 
2007 NFL Draft diary: Michael Griffin, May 3
Longhorns fans were able to watch how your draft day unfolded. Once the cameras were turned off, how did the rest of your night play out? Luckily, I didn't have to fly to Tennessee until Sunday, so I just sat at my parent's house with my dad, my brother and a friend of ours. My mom and her sister went to the Jamie Foxx concert, so we had the house to ourselves. We watched the end of the draft, ate and just talked about a lot of different things. It was really relaxing. I've told you how hectic the process is from the end of the season to the draft. So, to finally be able to take a few minutes when you know what your future holds, is really nice. What was your day like on Sunday? I woke up just in time to see Brian Robison drafted. That was an exciting thing to see. That made four guys from our defense drafted and Tarell Brown hadn't even gone yet. I was hoping to see when Tarell got drafted, but it happened when I was on the plane flying to Tennessee. Once I got there, I got a chance to meet with coach Fisher and the rest of the staff. I also got my playbook and started learning what the Titans do on defense. It's never too early to start figuring that stuff out. Then, we had a press conference where I got to hold up the jersey with the number one on it. They took a bunch of photos and did some interviews, so that was pretty special. After that, I got to do something really cool. I sat in on the Titans' draft room, while they were drafting the next couple of guys. What did you think of Nashville? It reminded me of Austin. It looked like there was a lot of land around the area. It was green and seemed like it had nice weather. Obviously, I think Austin is the best city in the country, so I'm hoping Nashville is similar to it. How do you think you will be used during your rookie season? Once I got to Tennessee, coach Fisher told me that I'm probably going to start my career at corner. He also said I could move back to the middle of the field if things don't work out at corner. He just told me to go out there, work hard and do the best I can, and that is what I plan to do. I think it is a little easier to learn the cornerback position because you are either playing man, cover three or cover two. At safety, you have to do so much reading during the plays that it makes it a little more difficult. Coach Fisher thinks I can play corner, and I'm glad he has that kind of confidence in me. Now, it's on me to get the job done. Do you know any of the other guys coming in? I got to train with Paul Williams of Fresno State and Joel Filani from Texas Tech out in Arizona, so it will be good having those guys come in at the same time I am. I also played with Fred Davis from Florida State at the Senior Bowl, so it will be good to transition into pro football with some guys you are familiar with, not to mention the Longhorns that are already playing for the Titans. Did you get to choose your number while you were there? I just found out I'll be able to wear number 27. They were thinking about retiring it for Eddie George. I told the Titans' staff that out of respect for Eddie George, I wanted to talk to him and ask his permission to wear the number. He went to Ohio State, and I obviously went to Texas, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen [laughing], but it went through. He is going to let me wear it, so I'm going to try and wear it with pride and represent that number. Did you get a chance to talk to any of the other Longhorns who got drafted? I found out that Tarell got drafted by San Francisco when I got off the plane, so I called him and had to make fun of him a little because he doesn't like to wear red. I told him, `You're going to be wearing lots of red now.' He just started laughing. We just talked, joked and wished each other good luck. I'm sure he is going to do great out in San Fran. I got a chance to talk to Aaron Ross, too. It was crazy that we went back-to-back in the draft. That just doesn't seem like it would happen very often, so I'll always remember that. I also talked to Bo Scaife and he told me how they fought for me. He was saying how we were going to have fun and it was going to be a blast to play together again, so that got me pumped. After the four-month build up and a hectic weekend, why was it important to you to be at the academic awards banquet on Monday? This is the first time that my brother and I would have a chance to walk across the stage together and get one of those academic awards, so that was really important to me. I think it's important for people to know that at Texas, we aren't just football players, we are student-athletes. Also, for the younger guys, they need to know that teams look into every aspect of your background when they are trying to figure out who to draft. Every team I talked to asked me what my GPA was in high school and in college. Plus, with that new policy, teams are taking character into account and they see your academics as part of your character.
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