I still can't believe that I am about to start my professional football career. I pinch myself every night because I can't believe I am living this dream. For a guy who didn't start playing football until my second year in college I sure have come a long way.

When I was heading to the University of Hawaii out of high school I was offered a scholarship by June Jones. I played basketball in high schools and I weighed maybe 200 pounds so I really don't know what he saw in me. When I was going into UH I started working out with the football team to stay in shape before basketball season. When Coach Jones offered the scholarship my dad turned it down. I thought he was crazy turning away a free education, that's a lot of money. But he told me he did not want me to be given anything. If I was going to get a scholarship I needed to earn it.

After playing basketball my first year I decided I did want to play football and Coach Jones welcomed me to the team. He still had the scholarship for me but I wouldn't take it. I was a walk on until my junior year. I'll never forget the day when I did earn the scholarship. Coach Jones announced it in front of the team and it was the same emotion I felt when I got the call from the Lions. It was really unbelievable.

The decision my dad made really taught me to always work hard. The fact that he was paying for schooling just made me work harder for him.

Life has changed dramatically for me and I'm loving it. I'm learning a whole new defense. We played a 3-4 in Hawaii and now this defense is a 4-3 and is really fast. I am trying to get as comfortable and soak in as much as I can. Life is different now. It's just football now 24 hours a day every day. There is no more school, just football. I'm getting the hang of it, but football is always on my mind, day and night. When it's time for vacation I will try to forget about for a few minutes.

Where I'm at you've got to love football. I have one of the greatest jobs in the world and I will never take that for granted. I love everything about it. I love the running, the lifting, the studying. I truly believe there is no other game that makes you feel like football. You get 60-70,000 people screaming for you when you play. I love it.

Detroit is a great place. It's a football town and the people are really passionate. There are a lot of other great sports here with the hockey team and baseball but this is a football town and I'm in the right place.

What an emotional weekend. It's an incredible feeling to put so much time and effort into something and have it work out like this.

Obviously, I couldn't sleep at all Friday night. I woke up every hour for the entire night. I told myself I wasn't going to watch the draft at all, but I couldn't help it. The TV was right there. I was going through every emotion. Who's going to draft me? Am I even going to get drafted? Everything.

There were about ten people over to watch the draft. My immediate family and my aunt and uncle were there, but I couldn't stay. The first round took forever. I told them I had to get out of there. My buddy and I went to the golf course to hit a few balls. I got a call and said to my friend that this might be it. I picked it up and heard "Welcome to the Motor City." I went crazy. I talked to all of the coaches and the GM. I talked to everyone. I was so emotional. They told me my name is coming up on national TV right now. I said Dammit, I 'm on a golf course. I can't see it. The whole thing was like a blur. My buddy has Tivo so I got to see it later on. Can't beat Tivo.

I drove back to my place and there were 100 people there. I was like is this all for me? What's going on? There were family, friends, and neighbors there, even some fans. My family was so happy. It was a really good thing to see.

It's hard to find Lions stuff out here in Hawaii. I really wanted a hat, but I went around everywhere today and couldn't find one. All of it was sold out. I had to drive out to the main mall on the island to finally get one.

I'm flying out to Detroit on Tuesday for camps. Am I really a Detroit Lion? I'm so excited.