Schobel drafted by Cincinnati Bengels

Matt Schobel may have been drafted a little later than he would have liked, but at least he felt popular when the time finally came.

With the Carolina Panthers on the clock with the second pick of the third round of the NFL Draft, Schobel was on the phone with Detroit Lions officials saying they would pick him with the next selection. Just then the Cincinnati Bengals exchanged a third and fifth round pick with the Panthers to select him.

“It was pretty strange how that worked out,” Schobel said. “I didn’t know what to tell (Lions’ officials), but I was just excited to be drafted, and I didn’t care where I went at that point.”

Schobel was rated as the third or fourth top tight end by most draft prognosticators but was the fifth selected. However, Schobel said he was happy with how the draft played out and is ready to start contributing to Cincinnati.

When the Seattle Seahawks, a team that had expressed interest in him, selected Washington tight end Jerramy Stevens late in the first round, Schobel admitted disappointment that a player rated below him was drafted so high.

“That was pretty surprising,” he said. “I didn’t expect to go in the first round, but one side of me is saying, ‘Why can’t I get drafted higher than expected?’ but the other side is just happy I was drafted about where I was supposed to be.”

Coincidentally though, the Bengals will open the season against the Buffalo Bills and Matt’s older brother, Aaron. If both are on the field at the same time, they could even line up against each other at tight end and defensive end.

“There’s a pretty good chance of that, and it’d be pretty cool,” he said. “But I’m not worried about that yet. I’m just looking forward to minicamp next Friday.”

— Jordan Blum

Safaritova passed over by WNBA; chance as free agent

Senior forward Kati Safaritova went unpicked in Friday’s WNBA Draft, but associate head coach Larry Tidwell said Monday that she still had a chance of making a career in professional basketball.

“There’s been a lot of interest picking up on her about signing as a free agent,” Tidwell said. “You can’t draft everybody, and you have a lot of people who come in as free agents and they get a real good look.”

Safaritova participated in several WNBA combines but was passed during all four rounds of the draft.

Tidwell said he thought Safaritova’s good team play at the combines affected her draft status.

“She was very unselfish,” Tidwell said. “Sometimes in those things you have to be a little bit selfish and shoot a little bit more.”

Tidwell also said that in the event Safaritova went unsigned, she could always play professionally overseas.

Safaritova led the Frogs with 13.9 points a game during last season.

— Sam Eaton

Frogs takes on Mavericks following losing streak

The TCU baseball team will try to snap a four-game losing streak when they take on the Mavericks of Texas-Arlington today.

The Frogs were knocked out of first place after being swept by Tulane in a three-game series. TCU fell all the way to fourth in the Conference USA standings.

The Frogs (20-21, 11-7 C-USA) play Texas-Arlington (20-21) at 3:05 p.m. today at the TCU Diamond. This is the fourth meeting between the two teams, with UTA holding a 2-1 advantage for the season.

— Danny Gillham

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002