McBride Realizes Lifelong Dream in NFL Draft
Unanimous All-American goes to Cardinals with 55th overall pick
For a guy running on fumes, Trey McBride’s energy was completely off the charts.
Understandable on both counts. Colorado State’s John Mackey Award winner couldn’t sleep Thursday night, so his brothers, Toby and Dylan, stayed up with him. They talked about everything under the sun, as siblings often will. Then, with just a few hours of shuteye, his body was ready to run the gamut of emotions for a second day.
“I feel jacked up. I’m like, I can run through a brick wall right now,” McBride said nearly an hour after his selection by the Arizona Cardinals with the 55th overall pick in the second round of the NFL Draft. “I’m running low, I’ve got probably a couple of hours of sleep in me, but I promise you I’m ready to roll and just as excited as heck.”
He was surrounded by family and friends at C.B. & Potts during Thursday’s first round, and the whole crew returned for Friday’s second round, all of them waiting for the moment.
Not his name being announced, but the phone call alerting him a team was going to pick him. He almost missed it as he headed off for a bathroom break, talking along the way with Joel Dreessen and missing the first attempt to reach him.
Noticing his phone, he rushed back into the room and sat back down on the coach, his brothers to his left, his mothers to his right.
While the rest of the country was watching Indianapolis and Kansas City announce their selections, he was on the phone first with Arizona general manager Steve Keim, who then passed the call to head coach Kliff Kingsbury, letting the Fort Morgan product know he was about to become a Cardinal.
Trey’s selection broke a two-year dry spell for the program, the first CSU player taken since Bisi Johnson went to the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. His slot at 55 is the best for a Ram since Weston Richburg went No. 43 to the New York Giants in 2014, with Ty Sambrailo selected No. 59 a year later.
A gathered crowd of friends and family were buzzing, but quiet, as McBride thanked Kingsbury for their faith in him and his excitement to join the organization. Then they all became quiet again to hear his name announced on television.
Both days, McBride wore a suit which personally took him back in time. It was a deep maroon, with a pattern of black roses. On the lip of one inside pocket read his name, on the other, 2022 NFL Draft.
“Maroon and black is what I wore in high school, so I had to throw it back to the old Mustangs, so this is a special suit to me,” he said.
It was a couple of days Dreessen was not about to miss, as he was taken back in time to 2005 when he was selected. They are two of six CSU tight ends to be drafted, with Trey the first since Crockett Gillmore was picked in 2014.
I had my twin brother and Toby spend the night at my house. It was really cool just to stay up all night. I couldn’t sleep, so they were up with me talking about how special this is and how grateful I am to be here. I’m really speechless.Trey McBride
Dreessen was the man in Fort Morgan for somebody like Trey, and even his brother Toby. He wanted a signed Denver Broncos’ jersey with Dreessen’s name on it, and when he finally received it, he wore it all the time and it never met the washing machine.
“Joel’s been such a huge role mode of mine,” Trey said. “Being from Fort Morgan and having a guy like him who you can look up to … I mean, everyone from Fort Morgan wanted to be like Joel. He was just the coolest dude in the world, and I admired him. I wanted to get a jersey, I wanted to get it signed and when I finally got that Joel Dreessen signed jersey when he was with the Broncos, I just remember how special that was.
“I wore that thing everywhere, and I didn’t want to wash it because I didn’t want the signature to get spread. It probably smells like crap because I wore it so much and I just didn’t want to wash it. I didn’t want it to get ruined. I never washed it.”
So, to sit back and watch Trey get selected, Dreessen was on the verge of tears himself.
Understandable, as he invited Trey to his house to help him prepare for his final year at Colorado State. Dreessen was his biggest fan who didn’t have the last name McBride, and he sang his praises constantly.
“I am so touched right now,” Dreessen said. “I am. To follow him since high school, then he goes to CSU and now he’s the 55th overall pick in the NFL Draft … I’m so touched, I really am. You can tell how bad he wants it, how bad he wants to be good. It’s just a dream come true right? He’s just like me. He was just like me. He’s wanted it since he was a young boy. It’s such a blessing for him, and you want to see good things happen to good people, and he’s as good as they come.”
The best in the country. Trey became the second major award winner in Colorado State history, joining Greg Myers, who won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1995 and the program’s first unanimous All-American. He did it by being relentless on the field, a complete tight end who can punish as a blocker and spread the field as a receiver.
He produced one of the most prolific campaigns in history by a college tight end, collecting 90 receptions for 1,121 yards.
McBride going to the Cardinals was somewhat fitting, as he spent four months in the state training for his pro workouts. He loved the weather, though he knows he hasn’t experienced a summer yet. He’s just as excited for his future teammates. Quarterback Kyler Murray, who he called dynamic, and veteran tight end Zach Ertz, who he can’t wait to learn from.
But anticipating the moment was taking a toll. He spent Friday with a pit in his stomach, one he couldn’t rid until his phone rang.
Thankfully, he said, he has his family by his side, where they’ve always been. And he had his brothers to keep him calm when he needed them most.
“They’ve been great. Toby’s been great,” Trey said. “I had my twin brother and Toby spend the night at my house. It was really cool just to stay up all night. I couldn’t sleep, so they were up with me talking about how special this is and how grateful I am to be here. I’m really speechless.”
Just like he was tired. He spoke a hundred miles and hour as whatever sleep he lacked was replaced by the adrenaline of living out a lifelong dream.