DeVonte Peterson sat in his dorm room Saturday doing the same thing many football fans were doing: watching the NFL Draft.

Unlike most football fans, he has a vested interest in the proceedings.

Peterson, the 6-foot-4, 285-pound defensive lineman from Catawba College, knew his name wouldn’t be called Saturday during the first three rounds.

“I wasn’t nervous or anything like that,” Peterson said with all honesty. “I’ve been on the phone most of the day.”

With who?

With the Kansas City Chiefs, who have made overtures to his agent Joe Linta? With the Miami Dolphins who worked Peterson out exclusively last week? With the Cincinnati Bengals, whose defensive line coach Tim Krumrie carried on some hand-to-hand combat with Peterson last month in the Catawba gym?

Nope, he was on the phone with his mother, who was calling from Clinton.

“She asked me if I’d heard anything, if I needed anything, if I wanted her to come up here ...” Peterson laughed.

Peterson and teammate Radell Lockhart are simply hoping for a stroke of luck — a call from an NFL head coach telling them they are going to hear their name called. Lockhart is also 280 pounds and is a defensive end. He too watched from his dorm room.

“I was patient,” Peterson said. “I knew they weren’t going to call my name today.

“Tomorrow is our day.”

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Tomorrow has now turned into today and this might be the afternoon that all of the hard work, sweat and All-American honors finally lead to something big.

At least, Peterson, Lockhart and Linta hope so.

The scouts have been impressed with the Division II hulk.

“I worked out for Miami and it went really well,” Peterson said. “(The coach) told me to get in real good shape if they draft me because it gets up to 90 degrees in Miami.”

Linta said in a telephone interview from Connecticut Saturday night that he didn’t have any calls on the Catawba duo, adding he really wasn’t expecting any. But today, at around noon (the second day of the draft begins at 11 a.m. on ESPN and switches to ESPN2 at 1), his cell phone is going to ring.

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What did Linta think of the first day?

“Kansas City drafted a defensive tackle so I don’t know if they want a second,” he said of Peterson’s status with Dick Vermeil’s team. “But we’ve heard from 10 teams so they should start lining up.”

Does Peterson have a better chance to get drafted than Lockhart?

“Probably, but not necessarily,” Linta said, not playing his hand.

There’s nothing wrong with not getting drafted either, according to Peterson and Linta.

“He told me if I don’t get picked up, don’t worry about it,” Peterson said.

Peterson has been referred to as a tackle or end. The 6-foot-4 stud has been told that if he is 275 pounds or lighter, he will be classified as an end. If he gets up to 290, he will be a tackle.

“Can I get up to 290?” Peterson laughed. “With an NFL program financing it? Yes!”

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So today is here and Peterson is the same cool customer he was on the football field, smacking those poor, helpless South Atlantic Conference offensive lineman out of his way.

He’s hoping those same big paws will get the opportunity at the next level.

“I’ll be in somebody’s camp. I’m real comfortable,” he said. “All I need is a shot.”

Linta is confident as well.

“They’ll be signed by dinner time,” he said.

Stay tuned.

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Contact sports editor Ronnie Gallagher at 797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .