On Jan. 3, Todd Ghilani sat down at his home in Elkhorn, Wisc., to watch NIU alumni Justin McCareins and Darrell Hill of the Tennessee Titans play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL playoffs. Little did Ghilani know, his chance to join them in the NFL would be increased greatly after a phone call during the game.

Purdue center Nick Hardwick backed out of the East-West Shrine Classic, and the organizers called Ghilani to replace him. The 6-foot-4, 306-pound Ghilani was happy to accept the offer, despite only five hours of notice before his flight.

“I was running around with my head cut off,” Ghilani said. “I had to get my equipment, get a ride out to O’Hare and pack my clothes. I brought too many clothes. I was just grabbing everything I had. They ended up giving us so much free stuff out there that I had two extra bags on the way back.”

While in San Francisco to practice the week before the game, Ghilani received another call that would help his draft stock. On the Monday prior to the Jan. 10 East-West game, he was invited to play in the Gridiron Classic game on Jan. 31.

After Ghilani received postseason All-MAC honorable mention after the season – he was second-team All-MAC his junior year – Ghilani was down on his luck, but times now have changed.

“At the end of the season when all-conference came out, I was a little disappointed,” he said. “It makes you maybe question yourself. But I kept working out, got an agent, and I went from zero to two all-star games in four days.”

Currently, Ghilani is taking a 12-hour class load at NIU as an education major, and has been told he could be as high as a fifth-round NFL Draft pick.

“I’ve heard really good things,” said Ghilani, who is represented by RSM International. “At the East-West Shrine game, they said out of the 90 guys [last year], 84 got drafted, four got picked up as free agents and two didn’t get anything. If history serves me right, I should be fine.”