(On his perception of Ray Lewis when entering the NFL) “Oh yeah, oh yeah. I thought Ray Lewis was 6-foot-6, 275 pounds all muscle and first things first; I did a commercial with him before I even got drafted to the Baltimore Ravens. Iwas like, ‘Oh, you’re not that tall.’ It’s just something about the guy. If you’re a defensive player or a football player, you’re going to like Ray Lewis whether you’re offense, defense; you need him on the field. We did a commercial, a draft day commercial and we had so much fun.
He was like, ‘Alright now young in’, you might fall to us, me.’ Me, being the naïve 20-year-old that I am, I’m like, ‘what pick are y’all?’ He’s like, ‘we pick 10th,’ and I was like, “No way I’m going that far down the line.’ Low and behold, the
traded out of the pick and when the ninth pick came, I was just like, ‘Wait a minute.’ Then, my phone started ringing. Low and behold, it was Art Modell and then Ozzie Newsome.
Then, I got a call, probably about 20 minutes after they mentioned my name, from the great (No.) 5-2. He said, ‘I told you rook. I can’t wait to see you in camp.’ The rest is history.”
