NFL DRAFT NEWS ‘N’ NOTES

TOP PROSPECTS KICK OFF CAREERS IN NEW YORK:

SEVEN STANDOUTS TO ATTEND NFL DRAFT

They have waited for this moment from the first time they snapped on a chin strap. 

Now seven of the top college football players in America will watch their dream of reaching the National Football League unfold live in New York City this Saturday when they hear NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE call their names at the 2004 NFL Draft at Madison Square Garden.

The “Significant Seven” making the trip to the Big Apple:

The seven draftees represent a diverse collection of talent.  They include three quarterbacks – ELI MANNING, PHILIP RIVERS and BEN ROETHLISBERGER – who excel at perhaps the toughest position in sports; two sons of famous NFL families – Manning (father ARCHIE and brother PEYTON) and tight end KELLEN WINSLOW II (father KELLEN, SR.); a speedster – cornerback DE ANGELO HALL – whose athletic skills have been linked to a fellow Virginia Tech Hokie, the exciting MICHAEL VICK of the Atlanta Falcons; a wide receiver – ROY WILLIAMS – who is considered among the best ever to play the position in the storied history of Texas Longhorn football; and a big (make that huge) offensive tackle – ROBERT GALLERY (6-7, 323) – from a small town (Masonville, Iowa, population 129), who captured the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman.

These seven players will enjoy several uniquely New York moments as they are welcomed to the NFL.

On Friday, the group will begin the day with an appearance on The Early Show on CBS-TV, followed by NFL Network interviews at NFL headquarters.  Former Denver Broncos great TERRELL DAVIS, himself a sixth-round draft choice from Georgia in 1995, will conduct the interviews for NFL Network.  

The players then will meet the media at the NFL Draft Luncheon at the Chelsea Piers Sports Complex.  On the Hudson River with the Statue of Liberty visible in the distance, the draftees will take questions from the media in attendance.

The group then moves further south to City Hall, where they will tour the famed venue, seat of New York City’s government since 1812, before unwinding at a private reception with their families in Manhattan’s Union Square neighborhood.

"Growing up and watching the NFL Draft, I always dreamed about getting picked to play in the NFL, hearing my name called by the Commissioner, walking up on stage, putting on the hat and holding up the jersey, and showing the world who I'm going to play for,” says Gallery.  “It’s a great honor to be invited to New York and to have the opportunity to do all the things I've dreamed about."