Washington receiver Rome Odunze led the NCAA in yards receiving last season.
Lindsey Wasson/AP Photos
Rome Odunze can keep the group chat saved in his phone for a while longer.
Both Keenan Allen and DJ Moore, Bears receivers with whom he participated in a throwing session last week, sent him notes of congratulations after the Washington star was picked ninth Thursday night in Detroit. The two veterans worked out with USC quarterback Caleb Williams, and the trio invited him to join them last week in Los Angeles.
Odunze and Williams were, by coincidence, on the same flight from Los Angeles to Detroit for the draft. They were on the same flight leaving the city, too — a private jet Friday morning to Chicago.
The coincidences go beyond his relationship with Williams. The first jersey Odunze owned as a child was Brian Urlacher’s. His favorite player was Devin Hester, the soon-to-be Hall of Famer.
“It’s kinda surreal …” he said Friday at Halas Hall. “You speak it into existence, all these different things that are happening. And now I’m here.”