The selection of Hardin native Kroy Biermann in the fifth round and Kalispell product Lex Hilliard in the sixth marks the first time UM had two Montana natives picked in the NFL Draft the same year.
Hilliard, a 231-pound running back who owns UM's career touchdown record, was selected 204th overall by the Miami Dolphins. Biermann, a 242-pound defensive end who won the Buck Buchanan Award last year for the Griz, was the 154th overall selection, going to the Atlanta Falcons.
They ended up 50 picks apart. Hilliard's phone rang and it was Dolphins' GM Jeff Ireland.
“He said, ‘How'd you like to be a Miami Dolphin?' ” Hilliard said. “Then (Miami head of football operations) Bill Parcells got on the phone and said he can't wait to get me down to Miami.”
Biermann, who was at his parents' home in Hardin for the draft, was the second Big Sky Conference player taken, after Weber State offensive lineman David Hale went to Baltimore in the fourth round.
“Congratulations to him,” Biermann said. “I'm very thankful and blessed to be invited to a franchise. ... It's going to be a good chance for me to further my career.”
Biermann, second on UM's career sacks list with 32, will play outside linebacker in the Falcons' 3-4 defense.
“And maybe a little bit of defensive end, depending on what goes on,” he added. “We'll just have to wait and see and go play some football.”
That Atlanta was the team that called was a small surprise, though the Falcons had been in some contact.
“I hadn't talked to them very much,” Biermann noted. “But today I talked to the head coach (Mike Smith), their GM (Thomas Dimitroff) and their linebacker coach (Glenn Pires). They were just excited to have me aboard and congratulated me and were excited to get me down there and get going.”
Hilliard, who ran for 4,018 yards and 50 touchdowns in his Griz career, hadn't heard any rumblings of playing fullback for Miami, though he'd been rated high at that position on some draft boards.
That's even though he'd had heavy contact with the Dolphins in the days leading up to the draft.
“They called me last week and said they were very interested,” Hilliard said. “Fourteen other teams called, too, but they didn't call my name today.”
Both players talked of their nervousness on Sunday.
“It was nerve-wracking, but my family was there and they were very supportive,” said Biermann, whose name was briefly misspelled as “Bierman” on ESPN's draft coverage.
Hilliard said a teleconference with the Miami media didn't help his state of mind.
“They were just blasting questions from every angle,” he said. “Just what I knew about Miami and stuff. I've never been to Florida, so there wasn't much I knew. But I acted like I did.”
Hilliard will be part of a UM reunion in Miami of sorts, though the Dolphins released former Griz cornerback Tuff Harris on Thursday. Dan Carpenter, the Football Championship Subdivision career scoring leader, has a two-year offer sheet from the Dolphins as well.
“I'll have his contract tomorrow and he'll be going with Lex to mini-camp on Thursday,” said Carpenter's agent, Ken Staninger. “He's pretty charged up. They've been chasing him ever since they came up and worked him out.
“I think he's got a tremendous opportunity to get on the field and see what he can do.”
NOTES: Staninger also represents Harris, who dinged an ankle snowmobiling in the offseason ahead of being released. “I'd be surprised if he doesn't wind up in another camp soon,” he said of the Colstrip product. ... Two Griz, offensive tackle Larry Clarkson and defensive tackle Pat Foster, went in the eighth and ninth rounds of the 1988 draft, and Mike Rice (8th) and Brent Pease (11th) went in the '87 draft. ... Staninger represents Griz punter Tyson Johnson, and said he had “three or four” teams interested in the Stevensville product. Š McNeese State's Bryan Smith, a Buchanan Award finalist, went in the third round to Philadelphia. ... Appalachian State safety Corey Lynch, whom Biermann edged for the Buchanan Award, was the 177th overall pick, going to Cincinnati.
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