The Purdue Exponent


Monday, 4/23/2001	5 day quick link 4/20 \| 4/19 \| 4/18 \| 4/17 \| 4/16

San Diego Chargers draft Brees at No. 32

Drew Brees

By Kyle Charters
Senior Writer

Drew Brees has an answer to help people calm their nerves — deep-fried fish and shrimp. At least that's the solution he tried as he watched the NFL draft with friends and family at his apartment on Saturday.

"The reason we fried up the shrimp and the fish is because I felt like the more I ate, the less room the butterflies had to fly around," said Brees. "That was my philosophy and it worked. I was fine."

Brees was even happier after getting a phone call from San Diego, which chose the former Purdue quarterback with the first pick in the second round — No. 32 overall.

Brees said he wasn't disappointed with dropping into the second round.

"Getting drafted high, that shouldn't be your goal," said Brees, who won the Maxwell Award last season as the nation's most outstanding player. "No matter when they pick you, you want to be on the right team. And I think I landed on the right team."

San Diego coach Mike Riley said he was shocked that Brees was still available at No. 32.

"We kept saying, ‘Well, if he’s there, we’ll take him,’ but I didn’t hold out much hope for that," said Riley. "You never know what’s going to happen in the draft, and we are very excited to have him."

Brees is also excited to be playing for San Diego, a team that finished 1-15 last season. After the first 20 picks of the draft on Saturday, Brees thought that either Miami would pick him at No. 26 or San Diego at No. 32.

When the Dolphins were on the clock with their pick, Brees secretly hoped that the phone wouldn't ring; he wanted to be a Charger.

"Ever since (the Chargers) worked me out on March 29, I kind of had a weird feeling that somehow or another I'd end up on their team," said Brees. "I just knew they were going to take me. But I didn't know how it was going to be done."

For several months, San Diego was expected to take former Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick with the first pick in the draft, but the Chargers traded first-round picks with Atlanta on Friday. On draft day, the Falcons took Vick while the Chargers selected Texas Christian running back LaDainian Tomlinson with the fifth pick.

Brees and Tomlinson, who are both from Texas, played together on the South team of the North-South Texas all-star game after their senior seasons in high school. Both were also Heisman finalists last year and they share an agent — Tom Condon.

"He's a hell of a guy and I'm glad I'm there with him," said Brees. "It's like I told someone earlier, we're bringing some Texas boys into San Diego to see if we can't get something done."

Brees will most likely back up 38-year-old starter Doug Flutie, who San Diego signed during the off-season.

"Although I feel like I can come in and make an impact immediately, if I'm not ready to, then I'll stand back," said Brees. "Obviously I'm going to give it my best shot, but I understand that Flutie is the starter. I'll do my best to learn from him because he's played a lot of football. But if I get a shot to play, then I'm going to take advantage of it."

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