Inside the NFL Draft experience that ended with Logan Wilson getting the call of his life

Logan Wilson perks up.

He scoots forward on the couch and looks down at his cellphone. Once they realize what’s happening, his sister, Peyton, and his mother, Carla, sitting to his right, along with his girlfriend, Morgan, who’s practically attached to Wilson’s left arm, do the same.

Nobody recognizes the number, but that doesn’t matter.

Someone’s calling. This is it.

“Logan, this is Zac Taylor at the Bengals,” the voice on the other end of the phone says.

“Hey, how’s it going, Coach?” Logan responds.

“We’re going to make you the pick right here,” Taylor reveals.

“Really?” Logan says.

“Yes sir,” Taylor answers. “You ready to roll?”

“Absolutely,” Logan says.

Taylor, the second-year coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, goes on to tell Logan the organization had been holding its breath hoping the former Wyoming linebacker and Natrona County High School graduate would still be available by the time the Bengals were back on the clock at the start of the third round in the NFL Draft. After a few more seconds of back and forth, Logan hangs up and cracks a smile, though he doesn’t wear it on his face long before the question everyone in the room wants answered comes at him from every direction.

“Where are you going?”

He takes a breath.

“Cincinnati,” Logan answers.

The emotions are impossible to contain. The high fives start. Applause breaks out. Eyes water.

“It’s hard to put into words, but to sum it up, amazing,” Peyton says. “We’ve been waiting for this moment since as long as I can remember.”

Moments later, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell officially announces Logan as the 65th overall pick during ESPN’s broadcast, and Logan’s draft experience is complete.

The Star-Tribune spent the first two days of the draft with Logan and a small gathering of family and friends at his father’s home in Casper to document that experience — one that ran the full gamut of emotions.

'They won't regret it': Natrona County grad Logan Wilson drafted by Cincinnati Bengals

***

The red carpet that’s been laid out leading from Trevor Wilson’s front door to the foyer Friday afternoon makes clear what’s expected to happen later that night. In front of gold streamers and under an “NFL DRAFT 2020” sign that hangs above, friends and family members take turns taking pictures with Logan.

They talk among themselves as they rearrange the order and decide who’s next. In between photos, Logan cracks jokes with some of them, including Peyton, who’s three years younger than her brother.

Anything to try to calm the nerves that have come with the reason they’re all together, though there are plenty of reminders.

Brown and gold balloons line the staircase that wrap around to the upper level of his dad’s house. A game photo of Logan has been blown up into a full-sized cardboard cutout. A banner hangs above the television in the living room with Logan’s name, position and a coveted distinction: All-American. The top of it reads, “Draft Day.”

Logan, a four-year starter for the Cowboys whose 421 career tackles rank fourth in school history, had been told going into the draft that every team had a second- to fourth-round grade on him, and Friday consisted of the second and third rounds. Since this was the day Logan was widely projected to be drafted, the family coordinates with ESPN to put a camera in the living room so the network can show Logan and his family during its live broadcast once he’s selected.

A coffee table that had been displaying a book of photos from Logan’s football career and a Star-Tribune edition recounting Wilson’s yearslong transformation into a bona fide draft prospect now props up an iPad in front of the couch.

For Logan Wilson and family, a lifelong NFL dream will soon become 'surreal' reality

But Logan and his father, Trevor, want to make sure only immediate family members and Morgan are viewable in the camera’s frame, so they remind everyone else to be conscious of that. Trevor walks behind the iPad to survey.

“I can see his shoulder,” he says, pointing to one of Logan’s younger cousins in the background.

A few minutes before 5 p.m. local time, everybody begins to settle in for the start of Day 2. Logan takes his seat on the couch and is soon joined by Carla and Morgan. He watches intently as the first few picks of the second round come and go without his name being called before ESPN takes its first commercial break of the night.

“It’s a commercial,” says Morgan’s dad, Justin. “Everybody can breathe.”

Logan follows the order by taking a couple of deep breaths, something he and just about everybody else has had to be reminded to do on occasion ever since the draft started Thursday night.

***

The family’s pre-draft meal on Thursday is pizza from Pizza Hut, but before digging in, they gather to pray.

“We’re all here for Logan…” Morgan starts, but that’s as much as she can muster before bursting into tears. Carla’s boyfriend, Michael, finishes the prayer for her. After polishing off a few slices, Logan takes a seat on the couch a few minutes before the draft’s 6 p.m. start and lets out a yawn. Carla gets her son’s attention and shakes her head, her way of telling him it’s way too early to be doing all of that.

As the wait begins, everyone tries to keep the mood light and their minds occupied.

Justin asks if he can give Logan’s dog, Soldier, which Carla got for her son during his redshirt freshman year at UW, a whole slice of pizza. (Logan opposes since it could upset his dog’s stomach.) Later, Morgan’s mom, Kara, inquires as to how comfortable Logan’s shoes are.

Meanwhile, the draft is almost 20 picks deep and only one inside linebacker has come off the board. That’s Clemson star Isaiah Simmons, though it’s debatable as to whether he even counts given he’ll likely play on the edge or even at safety at the next level.

New England Patriots draft Wyoming LB Cassh Maluia in sixth round

Logan isn’t expecting to get a call Thursday, but the more players that come off the board at his position, the better position he’ll be in to hear his name called sooner Friday.

“Need to get some ‘backers going here,” says Ron Laird, a longtime family friend who works with Trevor as commissioner of the Wyoming High School Athletics Association.

“Seriously,” Logan acknowledges.

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It starts happening when the San Diego Chargers trade up to take Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray with the 23rd overall pick. The Green Bay Packers take Utah State quarterback Jordan Love, which creates some chatter in the room since UW played Utah State throughout Logan’s career as members of the Mountain West’s Mountain Division.

Logan returned an interception for a touchdown against the Aggies in the last match-up back in November. Logan’s uncle jokingly asks him if he thinks ESPN will include the pick-six as part of Love’s highlight reel.

“I wish,” Logan says.

The Seattle Seahawks surprise nearly everyone watching with the 27th pick when they take Texas Tech’s Jordyn Brooks, who wasn’t projected to come off the board until the middle rounds. But it’s another linebacker, and the Baltimore Ravens follow that by taking LSU linebacker Patrick Queen with the fifth-to-last pick of the round.

“That’s good for me and for my stock,” Logan says.

Josh Anderson, another family friend who helped coach Logan in high school as Natrona County’s receivers coach, tries to keep the positivity going. He scrolls through his phone and informs Logan that ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has him at No. 31 on his updated list of best available players.

“Just keep that phone by you, pal,” Anderson says.

Logan Wilson's reaction to first-round run on linebackers: 'That's good for me'

The Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs all pass on linebackers to finish out the first round. But since the top three inside linebackers are already gone, Logan gets a call from his agent, Steve Caric, telling him he’s now in the running with Mississippi State’s Willie Gay to be the first one taken Friday, likely around the 70th pick.

Logan says he’ll likely play some video games to end the night before getting whatever sleep he can.

“It was interesting to see,” Ron says. “He was really projected in the 60s and the 90s all the time, and with all the hype that happened over the last week or so, everyone expected him to go (higher), so that’s what the tension was.”

***

Logan gets around seven hours of sleep Thursday night after playing “a little Call of Duty,” he says, so he’s as refreshed as can be expected going into Friday. But shortly after ESPN returns from that initial commercial break, he’s already getting tired of waiting.

His eyes dart back and forth between the TV and his phone. The Denver Broncos, the team he’s long been a fan of, have the 14th pick of the second round, but they take Penn State’s KJ Hamler. The Broncos also took a receiver, Biletnikoff winner Jerry Jeudy, on Thursday.

“They just picked two wide receivers?” Logan asks rhetorically.

The Chicago Bears were another team Logan talked to during the pre-draft process. Three picks earlier, he noticed the Bears drafted Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet, the 10th tight end now on their roster. The Bears won’t have that many once the 2020 season starts, but that’s not the point.

“This says the Bears have 10 tight ends on their roster now,” Logan says to Anderson while looking at his phone. “Why?”

Morgan does her best to cut the tension when there are no commercial breaks, occasionally rubbing her boyfriend’s back in an effort to ease his nerves.

“I don’t need to ask questions. I know you’re stressed,” Morgan says. “I don’t need to be like, ‘Are you OK?’”

What they're saying nationally about the Cincinnati Bengals drafting Logan Wilson

Wilson occasionally slumps toward the back of the couch as another hour goes by without his phone ringing. Just before 7:30 p.m., with just a few picks left in the second round, that changes.

“I was sitting there and I was watching him on his phone, and I saw someone calling him, and obviously, you know, in that moment your stomach just drops,” Morgan says. “I didn’t know who it was.”

***

Taylor tells Wilson the Bengals are taking him with the first pick of the third round, which produces the first round of applause. Trevor then joins the rest of the family on the couch, and Logan’s grandmother, Sharri, FaceTimes in from her home in Belle Fouche, South Dakota, so that she can also see the moment her grandson is officially drafted into the NFL.

Sharri would be with the family under normal circumstances, but the coronavirus outbreak prevented her from making the trip.

“It sucks that she couldn’t be here,” Logan says.

Once Goodell announces the Bengals’ pick on live TV a few minutes later, another applause erupts. The kid from Casper is the highest-drafted player from UW who also hails from the Equality State. None of it leaves many dry eyes in the room.

Watch the moment Logan Wilson got the draft call from the Cincinnati Bengals

“How is this our lives?” Peyton says to her mother through the tears.

Moments later, Logan escapes to a separate room to do a round of interviews with media outlets in Cincinnati. Everyone eagerly awaits him to return, and another round of applause breaks out once he does.

Logan gets two or three requests to give everyone in attendance a speech, but he can barely remember what he just said to reporters in the other room. He smiles and politely declines.

“I’m shaky,” he says. “I’m shaky.”

But Logan does join the festive mood. He makes his way to the kitchen and takes in some food as he mingles. The congratulations keep coming. A few more high-fives here. Some more hugs there.

“It’s awesome,” Trevor says. “It’s his dream come true.”

And the TV that everyone was glued to for more than six straight hours of draft coverage might as well be invisible.

“I don’t think anyone has watched past the 65th pick,” Ron says.

Watch Casper's Logan Wilson discuss becoming the newest Cincinnati Bengal

Logan then spends a few minutes speaking to local reporters before rejoining the party. Everyone pours a glass of champagne to toast the special occasion. Then they all gather around the TV one more time to watch the local 10 p.m. news on KTWO-TV, which draws one last roaring ovation for the night.

“Cincinnati just drafted the whole state of Wyoming,” someone shouts.

Logan would rather be anything other than the center of attention, but there won’t be any escaping it for a while. He raises his hand in the air and smiles as his way of acknowledging the moment.

It’s one that lived up to everything Logan and his family thought it would be all these years.

“And then some,” Carla says.

Photos: Logan Wilson celebrates being drafted by Cincinnati Bengals

Photos: Logan Wilson celebrates being drafted by Cincinnati Bengals