Ray Rowe, Jennings Chosen on Day 2 : NFL: Rowe picked in sixth round, Jennings in eighth.

SAN DIEGO — The NFL draft is a little different on Day 2. The looming big contracts and glitz subside. Sanity prevails.

San Diego State tight end Ray Rowe, chosen in the sixth round Monday by the Washington Redskins, was in a biology lab when his father had him paged with the news.

And SDSU offensive lineman Jim Jennings, picked in the eighth round by Kansas City, was casually driving back from a weekend in Los Angeles while the Chiefs were frantically attempting to telephone him. They called his grandmother and his agents at least twice each before Jennings had returned to San Diego.

“My grandmother was worried that maybe if they didn’t find me, they would pick somebody else,” Jennings said, laughing.

Rowe and Jennings became the second and third Aztecs chosen by NFL teams. Receiver Patrick Rowe--no relation to Ray--went to Cleveland in the second round on Sunday.

Ray Rowe, a 6-foot-3 245-pounder who was chosen second-team all-Western Athletic Conference after catching 34 passes for 360 yards and one touchdown last fall, was thrilled to be chosen by the Redskins, a team that employs a one-back offense similar to SDSU and a team coached by one-time SDSU assistant Joe Gibbs.

“I think it’s great,” Rowe said. “It’s a class organization. I’m very happy with the pick. I know their offense well.”

Rowe was the 168th pick overall, and the last in the sixth round. His goal, he said, was to go in the first six rounds.

“And I went to the end,” he said.

There is an introductory press conference for the Redskins’ draft picks on Wednesday in Washington, then Rowe will return there for mini-camp May 6.

He said he is confident he can make the team.

“I think I have a very good chance,” he said. “The tight end is a major part of their offense, so they’ve got to have a lot of them.

“Their tight ends block a lot, and that’s my specialty.”

Although Rowe was hoping to go in the first six rounds, Jennings, the 213th player drafted, was still in shock at noon Monday that he had been picked at all.

“To be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting to get drafted,” said Jennings, who is 6-4, 295 pounds. “My game plan was to drop by my grandparents’ about 11 (Monday) morning--I figured that would be before anybody took me. I figured I’d be a free agent.”

Instead, Kansas City had taken him by 10:30 a.m., and when he walked into his grandparents’ house, his grandmother told him the Chiefs were looking for him.

“I was expecting they wanted to talk to me about signing as a free agent,” Jennings said. “I’ve been in shock for the last 20 minutes or so.

“I really didn’t want to set myself up expecting to get drafted and then not be. That would have been a blow to me.”

Jennings, an all-WAC offensive lineman in 1991, was in Kansas City 2 1/2 weeks ago to take a physical.

“I must have checked out physically,” he said, still sounding surprised.

The Chiefs finally tracked down Jennings’ agents and, by Monday afternoon, Jennings was on his way to meet with his representatives to learn what his next step is.

Such as, when does he have to report to mini-camp?

“I’m still in the dark about that,” he said. “But I’m excited.”