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Inside NFL draft night with Taylor Moton, new Carolina Panther

The LSJ's Cody Tucker spent Friday night with the former Western Michigan star and his family at their home in Okemos

Cody J Tucker
Lansing State Journal
Friends and family of Okemos native and Western Michigan University football standout Taylor Moton, center, react upon viewing the official announcement that the Carolina Panthers had selected Moton in the second round of the NFL draft Friday night. home in Okemos. From left:  Moton's dad Delbert Husband and aunt Gerry Stroman, mom Sonya Gunnings-Husband, and sister Shy Husband.

OKEMOS – Taylor Moton sat patiently in the corner of his parents' basement Friday night.

Although he was surrounded by more than 30 friends and family inside his Okemos home, he was alone with his thoughts – and his cell phone.

Pro football analysts said this would be the night he would hear his name called at the NFL draft.

The “experts” also said he wasn’t good enough to play for his hometown school, Michigan State University. They predicted he wasn’t fundamentally sound enough as a freshman to play on the offensive line at Western Michigan. He only received a handful of Division 1 offers after a standout career at Okemos High School.

He knows the pundits have been wrong before. He wasn’t getting his hopes up, although he claimed he was confident.

One by one, players were announced from a stage more than 600 miles away in Philadelphia. He began to wonder when it would be his turn.

The night prior, WMU teammate Corey Davis was taken No. 5 overall by the Tennessee Titans. Watching his friend walk across the stage and hold up a jersey made him even more hungry for his opportunity.

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Only two teams remained on the board late in the second round – the Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers. He had talked to both teams at his pro day and the NFL scouting combine, but he didn’t know if either was sold on him. Only Miami and Baltimore flew Moton in for a visit and a private workout.

“I’m getting antsy,” Moton, dressed in a black shirt with a gold cross necklace, told his friends sitting nearby on the couch.

Then, his phone began to buzz. The area code was 704.

“Yes sir,” Moton said as his supporters started to buzz. “I am ready.”

Moton’s mother, Sonya Gunnings-Husband, hovered over her son with her head in her hands. In disbelief, tears started to roll from her eyes. She recognized that area code. She whispered a question to bystanders.

“Carolina? Is he going to Carolina?” she asked.

Taylor said goodbye and pulled the phone from his ear.

“Carolina,” he said in disbelief.

Gunnings-Husband hugged her son as the room erupted into applause. His father Delbert Husband joined in as camera phones snapped and flashes went off from around the room. Moton could only pump his big right fist and smile.

A pair of Panthers hats flew in Moton’s direction. They came from his great uncle Clarence Fisher, who lives in North Carolina and has had Panthers season tickets since the team’s inaugural year in 1995. He and his wife Joyce flew to Michigan for Moton's big day.

The only pause in the celebration came during ESPN’s official announcement.

“Grandpa said, come back to North Carolina, son,” Gunnings-Husband yelled over the crowd.

She was referencing her father, Dr. Thomas Gunnings. He was Taylor’s biggest fan and a North Carolina native. Gunnings-Husband likes to say that her father worshiped the ground Taylor walked on. He was his biggest fan. He called his grandson the “Brilliant Big Man.”

Dr. Gunnings died when Moton was just 16.

He didn’t get to see his grandson start a school-record 52 straight games on the WMU offensive line or lead the Broncos to an undefeated regular season and berth in the Cotton Bowl. He didn’t get to celebrate the program’s first conference title since 1988 or see the national brand WMU became.

But Friday night, Gunnings-Husband said she knew he was watching his grandson celebrate his biggest moment.

“He would say, 'well done,'” Gunnings-Husband said with tears in her eyes.

“Pawpaw brought this all together,” her husband added, pointing to friends and relatives celebrating around the room. “He believed in Taylor. We all believe in Taylor. He has been a gift to us.”

Dr. Gunnings' widow, Barbara Gunnings, could only grin and laugh as she thought about what her late husband would say. She still owns a house in the Charlotte area, where she and her husband were school teachers for years.

“He will be there,” she said. “We will all be there.”

Moton also said he felt his grandfather’s presence. He was the first person Moton thought about as he talked to Carolina head coach Ron Rivera on the phone.

“God blessed me. I’m just so thankful,” Moton said at the end of his driveway Friday night. “My grandfather is definitely smiling down on me from heaven.”

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Moton’s great aunt, Joyce Fisher, lives 22 miles from Bank of America Stadium in downtown Charlotte. She and her husband joked earlier in the day about how great it would be to see their nephew in a Panthers uniform.

That is now a reality.

“I can’t believe it,” Fisher said. “I am ecstatic. We have a permanent seat license. We go to all the games.”

Not even champagne in the eye could erase the smile from Moton’s face as he celebrated in the street with his close friends and former teammates. His mom was still inside, huddled around a television in the kitchen, watching his live announcement on repeat.

“I have the worst migraine,” she said with a smile. “I can’t handle this.”

When Moton finally had a chance to look at his phone, he had more than 90 text messages and dozens of missed calls. He wanted them all to be in Okemos, sharing the moment with him. Lost in the excitement was the reality at hand. Moton will be blocking for All-Pro quarterback Cam Newton and first-round draft pick Christian McCaffrey this fall when he reports to Panthers training camp.

“I haven’t even thought about that,” he said of playing with high-profile athletes on a team that was just in the Super Bowl in 2016. “It’s exciting.”

The team planned to send a plane to Lansing this weekend to fly Moton to Charlotte to meet his new coaches and owner Jerry Richardson. Admittedly, it was all too much to take in for Moton as he stood outside, soaked in bubbly.

Friday night was for celebrating. Soon the real work begins, he said.

“It’s a dream come true,” Moton said, wiping suds from his face at the end of his driveway. "I am excited to go in and compete for a spot.”

Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @CodyTucker_LSJ.