CHICAGO – The distance between small-town Plainwell, Michigan, and “Draft Town” is easily covered with a quick drive down US 131 to Interstate 94 and then west for a couple hours.
Thursday afternoon, however, former Michigan State All-America offensive tackle Jack Conklin couldn’t help but look back in disbelief on the improbable journey that has taken him as an unheralded prospect out of high school to opening night of the NFL Draft at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre on S. Michigan Ave.
“When I take a moment to think about the way it was four years ago getting to walk on at Michigan State and now being able to walk on the stage as a first-round draft choice is just crazy,” Conklin said not long after coloring a picture of a football helmet with a young patient at Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago.