• Roster
• |
• Schedule/Results
• |
• Stats
• |
• News
• |
• Archives

April 24, 2012

Former Texas Longhorn WR Roy Williams was selected seventh by the Detroit Lions and DT Marcus Tubbs was selected 23rd by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2004 NFL Draft held at Madison Square Garden in New York City on April 24, 2004.

It marked the beginning of a three-year run in which two Longhorns would be selected in the first round in the same draft. And at the time is was the third draft in four years and seventh time up to that point that UT had had two players selected in the first-round of a draft. Overall, UT has had at least two players selected in the first round in ten separate drafts.

Williams and Tubbs were joined by CB Nathan Vasher (4th round, Chicago Bears) and WR Sloan Thomas (7th round, Houston Texans) as Texas Longhorns selections in the 2004 Draft.

Here is what Williams told MackBrown-TexasFootball.com in 2004 about his draft day experience:

It was great. I had a separate green room from everyone else. All of the other guys' rooms were down on the floor, and my room was upstairs. I guess it was the penthouse suite. I hung out there with my family for a while. Then they called me down when they introduced all the guys to the fans. Eli [Manning] got booed. I felt bad for him, but those fans at the draft are pretty hardcore. A lot of the guys were nervous, but I was pretty laid back because I knew I wasn't going first and had a pretty good idea I was going to Detroit at number six. I just had a real good feeling about my visit there. I did start getting nervous when Oakland was on the clock because I visited there and things went pretty well on that visit, too. I gave that until about nine minutes were left on the clock, then I said, ”Oh well, if they were going to take me, they would have already called.” So, I sat back and said it's the Lions and waited for the sixth pick. When they announced the Lions traded with Cleveland, I said, “Wow!” For a second, I thought maybe I was going to Cleveland. They'd been pretty low-key through the whole pre-draft stuff. Those are the teams that surprise you. But they took Kellen [Winslow], and I knew it was Detroit for me. As soon as the Lions were on the clock the phone rang. I still have it logged on my cell phone. It was 1:22 p.m. Eastern time when they called. I tried to play it cool and let it ring, but I was too excited for that. When I answered, they started passing the phone around, and I talked to everyone. They were all really excited and so was I. Then it was time to hug everyone and head to the podium. It's a weekend I'll never forget, especially when I was drafted and holding up that No. 1 Lions jersey. That was a dream come true.


Williams spent four and a half seasons with the Lions before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2008. He played for the Cowboys through 2010 and was with the Chicago Bears for the 2011 season. Williams was selected to the NFL Pro Bowl in 2007. At UT, Williams was a Biletnikoff semifinalist in 2003 and was tabbed unanimous first-team All-Big 12 as a sophomore, junior and senior. He played in 50 games, including bowls, and started 42 contests during his career. Williams set UT career records for receptions (241 -now held by Jordan Shipley, 248), receiving yards (3,866), TD receptions (36) and 100-yard receiving games (16) and is ranked ninth on the UT all-time scoring list (238 points). He finished his collegiate career with 4,109 all-purpose yards which is also ninth-best in UT history.

Tubbs spent four seasons with the Seahawks before an injury forced him to retire in 2008. He was a two-time All-Big 12 defensive tackle at Texas, including first-team honors as a senior in 2003, when he was also chosen as a team captain. During his UT career, he played in 48 games, including 36 starts, and posted 207 tackles, 41 TFLs, 15 sacks and five forced fumbles, helping the Longhorns to a 41-10 record.

The 2012 NFL Draft begins Thursday at 7 p.m. CT and continues through Saturday. For full coverage of former Longhorns in the draft and other Texas draft facts, visit MB-TF.com’s draft page.