Written by Dan Murphy at ESPN.com
Jourdan Lewis was at a gas station when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called his cellphone with the good news this past weekend. After Lewis let his mom and sister know that he was the 92nd overall pick in the NFL draft, he opened up the group message he uses to keep up with his high school buddies from Cass Tech in Detroit and sent out a message.
“I’m a Cowboy,” he typed. The message didn’t quite sink in. “I’m a DALLAS Cowboy.”
“Then everybody just went nuts,” Lewis said. “You can’t put it in words how everybody felt. Everybody was elated; our dreams were coming true. We had a shot to do something that was pretty rare.”
Texting your buddies about making it big isn’t all that rare. But the three others in the group being able to send out the same message by the end of the weekend? That might be a one-of-a-kind experience. Delano Hill, who went to Michigan with Lewis, let the guys know he was a member of the Seattle Seahawks three picks later. By Sunday morning DaQuan Pace (Eastern Michigan) and DeJuan Rogers (Toledo) had minicamp dates lined up with the Bengals and Bears. All four members of the Detroit Cass Tech 2013 defensive backfield were headed to the league. You’ve heard of DBU. Welcome to DBHS.
All 4 members of our class of 2013 secondary are now in the NFL. Simply amazing. #CTFB pic.twitter.com/fY259PxhH8
— Cass Tech Football (@Detroit_CTFB) April 30, 2017
The one-on-one competitions among that crew were “legendary,” according to Cass Tech’s former secondary coach Jermain Crowell. The Technicians — a fitting mascot for a hotbed of cover corners — won back-to-back state championships with that foursome patrolling the back end of the defense. The most exciting times, according to all of them, came during practice.
Hill had the physical tools. Lewis was the playmaker. Rogers had the best football mind, and Pace was the quickest. They all got the upper hand at various points when coaches used to pit them against one another on a daily basis. The battles were usually followed by some jawing and some discussion about what it would be like when a weekend like this past one finally came.
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