S3 Episode 8: Least Expected

probably one of the best feelings that I've ever had. Now, the third round continues at the Fitzpatrick draft party in Pontiac, Michigan. Receiver Des Fitzpatrick, his parents, Greg and Wendy, and his friends and family all watch as the third round continues, and although ten receivers were drafted in the first two rounds, none have been selected thus far in round three. Des his mom Wendy, describes the mood as the third round

winds down. So Thursday, we knew it was going to be round one or two, you know, we expected that again. We were hoping for a third and fourth. Third round came. Nothing transpired from that. We were getting a little nervous at that point. By the end of the third round,

five more receivers hear their names called. That means five more players get vel growed up on Greg Fitzpatrick's draft board at the party, and with the draft almost halfway over, exactly fifteen of the thirty receiver names death and his dad originally laid out are now assigned to teams, while does his name plate still looms large on the adjacent table. Here's does his dad Greg on the situation. So after day two at night, I was a little worried. That

could be honest, I was a little worried. Fifteen guys have went and I said, Okay, Jesus, I'm getting worried because you know, when day three happens, it's like he could just start sliding, Like you just never know what's gonna happen. So that night I couldn't sleep that night, and before I went to bed, I said, you okay, man, he goes, yeah, dah. I knew it wasn't gonna happen.

And that was the night he invited everyone over. But you know, I gave a speech at the end of the night and say, hey and everybody and morning, welcome to come back tomorrow. There'll be plenty of food and spirits tomorrow. So so you guys everybody come on. Back. Rounds four through seven will take place on the third and final day of the draft, and if Daz is feeling any stress or pressure about falling into the later rounds,

were possibly even going undrafted, he isn't showing it. However, his parents, Wendy and Greg, can see right through their sons. Composed is the facade. I'll say this dance sometimes comes across as a robot because he kind of protects his emotions when it comes to the stuff, because he's been on like this crazy roller coaster, right, so he's been on this incredible roller coaster. So he just tries to stay kind of even, not too high, not too low,

no expectations. He's just like, I didn't think it's gonna happen anyway. But I'm laying up staring at the selling all night man three o'clock at Moore, I'm like, jeez, please don't let this thing just go left. He worked so hard. I can't imagine it just going left. What Desmond does and he's always done this every since he was little. He tries to to protect his heart. He'll say, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I don't it doesn't matter.

And then we were constantly no, Desmond, it's okay. It's like he didn't want to have feelings because now if I have, if I show some type of feelings, now I have my feeling as will be affected by either hurt or mad or sad, And now I don't want to have those feelings, So let me just try to block it out like it doesn't exist. Of course, his feelings do exist, and he does care deeply. He just

tries to hide it all. Only now that it's Saturday, May one and Day three of the NFL Draft is about to begin, his friends and family do wonder will he be able to maintain this stoic demeanor throughout the final day of the draft. So Saturday, we're like, okay, okay. So when we got over there, it started at no So Desmond leaves to go pick up some friends at

the hotel. We're there, We're like, where is the dement needs to her and kid here does elaborates on how the morning got messed up and at that point the draft started I think at twelve on that Saturday, and I was going to pick up because a couple of my friends were at a nearby hotel, probably ten minutes away, and I was picking up three of my friends from the hotel, and I was about to run out of gas, and you know, one of the gas pumps said that

the car didn't work. Obviously my car is working, so I had to go to another one. We had to stop like two different times to get gas. So this is we're we're starting to run a little late now and it was just a whole ordeal. And you know, my friends are in the car with me and my phone start drink game A hello, yeah, yes, sir, anybody John Robin the younger, we're doing well, of coach, how are you doing? I'm doing that manding congratulation were about

to make you. I appreciate it so much. Course, thank you so much, coach. I don't think I don't you go to your question. Yes, sir, of course I appreciated so much. Coach, Thank you so much. And I'm gonna let you talk to our great and you know what kind of Dez Fitzpatrick may have just become the first person in NFL history to be drafted while driving a car. So as Daz tries to focus on the road, his new head coach, Mike Rabel, gets on the call, thank you.

