Back When: The day DeMarcus Ware put Troy on the national map

Around 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon in April 2005, DeMarcus Ware picked up his cell phone and heard Bill Parcells on the other end.

"He said, 'How do you feel about being a Cowboy?'" Ware told the Birmingham News. "I didn't know what to say. Talking to a guy who has so much authority. I can't describe what it feels like to talk to Coach Bill Parcells."

He paused.

"It's like, 'Oh my God!'"

With the 11th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected a defensive end from Troy State — the highest draft pick in the history of the program. Surrounded by about 50 members of his family and friends, Ware watched his name appear on the screen and felt his hands shake.

"I've never seen him shake before," said his fiancee Taniqua Smith, his Auburn High School sweetheart who was on active duty at Montgomery's Maxwell Air Force Base. "But his hands were shaking when they called."

What almost nobody outside of Troy knew at the time was just how deliberate the pick had been. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones overruled Parcells to take Ware. The head coach wanted defensive end Marcus Spears at No. 11, seeing him as the key to Dallas's eventual move to a 3-4 defense. Jones saw something different in Ware and pulled the trigger. The Cowboys took Spears nine picks later at No. 20.

"I heard it last week on ESPN," Ware said. "Mel Kiper said it would be me or Shawne Merriman. I just thought, 'I hope it's me, I hope it's me.'"

It was him.

A Sun Belt monster

Ware grew up in Auburn, Alabama, where he played football, basketball, baseball and ran track at Auburn High School. He was a teammate of future NFL defensive end Osi Umenyiora — who followed Ware to Troy.

He accepted a scholarship from Troy and became a starter at defensive end as a sophomore. By the time he was done, the numbers were staggering: 27.5 career sacks (second in school history), 55.5 tackles for loss (first in school history), 201 total tackles, 74 quarterback hurries and 10 forced fumbles.

As a senior in 2004, Ware earned Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Hendricks Award as the nation's top defensive end. He led the Sun Belt with 10.5 sacks and helped Troy reach its first-ever bowl game — the Silicon Valley Football Classic.

He was a two-time All-Sun Belt selection and was later named to the Sun Belt Conference All-Decade Team. Troy inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

An Alabama draft day

The 2005 draft was loaded with Alabama connections. Auburn's Ronnie Brown went second overall to Miami. His teammates Carnell Williams (No. 5, Tampa Bay) and Carlos Rogers (No. 9, Washington) followed. Ware went 11th.

And at No. 27, the Atlanta Falcons selected UAB wide receiver Roddy White — giving two Alabama G6 programs first-round picks on the same day.

The Hall of Fame career

What followed was 12 NFL seasons that placed Ware among the greatest pass rushers in league history.

He spent nine seasons with the Cowboys, departing as the franchise's all-time sack leader with 117 — breaking Harvey Martin's 30-year-old record along the way. He led the NFL in sacks twice, in 2008 (20 sacks) and 2010 (15.5 sacks). He became the second-fastest player in NFL history to reach 100 career sacks, behind only Reggie White. He made seven consecutive Pro Bowls in Dallas and was named First Team All-Pro four times.

In 2014, Ware signed with the Denver Broncos and added the one thing missing from his resume. In Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers, he recorded five tackles and two sacks in a 24-10 victory. He finally had his ring.

He retired in 2017 with 138.5 career sacks, 35 forced fumbles, nine Pro Bowl selections and a legacy that stretched from a small Sun Belt school in southeast Alabama to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2023.

On April 19, 2016, the governor of Alabama declared it "DeMarcus Ware Day."

Still a Trojan

Ware was back on campus recently, visiting the program that gave him his start. Two decades removed from draft day, he remains the standard — proof that elite talent doesn't only come from Power conference programs. It comes from wherever someone is willing to develop it.

Troy developed DeMarcus Ware. The NFL just got to borrow him.