NFL DRAFT
The Buffalo Bills took Virginia Tech defensive end Bruce Smith with the No. 1 pick overall. Picking seventh, the Green Bay Packers selected USC offensive tackle Ken Ruettgers. "What was going through my mind?'' Toon posed rhetorically. "I guess the main thing going through my mind was trying to relax and enjoy the process. There's a significant amount of anxiety that goes along with the anticipation of what's going to happen.'' The only certainty is the uncertainty with not knowing what to believe. "There are the talking heads and armchair quarterbacks who have their opinions,'' Toon said. "But the reality of the situation is that things can change at the last minute (on the draft boards). You just don't know. I had no idea where I was going. There was just a lot of talk.'' Leading up to the 1985 draft, there was nowhere near the hype or fanfare that there is to- day. Toon didn't have a favorite team, per se. "I had an idea about where I wanted to play, maybe in the warm weather,'' recalled the Virginia native. "Outside of that, I just wanted to have the opportunity.''
The New York Jets gave Toon that opportuni- ty by taking him with the 10th selection overall. The Houston Oilers then drafted his UW team- mate, Richard Johnson, with the 11th pick. An- other UW teammate, Darryl Sims, went 20th in the first round to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wisconsin had more players taken in the 1985 draft than any other school. "It was more of a relief than anything else that it was over,'' Toon remembered after getting off the phone with the Jets. "The next thing that crosses your mind is, 'OK, what's next?''' Toon had a pretty good idea on how to handle expectations, reasonable or otherwise. "The Jets made a commitment to me and the
only thing I felt that I needed to do was be con- sistent at the job that I was hired to perform,'' said Toon, a three-time All-Pro and a member of the Jets' All-Time Four Decade Team and Ring of Honor. In 1988, he led the NFL in catches with 93.
"Basically, I just went out and I did my job,''
he continued. "I didn't worry about what people — outside of my bosses — wanted me to do. I didn't need to prove anything to anyone outside of the people who were paying my salary and I was accountable to.
38 » VARSITY APRIL 26, 2012
"I've taught my kids this, too.'' That would include Wisconsin senior wide re- ceiver Nick Toon, who will watch the 2012 draft on television with his mom and dad. "I watched for 10 picks through my draft,'' Al Toon said, "and hopefully we're not watching for a lot of
