Although the 2004 football season was a dismal one, three players from the team could be selected this weekend in the National Football League Draft.
If Justin Beriault, Reggie Hodges and Dante Ridgeway all receive phone calls with good news, it will mark the first time Ball State has had three players selected in one draft. All three of the players received First Team All-Mid-American Conference honors in 2004.
Three times a pair of Cardinals were selected in the NFL draft. The most recent occurrence -- punter Brad Maynard and safety Cory Gilliard in 1997 -- also marks the last time a BSU player was drafted.
The highest Ball State draftee came in 1976, when the New York Jets took safety Shafer Suggs in the second round, 33rd overall. Only one Ball State player is active in the NFL -- Maynard with the Chicago Bears.
As draft day approaches, it's clear that only one Ball State player, Ridgeway, has a chance to get a call on Saturday during the first three rounds (of seven).
After passing up his final season of eligibility and declaring for the draft in January, Ridgeway worked out in New Orleans with trainer Tom Shaw, attempting to improve his speed. Ridgeway said he worked out with "about 30 guys," including Hodges, who, like Ridgeway, is represented by Roosevelt Barnes, president of Maximum Sports Management in Roanoke, Ind.
"It helped me out a lot," Ridgeway said of his speed training. "I don't know if I dropped my time, but I ran a 4.51 [in the 40-yard dash] at the combine."
In 2004, Ridgeway caught 105 passes for 1,399 yards (both school records) and eight touchdowns. In three years, he snared 238 receptions for 3,030 yards -- also school records.
Barnes said that where Ridgeway is drafted is not as important as what he does after he's drafted.
"The pros care about if he's going produce and if he'll be consistent," Barnes said. "That's what he's done, and that's what he'll do.
"He has 'it.' Whatever it is, he has it. [Pittsburgh's] Hines Ward has it, [Indianapolis'] Marvin Harrison has it. On the field, he just knows how to play."
Beriault, after training two months in New York for the combine, greatly improved.
"Going into the combine, people questioned my athletic ability," he said. "Coming out of the combine, people had a better idea of what kind of athlete I was."
He has been in contact with a few teams and has heard that he could be drafted anywhere from the fourth round to the sixth round.
"Everybody I've talked to has said they'd be extremely shocked if I didn't get drafted," Beriault said.
For Beriault, the past week has been nerve-racking, and he's looking forward to it being over. As a four-year starter at Ball State, first at outside linebacker than strong safety, he recorded 125 tackles in 2004 and 508 over his career.
"It's a lifelong dream, and this is the only chance I'm going to have to get drafted," he said. "It's the first thing I think of when I wake up and usually the last thing I think of when I go to bed."
Although Beriault played strong safety at Ball State, NFL.com Senior Analyst Gil Brandt rates him as the ninth-best free safety. Brandt also said he could become a valuable special-teams player.
Brandt rates Hodges as the best punter available, noting he is equally adept at driving the ball on punts or hanging it in the air. He averaged 42.6 yards per punt as a senior and dropped 20 kicks inside the 20-yard line.
"They don't select many kickers, but I think Reggie's the best punter in the country," head coach Brady Hoke said.
Hoke added that being selected has as much to with a team's need as a player's talent.
"Different teams like different guys for different reasons," he said. "If he fits, they'll take him."
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