Linebacker defies predictions, gets picked up by Browns
by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
Nick Speegle never knew a cell phone's ring could sound so sweet.
Five minutes before the Cleveland Browns selected him with the 176th pick in the NFL draft on Sunday, Speegle's cell phone rang. It was Browns' head coach Romeo Crennel calling to let him in on the good news.
Then he finally got to exhale and hear his parents "go crazy," too.
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"Man, I'm so ecstatic right now," Speegle said. "It's surreal. You picture that phone call throughout the entire draft."
Speegle, picked in the sixth round, was the 10th overall outside linebacker taken in the draft. ESPN.com projected he would go to the NFL as an undrafted free agent and ranked him 23rd among available outside linebackers.
"It's so gratifying that all those Web sites are wrong," Speegle said. "In the end, it only matters what the team picks."
Speegle said he spent plenty of time with his eyes glued to the computer screen poring over his draft status before Draft Day. Now he can spend that time worrying about whether he'll make the Browns' roster, he said.
Because he was drafted instead of picked up as a free agent, he has a little more breathing room.
"They're going to keep me a little longer," he said. "They'll keep me till the very end even if I don't do well. If I went in as a free agent and didn't do well, they'd cut me right away."
Speegle said he's signed to a preliminary contract that goes into effect if he makes the team. He does get money for food and rent while he is sweating it out in training camp, he said.
Speegle kisses Albuquerque goodbye - hopefully for good, he said - on Thursday.
He won't, however, be kissing his girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, Jamie Stone, goodbye. He said they are both used to a temporary long-distance relationship because Stone went to the University of Arizona for a year before coming back to UNM this year.
"We're staying together," he said. "She's the one. We're definitely getting married someday. If I go out there and make the team - because I still have to make the team - if I make the team, then she'll probably move out there with me."
UNM head coach Rocky Long said Speegle not only will make the Browns' final team, but he'll enjoy a long career in the NFL because he's so smart.
After all, Speegle graduated with a 3.97 grade point average and an undergraduate business degree in 2004. He said if things don't work out in the NFL, he would get a job for a couple of years and then go back and finish his master's degree in business. He's taken a semester of graduate classes.
Crennel said Speegle was such an appealing pick because of his versatility. Cleveland vice president and general manager Phil Savage said Speegle was picked because he's a player who should fit in well with the Browns' system.
"We brought Nick in for a visit and he had excellent character and intangibles," Savage said. "He was an award-winner and well-respected at New Mexico."
That love was mutual, as Speegle said he was pulling for Cleveland to pick him from day one. The Browns showed the most interest, and Speegle said it's a place and a team he should be able to mesh with easily.
Speegle spent his Sunday scuttling around the city for interviews with the media. He finally took a breather when he and Stone celebrated with a dinner at his parents' house.
He said Mel Kiper, ESPN.com's NFL draft guru, probably didn't even know who he was before the draft.
Speegle's got the next couple of years to change that.
Offensive lineman's size, strength lent him a draft advantage
by Phil Parker
Daily Lobo
Claude Terrell was pouring orange juice in his parents' kitchen when he got the life-changing phone call he'd been waiting for.
"Mike Martz called," he said. "He was like, 'Claude, congratulations. We're picking you.'"
Martz and his coaching staff on the St. Louis Rams snapped up Terrell with the 33rd pick in the fourth round - 134th overall - of this weekend's NFL draft.
That's when jubilation took over the Terrell household.
"I got chills through my entire body," Terrell said. "I can't even describe the feeling. Then me and my mom and my dad and our whole family had a big family hug."
That euphoric feeling should give way to exhaustion when the offensive lineman heads to minicamp on Friday. He said he doesn't know when he's leaving or where he'll stay.
"I don't have any clue how it'll work," he said. "They're going to call me (Monday) or Tuesday and explain everything to me."
His coaches were typically optimistic after announcing the selection.
"We are excited about having Claude on our team," said Rams offensive line coach John Matsko on the team's Web site. "The guy is big and strong and has power and brute force. He is nasty as an anchor. He can pull and run and hit a guy in spaces."
Terrell's size and skills made him too good to go undrafted. He's 6-feet-2-inches tall and weighs 343 pounds. In predraft tests, he bench pressed 445 pounds once, 225 pounds 27 times and squatted 570 pounds.
"He is just a wide body," said John Benton, another Rams offensive line coach. "He's a stout guy, (a) real powerful blocker and he pulls well. I think he'll be a great fit for us."
Terrell said he's excited to be joining a consistent winner. Though the team was just 8-8 last year, St. Louis made it to the playoffs and beat the Seattle Seahawks before being blown out by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round.
"They're a perennial playoff team, and they've got a great offense," he said. "I'm excited about the opportunity to step in there and contribute."
While he doesn't know exactly how he'll get to St. Louis, Terrell is confident he knows what to expect when he starts working to compete at the next level.
"The level of competition will be a lot stronger," he said. "But I feel like once I learn the plays and the speed of the game, I'll be able to let my skills take over. I'll get bumps and bruises like any rookie, but then it'll be smooth sailing for me."
Even though he was expecting to get picked on the draft's first day during the first three rounds, Terrell said he's happy to be drafted at all.
"I was a little disappointed, but I knew today was coming, and I would still get my opportunity," he said. "I'm pretty sure in the years to come, they'll see that they came out with the best offensive lineman in the 2005 NFL draft."
