AUBURN, Ala. – There's nothing like getting that phone call from an NFL team and finding out that you've been drafted. It's a dream come true for any aspiring football player.
For Deshaun Davis, he thought that call might come in the fourth or fifth round in this year's draft. The Auburn linebacker was coming off a senior season in which he was fourth in the SEC with 116 tackles and fifth with 15 tackles for loss. For his career, he finished with 266 tackles – the fourth-most at Auburn since 2000.
However, the call didn't come until sixth round when the Cincinnati Bengals chose him with the 210th pick overall. Looking back, though, it came at just the right time.
"It was nothing but God," Davis said. "I was sitting there in front of the TV the entire time watching the draft and hoping I was going to get a phone call and I never did. The moment I stepped away from the TV and was almost at a point to give up, my phone started ringing. It was nothing but God. I truly feel like this was the place where I needed to be just by the way that it happened."
For former Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham, the call came two rounds earlier. On the other end? It was Bill Belichick, the head coach of the defending Super Bowl champions.
The New England Patriots took Stidham in the fourth round at pick No. 133, and now the former SEC Newcomer of the Year in 2017 has a chance to develop behind future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. In two seasons at Auburn, Stidham threw for 5,952 yards and 36 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions.
"Tom Brady is obviously a great player and, from what I've heard, a great teammate," Stidham said Saturday on a conference call. "So I'm just looking forward to spending some time with him. You can't play for 20 years and not have so much knowledge of the game, so just being able to sit there and soak up everything that he's gone through and pick his brain here and there about different things."
Davis and Stidham were two of five Auburn players who were drafted Saturday.
Wide receiver Darius Slayton went in the fifth round to the New York Giants at pick No. 171. Then in the seventh round, fullback Chandler Cox and defensive lineman Dontavius Russell were taken two picks apart. Cox was first off the board to the Miami Dolphins at No. 233, and then two picks later (235), Russell was chosen by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Including cornerback Jamel Dean, who was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Friday's third round, Auburn had a total of six players drafted – two more than last year.
Though Ryan Davis, Darrell Williams and Andrew Williams did not go in the draft, all three signed free-agent deals with NFL teams once the draft concluded Saturday. Davis will once again catch passes from Stidham in New England. Andrew Williams will team up with Russell on the defensive line in Jackonsville. And Darrell Williams will start the next chapter of his career in New Orleans with the Saints.