Another NFL draft weekend came and went without an Eastern player being selected, but as former Eastern players know that is not the end of the process.

Former Eastern quarterback Tony Romo learned this last year when he was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent, and the trend has continued this year.

The latest former Panther to learn of this is tight end Nick Eller, who inked his name to a training camp contract with the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night.

“It was exciting from the beginning when I got the phone call last (Sunday) night,” Eller said. “I knew a little bit before now, but not a whole lot. There were a couple teams that my agent thought were more interested, but the Ravens were the team that took the chance on me first.”

The other teams that Eller’s agent spoke of were the Buffalo Bills and the Seattle Seahawks.

Even though Eller wasn’t drafted, he found the excruciating part of the process to be the days following the NFL draft.

During those subsequent days in which interest is taken by the team toward the undrafted free agents, Eller was worried that he wouldn’t be picked up.

“I wasn’t even really watching the draft because I knew that wasn’t my time,” Eller said. “But the time after the draft seemed endless, because that was when I was expecting something to happen.”

Finally some action came Sunday night, which set up Eller with a situation in which he feels comfortable going into once training camp starts.

This opportunity will give Eller the chance to compete for the third string tight end position on Baltimore’s depth chart, and also the chance to work with a pro bowl caliber tight end in Todd Heap.

The strengths Eller believes he brings into training camp could only be improved upon by the influence of a veteran tight end who has found as much success as Heap has.

This made Eller extremely excited about the situation he will be playing in once he found out who he would be playing with and learning under.

“Definitely the opportunity that I will get when I work under a guy like him (Heap) will be beneficial,” Eller said.

Over his time at Eastern, the 6 foot 4 inch tight end had been a consistent target for Eastern quarterbacks in Spoo’s system.

Eller’s most significant year did come in his junior year, and probably was also the year in which he started to garner some national attention from professional scouts.

In 2002, he hauled in 57 receptions for 721 yards along with seven touchdowns. His size was particularly useful for the Panthers once they entered the red zone, and when paired with wide receiver Will Bumphus the Panthers had a tandem that produced plenty of end zone potential.

But without Bumphus, and the 12 touchdowns he put up, Eller struggled to find as much room to find receptions in his senior year. With extra attention being paid to him by opposing defense Eller’s receptions, yards and touchdowns all went down. But his importance on the team did not drop.

Especially now that Eller has been drafted, people who surrounded Eller at Eastern fully understand that even though his numbers went down his work ethic rose over the past year. They also understand that is why he has a chance to make in the NFL now.

“I wish there were more guys on our squad that were like him (Eller),” Spoo said. “Too many players don’t do enough with their God-given talent, but Nick certainly wasn’t one of those guys.

“He did everything he could this year to improve as both a blocker and a receiver, and he really did improve his 40 time. All of that work showed how much he wanted to make it to the next level.”