Greetings!

It was sometime after the Senior Bowl when Eric Fisher decided to have a serious talk with his mom. He had just finished his college football career at Central Michigan and the media was now suggesting he would be a top 5 NFL draft choice. So he sat down with his mother who had raised him and gave her his sales pitch: "Mom, there's a good chance I'm going to be drafted pretty high and I want to take care of you. I want you to retire." For 33 years Fisher's mother has worked in the warranty department for Volkswagen near Detroit.

On Thursday night in Knoxville the fiery new head coach of a recently declining Volunteers' football program beamed ear-to-ear when Eric Fisher was selected the number one overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. It was Jones who while at CMU saw in Fisher what no one else did, offering him a scholarship at CMU. In fact, Fisher had exactly one other scholarship offer from a lesser MAC football school. But Butch Jones also recruited players like J.J. Watt who started his college career at CMU and while there, Jones influenced the development of current NFL stars like Antonio Brown (Steelers' All Pro receiver) and Frank Zombo (Chiefs' newly acquired linebacker) to name a few. Watt was among the first to Tweet Fisher with a CMU salute followed by a torrent of well-wishes.

When you look at the media shot of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handing over a Chiefs' jersey to Eric Fisher, you see the best of America. 2013's draft was a year for trench-fighters, snow plows, punchers and bulldozers; big, fast, tough linemen, the proletariat of football as opposed to the game's aristocracy; the dashing cereal box cover quarterbacks or acrobatic wide-outs. Eric Fisher earned it the hard way. As a kid he did whatever blue collar heavy lifting was available. At CMU he gained weight and speed while being a team leader and model college citizen. He was an All MAC and All American selection. When the NFL combines open the real meat hits the grill and the very best players are validated through speed, agility and strength competition. When the combine began the process Fisher trailed Texas A&M's talented Luke Joeckel by a small margin. When all the drills were finished draft experts from ESPN to CBS sports had Fisher out front, with the prediction he would be selected somewhere between 1^st and 4^th.

Then Fisher's whirlwind began with an invitation to Radio City for the first-round festivities and hasn't stopped since his selection. He managed two hours of sleep between wrapping up his New York obligations and flying to Kansas City where he was met by fans and media. Then it was off to the Chiefs' practice facility and lunch with team chairman Clark Hunt and the coaching staff.

"A lot of people are handed things," said Eric, "and you see that and sometimes say, 'I wish it had happened to me' but now I'm grateful it wasn't handed to me and look where I am now. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Nor would the Chiefs want him to be anywhere else.

At 6'7", 306 pounds he reminds new Chiefs head coach Andy Reid of another CMU All Pro Joe Staley, left tackle for the 49ers. With Reid at the helm, Alex Smith the new Chiefs quarterback, and a lot of renewed excitement in Kansas City, Eric Fisher is glad to be in his new football home. Maybe now he can sell that old pickup he's been driving for 200,000 miles. He probably won't need it.

Sincerely,