ON THE CALL
La Cueva’s Denton thrilled he’ll get to announce Denver’s pick
La Cueva student Austin Denton to announce Denver’s first pick in the NFL draft
Austin Denton, a major Denver Broncos fan, will be part of his favorite team next week.
Denton, a 17-year-old La Cueva High junior who is well known for his work as talent on local high school sports broadcast coverage, will announce the Broncos’ first selection during next Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The first round will air on the NFL, FOX and ESPN networks.
The arrangement for Denton to participate was a “work in progress” since last month, he said. Patients from St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., typically get an opportunity to participate, but on one of the latter days and later rounds. Denton is a survivor of a rare form of spinal cord cancer at age 2, and has spent most of his life confined to a wheelchair. He remains a patient at the St. Jude’s, for yearly checkups.
But then the Broncos got involved, and a trade up, as it were, to the glitz and glamour of the first round means Denton will be announcing the fifth overall pick, assuming the Broncos keep it.
“That just made it all the more exhilarating for me. It’s
just an amazing feeling,” Denton told the Journal late Wednesday afternoon. That was after he had done a Facetime interview on NFL Network to announce the news and a call in to ESPN Radio (KQTM) 101.7, Denton’s part-time employer.
By dinner time, there probably was one more radio interview to go.
“A lot of people are excited about this,” Denton said.
Denton is scheduled to arrive in Texas the day before the draft. He will stay at the scene of the draft through Friday, he said, before returning home Saturday.
Even before Wednesday’s appearance on NFL Network, national TV was old hat for the young guy.
He served as a guest reporter for the NFL Network and CBS at Super Bowl 50, where he got to do a one-on-one interview with then-Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. And during the 2016 NFL season, CBS brought him to New York to appear on the network’s pregame show and broadcast an interview he had done with then-Broncos coach Gary Kubiak.
Now for the hard part: Which selection would Denton like to announce for his beloved team?
That question elicited a long answer, but he settled on what he hopes is a quarterback to back up and learn under the newly acquired Case Keenum, and in case the Broncos need to move fellow QB Paxton Lynch.
“It’s been probably the most hotly debated pick on a lot of mock drafts,” he said.