How are you doing, coach? I'm a great banking granulate. I work and John and I don't want to want up and got you. I want to you and branding coach. I appreciate it so much. Coach. You know I'm gonna do everything in my part of work car and make sure that's a really great decision. I know, I know you are man, I know you all love what you're about. Man. I worked hard to work pretty okay, but where a lot of people reaching indeed, and I'll be texting here.

Of course. I appreciate it again, a coach, So thank you so much. The Titans general manager gets back on the call. Go celebrate what you say. I'll tell you we should. We finished the draft last night, and I'll look at your cars. Don't ever forget a point a way to get up to get that, um, coach, great about your work. Okay, that's what we're about here, Okay, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir. I'm gonna live up to that. Okay, wait to being Because those were desert friends screaming as they got out

of the car in front of his dad's house. Here's DEAs trying to make sense of being drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round while driving to his own draft party. When I hung up the phone before I pulled up to my house, I was thinking, like, Okay, I don't know what picked they're on on the TV, so I have to make it home fast. So I was going like seventy down the street trying to make

it home fast everything because I'm trying to think. You know, nobody in the house knows, Like the other thirty people in the house don't know anything yet. His parents and all his other friends and family inside have no idea any of this has happened. So now Dez opens the door and enters his draft party with the biggest secret possible. Everybody on our technology somebody, they asked him, He said

the same. That's dess Dad Greg in the background talking about how one of DES's former coaches might be getting some inside information about when and where Daz will be drafted. That's how will Oh, he said. He said, that's I mean, when I get the call already, don't know. I'm just saw coach I love I know, he just he just coach. Coach Ruce just said that's the word. I'm just selling. Don't mess me mind for that. Greg received a text message from the former coach that claims Dez is about

to be drafted soon. So Des counters that he would have gotten a call from a team by now if that were true, so the rumor can't be real. Okay, standing guard there towards from one, the pick is announced and everyone in the litterm He leaps up off the couches in shock, everyone except Das and his friends who were in the car earlier. Of course, here are Daz

and his parents on that moment. My dad said, I had a great poker face, like he didn't know at all this was coming up, and you know, they said, you know, the pick is in and with the one on ninth picks, you know, the Tennessee Titans select does fit Patrick? And everybody was like, oh my sides going crazy, started screaming, jumping up and down, and they're like, did ain't here to call you? And I was like, yeah,

they called me like ten minutes ago. I'm thinking, well, it can't be the Titans because he was gotten a call by now and they're on the clock and they only got you know, a few minutes, and the next thing you know, they picked Das and the whole house just erbs. There's tears everywhere. We just all jumped up, all of the family and friends at the time, still not knowing that Desmond and his friends already knew, but we all jumped up and we just tears just started

just flowing. We're all just started hugging. We're all just kind of boll Garden just pounced on Desmond and just giving a home hugs and kisses and crying at the same time all of us, and it was just there wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was just awesome. It was just awesome. That was a moment I won't ever forget. We'll be right back. Ye. Kellen Mond and Desmond Fitzpatrick are officially professional football players. They were drafted in the third and fourth rounds by the Minnesota Vikings

and the Tennessee Titans. That leaves us with our final two players and this season of drafting linebacker Hammaka Rashid Jr. And cornerback Cameron by Him, who was currently on his way to a cabin in Big Bear, California, so for the draft, will be in Big Bear, California. We rent a cabin right off the late. This is cam by him had a lot of family from the Bay Area in southern California, family and then a bunch of my teammates.

Cam is a Southern California native. So he and his family arrived at the rented lake house in just under two hours and the party starts almost immediately. So we just got to the cabin. We're unloading everything and now now we're star stuck. Is this place, this cabin matsion is crazy? My mic alright, So I'm in here with my all my city wings off, five of whom we have a noisy house here, three dogs, five kids, two parents. My aunt is over. This is where Cameron's come here, Kay.

