LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Randall Cobb was one of 25 potential draftees invited to Radio City Music Hall for last week's NFL draft. He was the last one left in the green room by the time the Green Bay Packers selected him with the final pick of the second round.
During the 5-foot-10, 191-pound wide receiver's three-year career at Kentucky, he thrived on negativity, like when he was told he was too small to even play Division I football.
So when he was all alone in the green room, he took it to heart.
"The day I got drafted, I went and worked out that night," Cobb said. "I (live) off that stuff, and I'm going to use that as motivation like I always have."
Though several draft analysts projected Cobb to be selected earlier than he was, he said he expected to go somewhere in the third round.
Still, Cobb said he wondered to himself where he would fall once six receivers were taken before him. When he finally came off the board, the wait was instantly gratified.
"It's probably the best thing that could have happened to me, to wait as long as I did and to go to the team that I did," Cobb said. "God works in mysterious ways."
For now, Cobb said he will continue to maintain his conditioning and do as much individual work as he can while he waits for the NFL's lockout to end.
Cobb said he has tried to get in contact with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers; both will be in Louisville for Saturday's Kentucky Derby, Cobb said, and he hopes they can meet for the first time.
Because of the lockout, no rookies will have access to their respective teams' playbooks until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached.
Cobb said for the most part, he has been left in the dark about the lockout.
"I know as much as you all know, what I see on TV and my agent tells me a little bit every now and then," he said. "But there's not too much I can do about it. I just try to focus on what I can handle, and that's being prepared and being ready when the lockout is over and training camp begins."
While the lockout was temporarily lifted on the three days of the draft, Cobb said he got an idea from the Packers that, like at Kentucky, he would be used as a wide receiver and a return specialist. In three years, Cobb set the Wildcats' career record with 37 touchdowns (22 rushing, 13 receiving and two punt returns).
Cobb even tried to call Green Bay punter Tim Masthay to jokingly threaten to take his job as holder. The two were teammates at Kentucky in 2008.
While the green-room waiting game was tough, Cobb said it was more than worth it.
"I would have stayed until the sixth round if I knew I was going to Green Bay," he said.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
