Apr. 27--BRADENTON -- It was 6:30 a.m. Saturday when Mike Jenkins opened his eyes.
Normally, the Southeast High alum and South Florida product sleeps until about 8 a.m. But making history tends to wreak havoc with your body's clock.
One of the nation's most highly touted cornerbacks, Jenkins became the first Bull ever to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft when the Dallas Cowboys made him the 25th overall pick Saturday.
Lakewood Ranch's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was picked by the Arizona Cardinals with the 16th pick, making it the first time two Manatee County players were selected in the first round of the same draft.
"The (general manager) called me and said, 'Are you sitting down or standing up?' " Jenkins said. "I told him, 'I'm sitting down right now unless you've got some good news for me.' He said, 'Well, stand up, because you're a Dallas Cowboy.' "
Jenkins and a pack of roughly 40 friends and relatives celebrated at the Days Inn. His mother, Kathy Gray, was so overwhelmed by the news that she fainted.
"That's what they tell me," said Gray, who seemed fine more than an hour after Jenkins' name was called.
It was a long time coming. The New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers had shown interest, Jenkins said, adding he had two dinner meetings with Bruce Allen, the Bucs' general manager.
Tampa Bay did take a cornerback with the 20th overall pick -- only it was Aqib Talib from Kansas.
"(Allen) basically put it in my head that he was going to take me," Jenkins said. "I saw Talib's name come up, and it really hurt me. But I said, 'There's nothing I can do it about it right now. Let's just wait for the next pick.' "
At 6 p.m., the waiting came to fruition, only Jenkins was a bit confused at first -- the Seattle Seahawks, not the Cowboys, were on the clock with the 25th pick. Unbeknownst to Jenkins, Dallas traded up, giving Seattle its 28th pick in exchange for the Seahawks' 25th.
"It confused me a little bit -- Seattle was on the board, but Dallas called me," he said. "I was kind of scared of going in there and let everybody know if (the Cowboys) were playing games with me. I saw the trade came through, and I was like, 'Great.' "
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