Just like des Kellen Davante and most other players in the draft, making it to the NFL has been a lifelong dream for Cam. The differences is that his dream always seemed more like a fantasy than a real possibility, even since I was a kid. Obviously a super cliche when people talk about Yeah, people ask me what I wanted to do. I said NFL, and they said, well, you gotta have a backup plan. That's the story for

all of us. But now it's it's it's way sweeter knowing that at a point I wasn't super good at football. That's what makes Cam's journey especially unique. For most of his childhood and even as a young adult, he was actually pretty bad at football. Here's his trainer, coach Anthony Brown, describing the first time he saw Cam play. He was a sophomore going in towards junior season. Where was at one of our tournaments and he had a very very bad day that day. I want to say he gave

about five touchdowns that day. Yeah, it was. It was a long day for the kid. Cam was getting beat on the field for a number of reasons. He hadn't been taught the technique needed to play his position. He didn't have a dad like Greg Fitzpatrick drilling him on the finer points of play and receiver when he was a little kid. And that's normal because most dads aren't able to teach their nine year olds what they learned

from practicing with Jerry Rice. However, there was another reason Cam kept getting beat over and over again for touchdowns. All the other players were a lot bigger than him. Here's coach Brown on what he saw that day. Now, I've been doing this for years you know, Decenci backs are looking like they're about six ft, you know, one ninety So I had this kid going into his junior season at Corona Centennial, like, well, how are we going

to get the job done? Cam was going into his junior year at Corona Centennial High School and he still hadn't hit a Grosberg or learned the finer points of playing cornerback. It was at that moment his childhood dream of becoming an NFL player looked utterly impossible. But growth often comes from life's toughest struggles and failures, and that day where Cam gave up touchdown after touchdown changed everything

for him. Now, as he waits for the NFL Draft to begin, Cam talks about this exact moment with some friends and family. Would you say, what's my what was my well? Yeah, what was your the turning point here? Where would like made you realize you were soft? And now my catchup moment was I was already on ground zero. Did a couple of tournaments, I was, I was surviving. I just at the surviving always worked, but that training was and it was just busy where just getting tired,

getting the shape and not doing actual DV ware. Cam was lifting weights and running, but no one was coaching him on the details of how to play defensive back. So once one tournament, may ten remember stuff like that. I remember that stuff may ten Long Beach City College Tournament, Gridiron tournament. I'm gonna hear getting I'm getting popped for six at least three touchdowns a game and Brown will not take me out the game. And then I was just looking at him like you know that look you

just like I can't do anything about this. Coach. They take me deep every play. Brown is coach Anthony Brown, who we heard from a minute ago. He was coaching Cam's team in that weekend tournament, and despite the fact that Cam was getting beat deep over and over, Coach Brown wouldn't take him out of the game. I'm just looking at him. He would not take me out, and he's like, no, you're gonna You're gonna figure this out. And then I don't even want to look at him.

He's calling me chicken. He's just calling me, like, just breaking me down mentally, and he was like, I need to see you this week. Monday, five am, Vanola Park said that went up to Dad and Dad was like, yeah, he's there and I was sick in my head, but I knew I needed it and I was like, dang, I gotta really work with this dude. So I went and there was that was history, and yeah, Brown believed

in me. After that brutal weekend in the seven on seven tournament, Cam signed up to train with coach Brown every morning at five am. It was a commitment the whole family would be making. Cam's father, Curtis, explains their decision. You know, you hear a lot of stories for parents kind of drunk their kids and say we want you to do this. This was always what he wanted to do, and not once where I remember we had to pull him out of bed or force him to go. He

wanted to go. And those times where you know, I was working so much of the time to my wife and a lot of transporting back and forth and think like that, but not wants to shiver. Tell me, hey, he didn't want to go today. You know, he didn't feel like training. This was all this was his dream, This was all him. Cam loved football and was willing to work incredibly hard, which made his struggles even more puzzling. By the time he made it to a sophomore year.

