A lifelong dream comes true for UCLA's Jordan Zumwalt
HUNTINGTON BEACH The smell of bacon and cinnamon rolls is growing faint in the Zumwalt house, as Mel Kiper's voice emanates from the television in the living room and Jordan Zumwalt, 30 minutes into the last leg of the longest wait of his life, sits hunched over on a chair in the kitchen, staring at his phone, willing it to ring with everything he has. Saturday, and Jordan's former UCLA teammate, Cassius Marsh, has just been drafted by Seattle. The party watching the NFL draft from the living room cheers, but to Zumwalt who was expected to be picked ahead of Marsh the anxiety is growing exponentially. Seven picks later, Shaq Evans, another teammate, is drafted by the Jets.
But Zumwalt isn't there to see it. The agony of this wait, pick by pick, round by round, has become excruciating the exact reason he promised himself he wouldn't stare at the TV this weekend. So he leaves, escaping out the front door with his cousin, Dylan, and no one else. No one knows for sure where he's gone.
"Just somewhere to breathe," his mother, Nanette, says.
She texts his agent soon after, begging for some kind of clarity. There's none to be had. The tension in the house is building. His range was supposed to be anywhere from the third to the sixth round, and midway through the fourth, concern is starting to set in.
Jordan returns an hour later and walks into the living room: "Turn it off," he says.
But the TV in the front room is still on, and that's where friends and family gather. Jordan checks in periodically. Mostly, he just sits, glaring at his phone.
Nanette checks her phone just as furiously, questioning as other linebackers go off the board. Eight more in the fifth.
"I think I might throw up," Nanette http://www.buyfakeoakleys.com/ says.
Jordan is spread out on the couch, half watching "Monuments Men" as the sixth round begins. He's still clutching his phone. His sister, Deirdre, comes over to sit at his feet. Their father, Rick, reclines in a chair nearby. Nanette takes her seat on the floor, as close to her oldest son as possible, hoping to offer support.
It's been a long journey for Jordan and his entire family, one the Register has followed since February and now, as Jordan falls near the bottom of the range he'd been preparing for, seconds feel like hours.
Pizza, stacked high in two piles on the kitchen table, offers a much needed distraction as the picks hit buyfakeoakleys.com the 190s. For the first time in hours, Jordan relaxes and a smile creeps across his face.