in the first round."

Turns out, it was the first time in NFL draft history that an entire backfield from the same college was drafted in the first round in the same year.

***

There will be more dreams that become reality over the next two days for one of the more accomplished classes to come out of Auburn. Players like Kerryon Johnson, the SEC offensive player of the year, Daniel Carlson, the SEC's all-time leading scorer, and others will know what it's like to hear their name called in the NFL draft.

But if not for that 2005 draft class paving the way, it might not have been possible.

"Our pact was we just want to make this school, this team the best that we can," Brown said. "We set these little small goals and we knew that along the way we'd start to receive accolades, but the more we did as a team, the better off we'd all be.

"It's kind of hard to think that `Yeah, there's four of us that are going to be drafted in the first round' when you first to get to school. It's `I just want to get drafted,' and improve on that. For us all to be roommates and all to be drafted in the first round in the same class, that just adds a lot more to it because you put so much work in it with those guys.

"To be able to accomplish all that we did as a group, that just put the cherry on top for our class."

Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf