PHILADELPHIA — Haason Reddick has been the hometown favorite this week leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft.
The Camden, N.J., native, who starred at nearby Temple University, received a thunderous roar from the thousands of fans outside the draft stage on Benjamin Franklin Parkway when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called his name Thursday night.
It was an emotional moment for Reddick.
“It was very special. It meant a lot,” he said. “To hear the uproar from the crowd when my name got called, that was beautiful. I didn’t know it would be that loud. It was way louder than I expected. Like I said, for all this to happen in Philadelphia, it was great. It was beautiful.”
Reddick had a dream senior season at Temple, totaling 59 tackles and 9.5 sacks. It vaulted his draft stock to the point where the Arizona Cardinals selected him at No. 13 in the first round.
Even though Reddick has left Temple, a part of the Owls’ program will be with him in Arizona. Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was the head coach at Temple from 1983 to 1988, which has Reddick very excited to play for him.
“To play for a fellow Temple guy, that’s special,” Reddick said. “How many people coming from this draft can say that they’re going to play for a fellow alum? It’s going to be really special.”
Reddick worked out for the Cardinals in the pre-draft process, and his meetings with them went very well, which prompted him to believe they’d take him at No. 13.
“I definitely had a feeling,” Reddick said of the Cardinals’ interest in him. “After the visit I had, talking to the (general manager), talking to coach (Bruce Arians), the love that was shown felt so genuine, and immediately I fell in love with the coaching staff and felt like I wanted to be there.”
Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images
