Xavier Omon

[Coach]

From draft day to rookie camp, small-town player gets his chance

By Elizabeth Merrill
ESPN.com

KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: The rookie has two bags, an MP3 player and a ticket he's eyeballing like a straight-flush poker hand. He fetches a ride with his girlfriend, because his old green clunker died months ago. She tells him she loves him, and that she'll see him in three days.

They know, as they say goodbye in a crowded hallway near the security gate, that his life is about to change.

It's just the way Xavier Omon always wanted it. As a sophomore at Beatrice High School in southeastern Nebraska, he told a handful of people -- only the ones he trusted -- that someday he'd be an NFL running back. But life, for the first 23 years at least, has been far less hopeful. He was 8 when his brother was killed by a drunken driver; he was 14 when another brother committed suicide.

Division I football snubbed him, recognition eluded him, but none of that matters now because Omon is holding a plane ticket to rookie camp. He's dressed in gray pants and an Ecko sweatshirt. He knows it's the fanciest outfit he'll need for his first week in the NFL.

Everything else is a mystery. He fidgets in the terminal and pops his head up every time a flight announcement is made. He's nervous. He knows he's in good shape, but is it NFL shape?

Omon's row is called, and he walks briskly to the door. His eyes do not turn back.

"I'm 23 years old, and I've never even been to a wedding before," he says. "I've been to five funerals and no weddings. So much bad stuff has happened in my life, stuff that is so big, and then this comes along. … Something really nice has finally happened."

ADVENTURE GOLF CENTER, LINCOLN, NEB., SUNDAY OF NFL DRAFT WEEKEND: A black Honda rolls into the parking lot at 11 a.m., and Omon steps out with four casually-dressed fellows. On the car ride up from Beatrice to Lincoln, the men do a mock draft pool to predict where Omon will go. Xavier has the Packers at the top of his list, and he's handicapping with the benefit of insider information. For the past few weeks, Green Bay has done a decent amount of calling.

Truth is, no one knows when -- or if -- he'll be drafted. His agent, Joe Linta, is confident Omon will go somewhere from the fourth to the seventh round. "Be patient," Linta has told him. But many gurus don't even have Omon on their boards.

There's more to read here, since it's a really long article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/s...t&lid=tab3pos1

[milkman]

That is just too long.

Does Merrill ever shut the **** up?

[evolve27]

I think he's versatile to be a fullback with his bulk. Good pick for the Bills needs.