He forgot to charge his phone the night before. The third day of the NFL Draft started in 10 minutes and Jaylin Simpson didn’t have the device where someone would eventually tell him a dream was coming true.

The guests had arrived at his draft party in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, just across the causeway from his hometown in Brunswick. Photos from his time playing at nearby Frederica Academy in high school rested on the mantle. Placed on hangers, his old Auburn jerseys hung on the wall. A house full of Georgia fans put on orange and blue one more time and the ESPN broadcast droned on in the background.

Simpson’s phone was only a few feet away, plugged into an outlet near the kitchen countertop.

He went to grab it a few minutes after the draft began Saturday. He had a small party the night before with just a few immediate family members just in case. On Saturday, he invited more friends and a small handful of media, including AL.com. But in all reality, he wanted to have his phone with him quickly. He didn’t think the wait would be long.

On the day when Simpson would be drafted into the NFL, there was a mom who just wanted to get it over with and a sister ready to cry. There was a dream the night prior from his friend and former coach Alex Mathis, who’d imagined Simpson in a Los Angeles Chargers uniform. There was Simpson himself, surrounded by friends and family in a typical laid-back mood: carrying babies around and laughing with friends in a T-shirt and cargo shorts. The gravity of the moment is evident in theory, but not from a quick look at Simpson.

The road here was not linear. Mathis said Simpson nearly never went to Auburn. He nearly didn’t get in. As a senior, a day after then-quarterback Jaylin Simpson won a state championship with Frederica, he stayed in Macon, Georgia for one more day to take the ACT. It was the last available test window in order to meet his deadlines for Auburn. He had to pass, or he wasn’t going to be a Tiger.

Or there’s the three Auburn coaches Simpson played for. He committed to Gus Malzahn and stayed for Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze. He switched positions from cornerback to safety and saw his career take off from there.

But he kept waiting on this Saturday. More than 60 picks had been announced since the start of the draft and his phone had not budged.

At a draft party on day three, it is purely a waiting game. There aren’t constant phone calls discussing with agents and getting word from teams or sources. It is sitting down on the couch and being patient. Where a player may end up is, in fact, a surprise.

Simpson had to be patient for about three hours. To him, it felt longer.

“I’m kinda mad nobody’s calling me,” Simpson said about two hours in, a joking mood turning into some anxious frustration.

Soon after, a phone rang. It wasn’t his.

“That’s not my ringtone,” Simpson said, followed by several family members switching their phones to vibrate. There couldn’t be any more confusion for the phone call that mattered.

More time passed and Simpson began to roam, disappearing for a minute from the main room. When he came back, he sat down with his girlfriend and blankly stared at the TV. Tired of being patient. He signed cards of himself that his agents sent just to kill the time.

He’d later come back to the couch and look at photos of him on the wall from high school. He grabbed his phone and scrolled back looking for a certain highlight. When he found it, he turned his phone to face the videographers there and described the play and the story.

Or at least he started to.

That’s when out of the top corner of his screen, an incoming call flashed on. It had an Indianapolis area code. Simpson sat up, his face seemingly shocked at first to see the number pop up so suddenly. Those in the room didn’t notice until he put his phone to his ear and said “Hello?”

“The phone!”

“They’re calling!”

His mom ThaQuanna Cannon was walking upstairs to the bathroom when the call came. She had a feeling the moment she left the room that might happen. So she got to the first step and was yelled at to come back.

“I was like, ‘Oh God, thank you lord. I don’t care who it is at this point,’” Cannon said.

And the family huddled around Simpson with their own phones to video the moment. They cheered while Simpson talked to Indianapolis Colts officials and Simpson needed them to quiet down. Standing behind him, his family couldn’t see how hard Simpson was working to keep himself from crying. His voice was monotone on the call, trying to stay composed in the moment he’d been longing for.

He hung up the phone and buried his head in his arms. His eyes welled up with the tears he’d pushed off during his phone call. His mom ThaQuanna Cannon sat down next to him, and they leaned into each other for a hug. The waiting was over. The stress was gone. Simpson was about to hear his name called.

“You did it,” Cannon told him. “You did it.”

“I did it, mama,” Simpson cried back.

On ESPN, the graphic changed to show the Colts had submitted the name for the 164th pick, and as the broadcast came back from a commercial break, Simpson’s name flashed on the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

“That’s my son,” Cannon said emotionally on seeing Simpson’s name called. “That’s mine. I was proud. I couldn’t hear and couldn’t see at first, but I was proud just to see his name, just to know he accomplished something he set out so many years ago. It’s just a good feeling. I want to cry.”

Simpson ran outside by the pool to breathe and take it all in, he bent over behind the pool and put his head in his hands again. His dream becoming a reality all began to hit. Quickly, he was swept away onto an interview with Indianapolis media and when it was at last done, ran back swinging his arms to a waiting family.

His agents had sent him a package he was only to open after he was picked. Inside was a wooden box with his name engraved on it and a bottle of champagne inside. Simpson didn’t quite know how to pop it, though.

Simpson recently made a visit to Indianapolis in February. That’s where the NFL Combine is held. Simpson had a visit with the Colts while he was there and on the way back, Mathis told him the city suited him.

Albeit it’s quite cold. Cannon said she hates the cold. That’s a reason why she didn’t go to the Combine with Simpson. Now, the lifelong Georgia native will have to buy a jacket.

The weather didn’t matter then, so the party began. Back inside, Simpson was poured a shot of Fireball and yelled “Go Colts!” before downing the whiskey.

The celebration was earned. It was a dream fulfilled, yes, but a goal accomplished too.

Simpson peeled off into the bedroom one more time. A private moment to smile, to realize the gravity of it all. To realize this was all really happening.

He came back with a bottle of Don Julio 1942 tequila — a bottle generally retailing for several hundred dollars. It was the drink he requested when his name was finally called.

“I’ve been waiting three days to drink this,” Simpson said.

He put his lips on the bottle, and tossed it back.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]