Football

Waltham's Bernadeau picked by NFL's Panthers

By Scott Souza/Daily News staff



WALTHAM — One by one the names crawled across the bottom of the ESPN screen until the afternoon had turned to evening. By this point of the two-day NFL Draft, the analysts had long since stopped dissecting each and every one of the picks. By this point of the draft, Mackenzy Bernadeau had almost given up hope of being one.

The day had been filled with phone calls, false alarms and anticipation. Now it was almost over.

"I started getting calls around the fifth round," said the former Waltham High and Bentley College star offensive lineman. "Then when I wouldn't see my name, after a while, I decided I didn't want to get my hopes up anymore. I started to get antsy. I tried to change the channel and watch something else. By that point, I figured whatever happens happens."

Then came the call shortly after 6 p.m. The call Bernadeau had waited all day for. The call young football players wait their whole lives for. A few seconds into the conversation, Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox was asking him if he was ready to join the Panthers.

A few seconds later, the celebration in the Bernadeau household began.

With the 250th overall pick - a compensatory pick in the seventh round and third-to-last of the draft - the Panthers selected Bernadeau. As football fans around the country tried to figure out what the heck a "Bentley" was, the Waltham High alumnus was realizing a dream come true.

"When I was talking with (the Panthers) I nodded to my friends and my brother that this was really it," he said last night. "Then I hung up and they started cheering. But even they didn't really believe it until they saw it on the TV screen."

Bernadeau became the first Bentley player ever selected in the NFL draft and the first Waltham High player since the Buffalo Bills picked Fred Smerlas in the second round out of Boston College in 1979.

The 6-foot-4, 300-pound guard had spent much of the winter traveling around the country to attend workouts, including a trip to Charlotte, N.C., and had several other teams come to the Waltham campus to see him.

"He is smart, maybe overlooked a little bit," Panthers director of college scouting Don Gregory told reporters in Charlotte. "But we thought he had growth potential as a player. He can get bigger and had a really good workout for us. He played at a smaller school, but we think he has a lot of upside."

"It's great," said former Waltham High coach Dan Keohane, who coached Bernadeau on the Hawks his sophomore and junior years and was with him as a Bentley assistant the past four years, "because, coming from a Division II school, it's difficult to get noticed."

Bernadeau was a three-year starter at Waltham High and considered one of the top linemen in the state his senior year. But rather than accept one of two Division I-AA scholarship offers, he opted to stay home in Waltham and play for Peter Yetten at Bentley, where he excelled.

"When Mac decided to go to there, Bentley didn't know what they were getting," said Waltham High coach Paul Mayberry, who coached him to 2003 Daily News Tribune Player of the Year honors as a Hawk senior in 2003. "To have him come in there and play all four years, it's rare for any kid to play all four years there."

Bernadeau started at left tackle immediately, then switched to guard during his junior year. He was named Northeast-10 Lineman of the Year and Bentley Offensive MVP as a junior, but suffered a setback during his senior year when the preseason Division II All-America pick tore the meniscus in his right knee and missed the final four games of the season.

He had to decline a pair of all-star game invitations because of the recovery, but tried to make up for it with a strong showing at the Boston College Pro Day that drew praise from Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards.

Bernadeau said the moment he found out the Panthers had taken a chance on him was exactly how he had envisioned it.

"It was just like I expected it to be," he said. "Everyone was cheering and going crazy.

"It was a great experience. My family and friends were there. It was just how I wanted it to be."

Even though it took nearly the entire weekend before he experienced it.

"It doesn't matter where or when you go," Bernadeau determined. "It matters what you do when you get there."

As he basked in the adulation of his friends and adoration of his family last night, that was the message he took from the day most of all.

"Everyone I talked to keeps telling to enjoy this because it's a great moment," he said. "But to remember that it's just the beginning. That's the way I am looking at it. It's just the beginning."