T-minus 12 days until former N.C. State defensive tackle John McCargo hears NFL Commissioner Paul John Tagliabue call his name during the first day of the NFL Draft.
Well, at least McCargo hopes it’s 12 days and not 13.
“I feel pretty comfortable that I’m going to be drafted on the first day,” McCargo said. “I left school with the hope that I’d go first day, but I’m also a football player, so wherever I get picked, I’m going to be OK regardless.”
The 21-year-old native of Drakes Branch, Va., left college after his junior season for the draft after a 2005 campaign in which he helped anchor one of the most heralded defensive fronts in America. He joins fellow former defensive linemen Mario Williams and Manny Lawson in this year’s draft. He said he feels good about the past three months of preparation.
“It’s going really good,” McCargo said. “I left school for this semester and went down to Georgia to train for two months before the combine, and then I trained a little bit before our pro day.”
Before the Clemson versus State game in Raleigh last October Clemson’s coach Tommy Bowden said McCargo may have been the most talented lineman on the team.
But now McCargo and his former teammates have to focus on pleasing NFL coaches and general managers.
“Teams don’t tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are,” he said. “Scouts ask you what you think they are. It’s a job interview, you know?”
After being featured on both ESPN.com and NFL.com, the 6-foot-2, 295-pound McCargo said he isn’t allowing recent coverage that suggests he’s going to be a first-round pick to influence him one way or another.
“I don’t get too caught up in the national attention,” McCargo said. “You know, it’s nice to have, but this is just an exciting time before the draft no matter what. I’ve heard talk about the late first [round]. If that happens, then it happens. But I just want to play the game of football.”
He added he has no idea what team will draft him, but he said he’s visited two of the league’s 32 teams.
“I went to Cleveland last week and then to St. Louis,” he said. “I know St. Louis needs a [defensive] tackle. No one team really shows more interest than the other. I wish it could be easier, and I could tell you which team has shown the most interest, but a lot of them don’t show much interest at all.”
He said he’s over the stress fracture in his left foot that kept him out of the final two months of last season, and he doesn’t expect it to hurt his draft status.
“I had that injury late last season, so I didn’t get to play a full season like I wanted to,” McCargo said. “But I think the second round, maybe the third round, is looking really, really good.”