He just hadn't improved as much as he should have. Sophomore year of high school, I was trash of football fifth training on JV. A lot of my friends obviously once starting on varsity getting offers already. Most people that are getting drafted, that's that's their story about when they're in high school. They're always the guys since freshman year, always the best one of the same. But for me,

that wasn't the case. If you listen to season one of Drafted, you might remember Ohio State star cornerback Jeff Okuda. He plays the same position as Cam, and by the end of his sophomore year in high school, he had received dozens of scholarship offers from almost every top program in the country. At that same point, Cam was backing up the backup for the third stringer on the junior

varsity team. When I was twisting on JV, the first thing I did was like, Okay, I need to I need to work and get my way, get my way out this whole. And so the best thing I did was find a coach that really put the time into me, really invested into my future, trying to teach me that the real details of football, not just a coach out there doing busy work. He's getting me tired of stuff. You really taught me the game, just being becoming a technician.

Never was the most athletic, biggest, fastest, or strong, especially back then I was tiny, like super undersized. But as soon as I started learning the game, becoming the technician and putting that time and knowing that I put more time and and separate myself with the amount of work I put it and I somehow get better than somebody.

So that that kept going throughout the whole year, my whole career, even when I got to college, still doing those crazy hours, still putting in an extra hours more than anybody went a whole year without missing a dave doing extra work. So that's that's really been the whole story of my entire career, just putting the extra work. Know that, Okay, I might be behind some things, but I'm setting for myself with the details and just how much extra work is cam talking about throughout the week?

It was before school go there, We're start workout starts at five so because we had to start school it was seven thirty back then, so we have to do that right before school. Obviously, I've practice lifting during school at the right after school, another practice on the field at the high school, then right back at five o'clock we're back with the facility doing our speed work, doing

our lifting, and one more GB workout. So it was at least fourteen hours a day just from the time you wake up at five am and I'm not getting home until seven at night. After my last workout, then I had to do homework and then right back and now that was basically my whole routine. Even with Cam working fourteen hours a day on football, Coach Brown knew the daunting odds that they faced. Basically, I'm scratching my

head like wild. We mentioned NFL, but at the time we're just mentioned and trying to just get him on track to be a football player, you know, because he had the ambition, he had the motivation, he had the heart in the work ethic, but looking at him, the skills set by eyes wasn't there and everything else. So the first few sessions would count it was two left feet, two left feet, you know, he couldn't do the drills.

It was really a no rhythm at all. And the daughters in the car watching us and asked, I'm finishing up the session with you, so we're getting the car and she's first things that my daughter in mouth was like that, why are you training this kid camp? You know, Dad, he's not a football player. I have to tell my daughter, I say, baby, as long as he keeps showing up to his training sessions, we're gonna keep showing him to

the training session. When you get a kid that believes in itself, I couldn't tell the kid no. I didn't want to be that that guy saying kid, football, it's not your sport. So as he showed up, I showed up. We'll be right back. Coach Brown needed to figure out how to turn his sophomore cornerback giving up multiple touchdowns a game into a high school starter, and he needed to build a foundation where Cam could continue to grow into a college player and maybe even one day into

an NFL defensive back. But the million dollar question was how So One of the things was we never had a football. I never trying to account with a football. So it's one of these things. As the parents, you're looking like, Okay, who is this man and what is he really doing? Because none of the things where we're doing look like it was football related. You know, we started from the ground up, so we had to actually built the coordination, I placement, you know, built the Rivermnis

feed and things like that. You know, the big total power inside arts so he can move with you know, consistently, would have would have smoved rhythm. Scouts often say the best cornerbacks never look out of control or out of position. They described them as smooth and fluid. They can turn and run with receivers without losing any speed. They always know where the ball is. They anticipate where the receiver's going.

