Unlike last season it was day two of the NFL draft before a player from the University of Cincinnati's name was called. Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner became UC's highest-ever pick when the Jets selected the shutdown corner in 2022 with the fourth overall pick
Late Friday while watching the 2023 NFL draft in his hometown of Akron, Tre Tucker had briefly exited his gathering of friends and went to his room. There, his phone rang.
"I went, 'Who's this?'," Tucker said.
He had been exchanging text messages with teammate Tyler Scott in Cincinnati, but this time his screen read, "Raiders".