IRVING, Texas (AP) - Isaiah Stanback has fought to play
quarterback his entire career.
But the former University of Washington signal caller knew if he
wanted to play in the N-F-L, a position change to wide receiver was
inevitable.
The Dallas Cowboys selected 6-foot-2, 216-pound Stanback with
their first pick in the fourth round today and intend to move him
to wide receiver. He hasn't played that position since his freshman
year in college.
Drafting a college quarterback and converting him to wide
receiver has become a popular trend in recent years. Pittsburgh's
Hines Ward, Washington's Antwaan Randle El, Jacksonville's Matt
Jones and Dallas' third receiver Patrick Crayton have all made
successful transitions to receiver.
It was little surprise the Cowboys were looking to bolster their
receiving corps. They didn't choose a receiver in the first three
rounds of the draft yesterday.
The Cowboys used their second pick in the fourth round to select
Northern Illinois offensive tackle Doug Free.
Dallas didn't have a fifth-round choice, but it chose Arizona
kicker Nick Folk with the 178th pick and Connecticut fullback Deon
Anderson with the 195th pick.
In the seventh round, Dallas selected Cal Poly cornerback
Courtney Brown and Illinois cornerback Alan Ball.
Amobi Okoye was walking at 7-months-old and by 1 he amused himself by pushing dining chairs across the kitchen
floor.
So it seems normal to his mother, Edna Okoye, that her
19-year-old "baby boy" would be the youngest player taken in the
first round of the N-F-L draft since the merger. Okoye was picked
tenth by Houston.
Okoye started high school at age 12 and was enrolled at
Louisville by 16. He says he first got involved in football because
his parents thought he was getting fat. But he soon learned to love
it and earned all-state honors as a 14-year-old high school senior.
The 6-foot-1, 300-pound Okoye will join a defensive line in
Houston that features last year's Number 1 pick Mario Williams and
a unit that also has Defensive Rookie of the Year DeMeco Ryans.
Today, the Texans traded fourth-round picks with New Orleans and
also got a fifth round pick from the Saints. Houston chose South
Carolina defensive back Fred Bennett with the 123rd pick and
Stanford safety Brandon Harrison in the fifth round at 144.
Houston got Virginia Tech offensive tackle Brandon Frye at
Number 163 and Texas offensive guard Kasey Studdard in the sixth
round at 183.
The Texans also chose Kansas State linebacker Zach Diles in the
seventh round with pick Number 218. Houston moved down from Number 8 to 10th and gave up this year's second round pick in the trade
that brought quarterback Matt Schaub from Atlanta.
Alabama cornerback Ramzee Robinson is this year's Mr. Irrelevant.
Eighteen hours and five minutes after it began, the Detroit
Lions ended the N-F-L draft by selecting the 5-foot-10, 186-pound
cornerback in the seventh round with the 255th pick, the last pick
overall.
"My faith was tested," Robinson says.
The perks of being perhaps the draft's longest of long shots
includes a June trip to Newport Beach, California, as the guest of
honor at the Lowsman Trophy banquet. The Lowsman Trophy is
Irrelevant Week's answer to the Heisman Trophy.