Two Pac-10 Tight Ends Feeling Loose

Two Pacific 10 Conference tight ends got the same message from NFL teams who drafted them Saturday:

“We want you to keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

When Cal’s Tony Gonzalez became the 13th name called, by Kansas City, the Chiefs cornered him at Madison Square Garden.

“They told me they wanted me to do just what I did at Cal--be a downfield threat as a pass receiver and also block people,” he said later, from his hotel room.

On the second round, as the 38th player chosen, by Chicago, USC’s John Allred, a surfer type from Del Mar, was also told to bring his blocking skills.

“The Bears told me they had a lot of injury problems with their three other tight ends and that I’d be given an opportunity to start for them,” Allred said.

Both are jumbo tight ends: Gonzalez is 6-6, 240 and Allred goes 6-5, 250.

Allred is a superb blocker who was paid this compliment last season by Coach John Robinson: “Allred is fundamentally the best blocking tight end I’ve ever coached--at any level.”

Gonzalez said he felt redeemed by the month-long agony over deciding whether to leave Cal a year early.

“It’s great, how it worked out--I couldn’t be happier,” he said.

“I considered everything after last football season, it was an all-family decision. I didn’t want outsiders influencing me. A lot of friends told me not to do it, that I wouldn’t be drafted until the second or third round. Maybe I’m cocky and arrogant, but I didn’t believe it.”

Allred said much the same:

“I was told I’d go between the second and the fourth, so I feel great about the second.”

Gonzalez was a football/basketball athlete at Cal, another factor that impressed NFL scouts.

Gonzalez said Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit and Jacksonville expressed the most interest in drafting him.

“The best part of the whole thing is that Kansas City uses the West Coast offense--it’s very close to what we did at Cal,” Gonzalez said.

Allred said his name was called and his telephone rang almost simultaneously.

“The Bears called three times, the first to tell me they had the 40th pick coming up and that they wanted to take me,” he said.

“Then they called back to say they were moving up to 38 with a trade because they were afraid someone else would take me. The third time they called, it was maybe two minutes before the pick was announced on TV, to tell me they’d taken me.”

Bear player personnel director Rod Graves said Allred could take a long step toward a starter’s spot at mini-camp in June.

“He’ll get more than his share of snaps,” he said.

Two El Camino High graduates were selected in the first round. The Detroit Lions, with the fifth pick overall, chose Texas cornerback Bryant Westbrook. Atlanta used its first-round pick, the 11th overall, to take Nebraska cornerback Michael Booker.

The Lions chose Arizona State guard Juan Roque in the second round. Roque went to Ontario High. Later in the second round, Buffalo chose Columbia defensive end Marcellus Wiley, a Saint Monica High graduate.