That's the kind of work Cam and Coach Brown put in morning after morning, week after week, without ever touching a football. It was reminiscent of Daniel LaRusso learning karate by waxing Mr Mayagi's car and painting his fence over and over again instead of sparring with the kids in Cobra Kai and like the karate kid, Cam and his parents couldn't help but question the process at times, But as the weeks went by, Cam's parents began to know

it's a difference in their son. Over time, you saw the progression he was making, like he was getting better. So now I was like, Okay, let's continue to do this. That hard work and that discipline no matter whether it's pro football or anything in life, that translates everywhere, and everyone respects hard work. Whatever Coach Brown sawing Cam over those weeks, whatever progress he made or bond they built, he also felt that he couldn't let the young cornerback down.

I've been in coaching twenty five years plus, started at To You Love with Dead High School, but it was it was morrisover, resident of intervention, loving the kids. I've been officer for twenty years, so my background is serving the people who need to be served. Coach Brown is also a veteran police officer in southern California in addition to working as a football coach and trainer. I understood that camp came first, So it wasn't about me playing

in the NFL. It wasn't about my college career, it wasn't about my high school career. It was about putting everything I could put into this kid to where he can have what I didn't have. And even though Cam still hadn't started game for the varsity team at his high school, he was already working towards his next goal, getting an offer to play in college. Cam and his parents explained, I've always wanted to go to Bury and my families out there, so Stanford and Cal as my

two main ones. UM. Stanford was my dream school. We went up to their junior days and this was before they even weren't even thinking about Cam. We would just go to their junior days. That's Cam's mom, Jennifer. I'm just trying to get their name out there, filling out the little questionnaire things UM before they actually acknowledged them. Yeah, that's pretty. And every coach of DM sit up the Gratus district, like, what's up, coach? Is everything I can

do to gradars? Yeah, sitting my links, sending workout videos, sending me We made a seven on seven highlights tape just for something because I was like, I need a need to get see an episode two. We heard about how Alabama coach Nick Saban flew to Pensacola, Florida, and personally showed up at Alex Leatherwood's high school to recruit him. Sometimes, entire teams of coaches will make recruiting trips to convince

a player to come to their school. By the time Cam's junior year started, he was the one recruiting college coaches instead of the other way around. He would text and email them, sending highlights from seven on seven tournaments since he didn't have high school game footage yet. Once I started training in that offseason after my sophomore season, that's when I started. I went in up going to the camps, and I got an offer from cow Poly Slow out of camp just because I bought out with

that in the varsity tape. So that that's when I started reaching out. Okay, I can I can go to camps and I can do well. I'm now, and I can have something to vouch for me with some film from a camp or something. So that's when I started doing out those questionnaires. Hid him. Coaches, Uh say, yeah, I just got my first offer, checked me out, blah blah blah, all that stuff. Just in every single coaches

d M sending emails begging players for coaching numbers. Cam would ask other players at camps for the coach of cell phone numbers, and then with text and cold call the coaches, he tell them all about his offer from cal Polly, using it as a part of his pitch on why they should consider him. Here are his parents, Curis and Jennifer. Once again, he was very proactive in reaching out coaches and then I kept a business card.

We had spring showcases, and I always made it a point to work at the table where the coaches have to see me first, and then I would you know, network with them, tell him my sin is on the side, and get a business card. His mom was running an equally aggressive recruiting campaign, and then that helped. I just found that note. But it was a binder that I created and had it all organized, put all their business cards and had a little harpe who we reached out to.

When Cam like messaged, um, what was the correspondence, you know, what was the feedback? And he just always make sure he followed up and reaching out to all those coaches. Yeah, she was sent at the transcript table with if they they're interested in in a player, they got to go ask for the transcripts. So of course she would work at that table. But oh yeah, it take this. It's a lot of my transcripts in there. Just doing the

ex that's just extra. With the coaches, they would always say, okay, can I have a player between three point five g P at a four point up? Yeah, I would, I would slide his, and then the g p A really made a huge difference to It was probably annoying to them, but at the end of at the end of my junior season, that's when they started coming around, and they ended up coming to one of my playoff games at

the end of that year. So all that reaching out and all that stuff helped, especially once I was able to start my junior season. Cam's college pursuit turned into the family business. He would recruit coaches while his mom worked the relationship management angle, and almost all of this took place before he ever started a game for the high school varsity team. Then Cam's the next step was

a social media marketing campaign. When I was going through the process, talking to Stanford a lot more than I was cal put all my eggs in that basket your Stanford. So added my two eight classes I needed, and trying to do everything just to be able to get into school. So one day my recruitment was picking up. One day

