He made it! Local star Brightful is an NFL pick

By Scott M. Johnson

Herald Writer

When Lamont Brightful was just 4 years old, he marched up to his mother one day and pronounced his future. He was going to be an NFL football player.

Most mothers would give their child a pat on the head, force a smile, and secretly wonder what life really had in store.

Not Karen Brightful. Something about her son’s body language that day made her believe.

On Sunday afternoon, 19 years after he had first verbalized his goal, Lamont Brightful saw it fulfilled when the former Mariner High School and Eastern Washington University standout was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

“This has always been his dream. He’s always stayed on the path toward it,” Karen Brightful said from her Everett home Sunday. “He already made his mother’s dream come true by graduating from college, and now his dream came true. I knew he was going to make it.”

Brightful played wide receiver and some cornerback at EWU, but the reason he was drafted was because of his ability as a return man. He finished his career at EWU as the all-time kickoff return leader in Division I-AA history.

The Ravens are looking for a return man to replace Pro Bowler Jermaine Lewis, who was selected by the Houston Texans in the expansion draft two months ago. Brightful has the inside track on that job.

“We are drafting him to be our return guy,” Ravens vice president Ozzie Newsome said after selecting Brightful with the 195th overall pick. “He will be returning both kicks and punts. We have been watching him for two years, and we think that he can excel at this level. He has shown speed, quickness and toughness that you want from an NFL returner, and we are happy to have him here.”

Despite his collegiate achievements, Brightful was a late pick because he is only 5-foot-9 and isn’t considered an NFL-quality receiver. He was not expected to be drafted at all, and was relieved when he got the call from Baltimore.

“It’s been a childhood dream of mine,” Brightful said. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to play in the NFL. I made it, but I still know I have a lot to prove.”

Brightful was watching the draft with a few friends at his apartment near EWU when the telephone rang Sunday afternoon. Among the people on the other end was Ravens owner Art Modell.

Then a member of the scouting department got on the telephone and told Brightful to sit tight. The Seattle Seahawks were about to make their sixth-round pick, then the Ravens were ready to take Brightful. Baltimore officials were relieved when the Seahawks passed on Brightful in favor of punter Craig Jarrett. Within a few minutes, Brightful’s name popped up on the television screen.

“I turned around and started giving high-fives and hugs to all my friends,” Brightful said Sunday evening. “I’m still on a high now. I still feel like I’m dreaming.”

Had Brightful not caught on with an NFL team, he could have played in the Canadian Football League, where the Ottawa Roughriders own his negotiation rights. But he was determined to make it on this side of the border.

After playing in his final college game, Brightful put himself through two-a-day workouts, beginning in January, to prepare for the NFL scouts. He attended two tryouts at EWU, another in Los Angeles, and had a personal workout in front of Pittsburgh Steelers scouts. His most important performance, Brightful said, was a session at EWU attended by 14 scouts in which he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.32 seconds and registered 39 inches in the vertical jump.

“I knew I had to put up some good numbers,” said Brightful, who was ranked behind 93 other wide receiver prospects according to Pro Football Weekly. “I just felt I had to run in the 4.3s and do well in all my interviews.”

Brightful said the Ravens originally talked to him about playing defensive back, but for now he only knows that he will be their return man. The fact that he will follow in the footsteps of Lewis makes it even more special.

“I modeled myself after Jermaine,” he said. “But those are some big shoes to fill. I’m not trying to be Jermaine Lewis; I’m trying to be Lamont Brightful. I just want to help them get back to the championship level.”

Moving to Baltimore won’t be a completely foreign experience to Brightful, who lived there for three years while in junior high school. His father, Oden, still lives in the area, so Lamont won’t be on his own.

This marks the second year in a row that a former Mariner athlete has been drafted. Linebacker Riall Johnson, who graduated a year before Brightful in 1996, was a sixth-round draft choice of the Cincinnati Bengals last year.

“I’m extremely happy for both kids,” Mariner head football coach John Ondriezek said Sunday evening. “I could have predicted when they were young kids, in ninth grade, that they were going to be successful. Both had inner drive, and they were winners. Their dedication and hard work will have an impact on everyone in the Mariner football program – past, future, and the kids who are here now.”

Brightful and Johnson join three other former Snohomish County athletes in the NFL: Chicago quarterback Chris Chandler (Everett H.S.), Miami wide receiver Jeff Ogden (Snohomish) and New Orleans tight end Dave Stachelski (Marysville-Pilchuck).