<H1 class=red>Safety in number -- 8
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Sunday, April 30, 2006
Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
The NFL Draft was under way, but the party for Donte Whitner really wasn't. Not this early, not in the first 10 picks.
Former Ohio State teammates Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. were among the revelers still driving to the Greenmont Party Center in South Euclid about 1:15 p.m. Saturday. The 200-seat banquet facility was just over half-filled when the Buffalo Bills went on the clock with the draft's eighth pick. Debbie Whitner was discussing her serious son when she saw him seated, his cell phone to his right ear, two fingers from his left hand pinching the bridge of his nose.
"That's just who he is," Debbie Whitner said, admiring the calm displayed by the former Glenville High star. Over the past four months, after giving up his senior season at Ohio State to turn pro, the 5-10, 204-pound safety had systematically worked his way from a borderline first-rounder to a player projected to go in the middle of the first round. "But he's nervous now," she said. "I think he's breaking down."
Several bigger-name college stars still were waiting, unselected, in New York as the face of NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue filled the big-screen TV at the front of the room. On the phone, Bills General Manager Marv Levy was telling Whitner he was their guy. Whitner's eyes were wet as Tagliabue said his name. The shrieking started and Whitner's father, Eugene Robinson, started running through the crowd shouting, "No. 8, No. 8."
"You're thinking about everything you've been through in your life," Whitner said later, "all the hard work you put in, going from muni-league to high school to college. Being able to have my family and friends around me to celebrate this moment -- when the room erupted, there's no way to describe it. You just feel like a weight is lifted off you."
The party kicked in quickly after the Bills made Whitner the surprise selection of the first round. Smith and Ginn Jr. and Jamario O'Neal, current Buckeyes who also played at Glenville, arrived after Whitner had moved into the parking lot, unable to talk on his cell phone inside after the music kicked on.
"This is a big day for him, it's a big day for us, it's a big day for our community, it's a big day for our family, because we're all a family," Ginn Jr. said. "Everybody's not here yet because we thought he was going 13, 14, but to go eight, that's great."
Smith slapped hands with nearly everyone he came across, telling one friend, "It feels like we just got selected."
More tears followed for Whitner as he hugged an uncle, his mother and Glenville coach Ted Ginn Sr.
"This is the ultimate goal, to have a great life," Ginn Sr. said. "Nobody expects us do anything -- you start talking about the inner city of Cleveland, nobody even thinks about that. But it's what's coming behind him that's more important, because now I can go back to the neighborhood and tell a kid at age 14, this is what can happen."
Whitner was a strong safety with the Buckeyes, but the Bills said they'll use him at either safety spot. After running the 40-yard dash in less than 4.4 seconds during workouts, Whitner also proved he's fast enough to cover NFL receivers.
"He's outstanding in every area," Bills coach Dick Jauron said. "He'll hit you with everything he has and he's going to bring everything every time. Maybe as good as any of his qualities is his temperament -- he plays the game hard and he plays it every snap."
Whitner visited nine teams before the draft and turned down others because he ran out of time. But the Bills hadn't shown much interest before telling Whitner's agent on Friday that if tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson was gone, they'd take Whitner.
When Ferguson went fourth to the New York Jets, Whitner knew what was coming. That should include a contract signing bonus of around $11 million.
"It wasn't really about the money," Whitner said. "It was about getting respect, about going where my game would take me. And my game took me there."
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