I took a visit up to Stanford. I posted on social media and as soon as soon as I posted, cow coach cause and said, Okay, we're gonna offer you, And I'm like, Wow, and it's crazy how that works. I post posted I'm up at Stanford, and now you

guys want to talk, so we started. I started talking to both of them and still ended up taking the st A T twice trying to get into Stanford because I have to actually get in as a regular student, and so you needed a certain amoun out and every section of your s A T. And I took it twice. Wasn't able to get it on one section. So I was like, all right, from Calf, I was super glad. I did it, cald best best decision I've ever made. Coach Brown watched as Cam used a cal Polly offer

to leverage Stanford to then get cal Berkeley interested. You get a Kyle Polly offer, you know you better than that. The writers are are writing about you, So what do you have to do? He did to refer psychology. You know, he created his own recruiting bus between the schools that he thought was going to be attractive to him to actually go to. He used social media to wake up Cayl Berkeley to come over and take a good look at him. And when he's seen it, look they bid

on it. They did on it, and it worked. It was. It was a genius move on his part. His parents were equally impressed with just how enterprising and zealous their son was at every step in his journey. Looking back, this is a story you can tell later, you know, years down the road to other people, like look what I did. Look at my struggle now, you know, I mean in the NFL. And you know he's like he said, he started off a fifth string JV player and the journey has just been great. So to me, it was

all word. It all paid off, and it was like, you know, it taught him a lesson to like networking at an early age. You know, you know what, young kids don't like to do that these days. It's like now you need to follow up, follow through network. Whenever you meet someone, shake their hand to build a connection and build that network. And by him dm ng all these coaches and just reaching out and you know, just

trying to get exposed. All that networking training, practice and hard work transformed Kim from fifth string JV to first team all packed twelve, he became the team captain at kel Berkeley and now he's sitting in a huge lake house with his friends and family watching NFL draft, waiting for his future coaches to finally call him. This time around, here's coach Brown once again. He wasn't a five star, he wasn't how to recruited, he didn't have multiple offers.

So now guess what it does. It brings streams back to the normal kid that it's being looked over. Because you know, when you look at college, when you look at the NFL, there's always the University of is So kids ought to make these as something that you have to take this one particular route to get there. But it is a street called count Bindo that you can take and you can end up there also, you know, And I think there's a lot of kids an understanding it's a street with their name on it, you know.

And that's the blessing of it all that sitting back that hey, this morning, one street to get to the NFL. Next I'm drafted. Now that it's like literally less than a day away, it's kind of starting to get surreal. I finally starting to get real for me to buckle down and get straight a's to qualified. And he's like, I know, you do it. I'm training my butt off home, working out with two coaches, going to two places just to be stayed. It was a trying time for all

of us. We had just went through a family breakup, and you know, he would just had to be strong. It's like, you just popped for COVID, You're just positive. And I was like what, He's like, Yeah, you need to go home right now, like right now and walking home and didn't leave my house since then for fourteen days. So we just had to keep encouraging him and until you can figure this part out. Drafted is a production of tree Ford Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio.

The executive producers are Kelly Gardner, Lisa Amerman, Eric Slot, Eric Weiner, and Shaun Titone. The series is produced and written by Eric Winer. Garme Mamalu is our coordinating producer. Coral Silverberg is our associate producer. Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer. The show is mixed, edited and hosted by Me Stephen Johnson, additional production help from Tim Shower

and Hailey Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more information Undrafted, go to tree for dot fm, and for more podcasts from my Heart, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,