Indiana continued its streak of players drafted into the NFL over the weekend as Simon Stepaniak was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the sixth round. The streak extended to seven years and Stepaniak now joins the great fraternity of Indiana players in the NFL and especially offensive lineman.
"Oh absolutely. Continuing the lineage of o-lineman coming from IU is great," Stepaniak told Indiana Sports Beat. "I wanted to get picked just to keep that going and help the guys after me and respecting the guys before me who laid that foundation for me.”
Not only was it a special day to hear his name called, but pairing that with heading to one of the most historic organizations in all of sports, Stepaniak knows what an accomplishment this is.
"Absolutely. It’s a dream come true to play for such an historic franchise and all the great players and coaches that came before me," Stepaniak said of joining the Packers. "Me and my family were sitting on the couch and waiting for that call. I thought it was cool having a different viewpoint and see into each players lives. I thought it was a cool setup.”
"I can be able to say I know these NFL guys, guys who you watched growing up as kids," Stepaniak added. "[David] Bakhtiari reached out. I can't lie, I was definitely starstruck a little and he's been one of the best to ever do it. I'm excited to get there and learn from him.”
Usually at this time, rookies would be on their way to their respective teams facilities. However, Zoom calls and meetings are the new norm for the time being.
"It's thrown a wrench in a lot of the plans. It’s a bigger thing than football but its definitely shaken up the NFL," Stepaniak said. "All of our meetings are over Zoom and we have rookie meetings this week and those are all over Zoom. It sucks for the rookies who won't be able to be out there right away but we are going to handle it right."
Outside of working out, one way Stepaniak will stay busy is with the playbook. He said this is a great opportunity to get ahead of things and be able to study so when players are able to go back, he will be ahead of the game.
Stepaniak tore his ACL ahead of Indiana's bowl game and is still rehabbing and working hard to get back to full strength for when players do get that all clear to head to team facilities.
“It's definitely hard to keep in shape but I'm rehabbing here at Athletico," Stepaniak said of his training. "Have to get my knee right leading up to camp. I have a buddy with an in-home gym… definitely weird but I'm blessed to at least get in some work.”
Stepaniak grew up in Ohio and was a Cincinnati Bengals fan as a kid. Though he will be sporting a different jersey when he takes the field next, he and his hometown still have a connection to the Packers organization.
"It's actually crazy. The first player to ever get drafted out of Ross High School went to the Green Bay Packers and it was 1960’s and he played under Lombardi. His name was Jay Bachman," Stepaniak explained. "I was the second player drafted out of Ross and he's reaching out to me and talking about his time under Vince Lombardi. I can't believe I'm even saying that… it’s a blessing."
To listen to the rest of the interview and more, check out the tweet below.
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