A juggler, a singer and Tate Martell's backup: 7 facts on 7 Cleveland Browns draft picks

BEREA — The Browns' seven-man draft class for this year was completed last month. They got their on-field introduction to the NFL last weekend with rookie minicamp.

The various on-field talents of the players isn't necessarily a secret. It's what led the Browns to take receiver Cedric Tillman and defensive tackle Siaki Ika in the third round, offensive tackle Dawand Jones and defensive end Isaiah McGuire in the fourth round, quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and cornerback Cameron Mitchell in the fifth round and center Luke Wypler in the sixth round.

Each of those players comes to Cleveland with his own background and story. They also come with their own fun facts about themselves that may or may not be about football.

Here's a look at some of those fun facts about the Browns' seven-man draft class.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson started at receiver before he was the quarterback

Sometimes it's about circumstance for a player. Fifth-round pick Thompson-Robinson has always been a quarterback. It's just that he started his varsity high-school career at Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman playing a lot of snaps at a different position.

When he was a freshman for the Gaels in 2014, the starting quarterback job went to a sophomore, future Ohio State Buckeye Tate Martell. Martell started three seasons for Bishop Gorman before leaving for what became a nomadic college football career.

That left Thompson-Robinson to get many of his offensive snaps at receiver. That included playing over someone who would once again become his teammate in the NFL, Browns third-round pick Tillman.

"I started over him in high school as X receiver," Thompson-Robinson said Friday at rookie minicamp. "So Cedric we would say was a little bit of a late bloomer, but once he got to Tennessee he took off from a growth spurt to the speed to just everything you could ask for as a receiver. And you guys have obviously seen what he is now, and he's gotten picked because of it. But starting out though, I definitely thought I was better than him at receiver.”

Thompson-Robinson did get plenty of quarterback snaps during Martell's time in high school thanks to Bishop Gorman's often-lopsided games. As a senior, he took over the starter's job, earned a scholarship to UCLA and the rest, as they say, is history.

Dawand Jones very familiar with new teammate David Bell from high school

Fourth-round pick Jones and Browns 2022 third-round pick David Bell both graduated high school in the Class of 2019 from Indianapolis-area high schools, Jones from Ben Davis and Bell from Warren Central. Both were standouts on both the football and basketball courts before heading off to play football in the Big Ten, Jones at Ohio State and Bell at Purdue.

Jones and Ben Davis won the Indiana 6A state football championship in 2017, one year before Bell and Warren Central won the 6A title. Ben Davis did win a basketball title in Jones' sophomore season, but Jones didn't play in the title game.

Bell and Warren Central won the title the following year, in 2018. Jones and Ben Davis reached the title game in 2019, but lost to Caramel 60-55 despite 16 points from the senior big man.

“He does have the upper hand? He does," Jones said of Bell at rookie minicamp last Friday. "He's beat me, what I think almost every time I played him, and the time we was going to play he didn't get to make it. So I do got him up on the championships, like I got mine first. I will say that. We both have basketball and football state championships.”

Cedric Tillman one of the few to succeed against Georgia's defense

The defense the University of Georgia put on the field in 2021 may go down as one of the greatest in the history of college football. In the last two drafts, seven of the 11 Bulldogs defenders were picked in the first round of the NFL Draft, with another seven taken in rounds two through seven.

Yet, as a redshirt junior at the University of Tennessee that season, Tillman lit up that defense in a way no one else did that season. He had 10 catches for 200 yards for a touchdown in a Volunteers loss to the eventual national champions, the most against a Georgia team since Northeast Ohio native Andy Isabella had 219 receiving yards for Massachusetts in a 2018 game.

"It was really cool," Tillman said at rookie minicamp. "I just went out there, did my best. But, like I said, that's in the past now and now hopefully I can do that for the Browns."

Center Luke Wypler's special talent

If sixth-round pick Wypler finds that football doesn't end up working out for him in the long term, there's always a path he could fall back on to help pay the bills. He could always advertise for children's birthday parties.

What could he do? Well, turns out the former Ohio State Buckeye is a pretty good juggler.

"I used to be able to do six," Wypler said at rookie minicamp. "I don't think I can get there again. I can go four consistently now."

Isaiah McGuire, Cameron Mitchell, Cedric Tillman sons of fathers who played Division I college football

Fourth-round defensive end McGuire, fifth-round cornerback Mitchell and Tillman all come from good football genes. All three have fathers who played Division I college football.

McGuire's dad, Tarrick, was a tight end at Oklahoma State from 1997-2000. After college, he went into law enforcement and is now the Assistant Police Chief of the Arlington, Texas, Police Department.

Mitchell's dad, Deon, played running back, receiver and was a return man for Northern Illinois from 1994-98. He finished with 4,732 career all-purpose yards before playing with the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe in 2000 and the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League in 2001.

Tillman's dad, Cedric, was a star receiver for Alcorn State with quarterback Steve McNair from 1988-91. He caught 129 passes for 1,974 yards and scored 20 touchdowns before getting drafted by the Denver Broncos in 1992.

“It's cool," Tillman said at his introductory news conference. "Like I said, the second-generation thing. It's really cool to have a dad that played in the league, and now it's my turn and I'm excited for it.”

Siaki Ika can sing as well as play football

For Ika, the moment was huge. The Salt Lake City East High School junior was standing inside the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium minutes before his team was to play in Class 4A state championship game.

That's when Ika stepped to the microphone and began to sing, "Oh, say can you see … ."

That's right, the big defensive tackle also has a big singing voice as well. Ika sang the "Star Spangled Banner" before his team's title-game appearance, showing off a voice that carries a tune as well as he sheds blockers.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns' draft class: A juggling center, singing DT and more