FORT COLLINS — Trey McBride was running a quick slant to the restroom when his phone buzzed.
“Holy smokes, Joel, like, we gotta roll,” McBride, the CSU All-American tight end and future Arizona Cardinal said to Joel Dreessen, the former Broncos and Rams tight end posting up next to him.
With that, the two Fort Morgan natives did a combo curl route, scooting back to a private party room at C.B. & Potts.
“I looked down at my phone, I had a missed call. I looked at Joel,” recalled McBride after he was taken by Arizona with the No. 55 pick in the second round of the NFL draft, making him the highest CSU draft choice since 2015. “I grabbed (Dreessen) and we sprinted back in. And as I’m doing that I get another phone call.”
At 6:43 p.m., said party room, a restless din for more than 40 minutes up to that point, got eerily quiet.
“Coach how you doing?” McBride said to a then-unknown caller at the front of the room. “Thank you so much.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.”
McBride stood up, turned around and addressed the hushed crowd behind him.
“OK, the Chiefs are on the clock,” McBride told an assemblage of about 60 friends and family. “And then …”
Cardinals.
Cue room exploding.
YAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
“State Farm Stadium, baby!” somebody shouted.
“So proud of you, man!” shouted another.
“Aeneas Williams, thatap a Hall-of-Famer saying your name, son.”
“Here we go Rams, here we go!”
“Here we go Cardinals, here we go!”
From Fort Morgan to Glendale, Ariz. From Todd Centeio to Kyler Murray. In five months. Only in America.
“(He’s) an All-Pro guy who you know is a Heisman winner, someone I’ve watched since he was in college,” the 6-foot-4 McBride said of his new quarterback, eyes gleaming at the possibilities.
“(He) can really do it all. He runs, he throws, he’s just so elite, dynamic and versatile. I’m so excited, more than anything, to catch balls from a guy like that.”
Don’t let that whole one-receiving-touchdown-in-2021 thing scare you, Cardinals fans. At CSU, McBride caught passes from household names such as K.J. Carta-Samuels, Collin Hill, Patrick O’Brien and Centeio. The guy piled up 164 grabs, 2,100 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns over 40 games anyway.
After two years in former coach Steve Addazio’s run-run-pass-punt offense, running routes for Cards boss Kliff Kingsbury is going to feel like Christmas, every Sunday.
“I could run through a brick wall right now,” a giddy McBride giggled some 25 minutes after his name got called.
And run he will. For Murray. For Kingsbury. You watch. Arizona is getting a wild Colorado colt who’s been waiting years for a chance to roam free.
“Best day of my life,” McBride said, beaming again. “I wouldn’t want to spend it with anybody else.”
McBride watched with his two moms and siblings in a semi-circle at the front of the room as names came and went. To their left, a table was filled with caps representing all 32 NFL franchises. At the back, a calescent buffet of ribs, shrimp, meatballs, pastrami and hot dogs sat semi-loved and semi-consumed.
An hour after the second round started, with McBride still on the board at pick No. 45, the evening started to feel long.
Especially given that McBride couldn’t sleep Thursday after watching the first round pass by without him. So he stayed up with his brothers, talking about the journey. Talking about the future. Laughing.
“I feel jacked up, (but) I’m running low,” McBride chuckled. “I got probably a couple hours of sleep. But I promise you, I’m ready to roll and just excited as heck.”
Join the club, kid. Arizona’s slated to play at Mile High this fall, and suddenly, that ticket just got a lot more interesting. And, for Fort Morgan and the thousands who’ve had McBride’s back every step of the way, a heck of a lot more fun.
