NFL draft: The roller-coaster ride of Lake Travis’ Gilbert
Former Lake Travis and Texas Longhorns quarterback ‘pretty dang excited’ to get call from Rams in 6th round.
Garrett Gilbert saw his lifelong dream come true on Saturday.
The St. Louis Rams — one round before making their historic selection of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam — drafted Gilbert, the former Lake Travis High School standout and one-time Texas Longhorn in the sixth round.
Gilbert, who closed out his college career as SMU’s quarterback, became the first Lake Travis graduate to be taken in an NFL draft. Officially, he was the 214th overall player selected in the 256-player draft.
“I was pretty dang excited,” Gilbert said Sunday. “I had been paying attention to the Rams’ picks because they had been one of the teams that seemed interested in me during the process. I knew they had a compensatory pick. I didn’t know what that meant, but it turned out to be pretty exciting.”
Gilbert had watched nearly all of
Saturday’s draft coverage but said he decided he didn’t want to watch every remaining pick hoping to see his name or hear his phone ring.
“So at some point, I went in the other room and watched the Players Championship. I really like watching Jordan Spieth,” he said. “But then Rams GM Les Snead called and put Coach Fisher on the phone, and he asked if I wanted to be a Ram.”
His selection came after a roller-coaster college career. After leading Lake Travis to back-toback Class 4A state championships, Gilbert signed with Texas. His freshman year ended with him being thrust into the spotlight of the 2009 national championship game against Alabama after Colt McCoy got injured on the fifth play. After a disastrous sophomore season in 2010, Gilbert transferred to SMU in 2011.
Before the draft, he credited SMU coach June Jones with helping him rediscover his confidence. He recalled a Monday meeting with Jones after a five-interception performance against TCU early during his junior season.
“I show up on Monday morning for running, and coach Jones keeps me out on the field after, and there’s a chance that it becomes kind of a ‘here we go again’ type thing,” Gilbert said, referring to the struggles he endured at Texas. “And he completely flipped that on its head and said he had all the confidence in the world in me, that I’m their guy and that he thought he saw me really learning and just playing instead of hesitating out on the field during that game.
“I’m not sure it was a light bulb moment, but it was a very important moment in terms of just letting things go and playing. And I think it really showed on the field.”
Gilbert finished his junior season on an upswing; in his final nine games of 2012, he passed for 2,048 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.
As a senior, Gilbert’s statistics ranked among the nation’s best. In 10 games before injuring a knee, he completed 66.5 percent of his passes and averaged 50.4 attempts per game. He threw for 3,528 yards with 21 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
The Rams’ roster includes starting quarterback Sam Bradford, veteran Shaun Hill and backup Austin Davis, a second-year pro from Southern Mississippi.
“Obviously the Rams have an established starter in Sam Bradford and just signed Shaun Hill to a free-agent contract, so I’mexcited to go in and learn from two veterans,” Gilbert said. “I like a lot of what (Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer) and (quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti) were telling me when they came (to SMU) and worked me out.”
Gilbert will get to work out again, this time officially for his new team. As he spoke Sunday, he was packing for his Monday trip to St. Louis.
“There will probably be some physical evaluations, maybe an MRI or X-ray to make sure everything’s OK,” Gilbert said. “Then I think I get started working out with the team.”