North Carolina State University Athletics
Patrick Thomas Mini-Camp Diary
4/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 27, 2005
Wolfpack linebacker Patrick Thomas was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and heads to mini-camp tomorrow Patrick, who is currently at home in Miami, agreed to share his experiences during his first week as an NFL player with the NC State fans.
"Since I got that phone call telling me I'd been drafted, it's been crazy." I watched with my mom, my cousin and his wife and my auntie. As soon as my name came across the screen, when I was on the phone with the team, at least 10 people tried to call my cell phone at one time. My sister and my Dad watched it in California and they called me in hysterics as soon as I got drafted. People have been calling left and right - I had about 50 messages on my voice mail and a ton of text messages. I'm still trying to call people back today.
Since Sunday, I've just been trying to let it sink in and realize that I'm actually in the NFL now. Even though I know I've got a lot of hard work in front of me, I feel like I've reached a goal I've been thinking about since i was in little league, playing optimist ball in the park. i know i've got a lot ahead of me.
I want to be in good shape when I get there, so I've worked out pretty hard all week. Yesterday, me and Dré [former high school and Wolfpack teammate Andre Maddox] worked out with our old high school coach. We were running and talking and feeling pretty good about ourselves and Sean Taylor, who played at Killlian during our 9th and10th grade year and was a first-round pick for the Redskins, pulled up in his BMW with the 24-inch rims. I was in my chevy and Dré was in his little car. We laughed and said how we might be in the NFL, but we're not where he is! It was pretty funny. I guess it humbled us a little bit.
I leave tomorrow around 10 in the morning and head to Jacksonville for rookie and free agent mini-camp. I got my itinerary and it seems like it's set up pretty much like it was at NC State. Except for one thing: practice starts at 10:15 and ends at 11:50. I saw that and thought `That's something new!' I never thought I'd have a practice that short - with Chuck, it's definitely longer. I hope i'm in good shape since I haven't really practiced since November. Well, I practiced for the all-star game, but that wasn't a Chuck practice!
I've finally calmed down. I'm not really nervous about mini-camp, just wondering what it's gonna be like. I'm confident because I know I'm going to go out and do my very best. I know I'll have a lot to learn, but I think I'm ready for it.
