Triangle cheers on players as they take the national stage for the NFL Draft: 'It's pretty exciting'

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Triangle has great local talent who were born and raised in the Raleigh-Durham area, looking to play on the national stage.

While fans across the country were glued to their television screens, Coach Scott Riley of Cleveland High School was in the room with Omarion Hampton.

"It's pretty exciting. It was great to have that happen last night and just see Omarion from such a young age to realize a childhood dream is pretty special," said Riley.

Surrounded by loved ones and mentors, Hampton will once again be covered in light blue as he plays for the Los Angeles Chargers, just like he was when he played for UNC and Cleveland High School.

"He comes back and watches a lot of Cleveland football and is on the sidelines and encouraging those guys and that thing. It's really an inspiration. We use him as an example quite a bit with our guys, and our guys look up to him and want to be the next one getting called on a Thursday night and in April," said Riley

Riley said it's what he does off the field that makes all the difference.

"He worked really, really hard. He, you know, made sacrifices. He studied hard and turned schoolwork in and all those things that kind of go unnoticed but really make a difference when you're talking about the best of the best and becoming, you know, truly elite like he has," he said.

RELATED: NFL Draft: Triangle prospects hopeful to hear their names called on draft night

Another Triangle native, Joaquin Davis, hopes to see his professional dreams come true. Davis attended North Carolina Central University, a historically black college in Durham.

Everyone is hoping he will be the first HBCU player drafted since 2023, and the first HBCU receiver drafted since 2017.

"A lot of the changes that are going on in college sports with NIL and the transfer portal have kind of hurt the chances of producing those guys. So it would be monumental to show that HBCUs use, even in this day and age, can produce those guys, so it would be, you know, just a monumental if they were able to do that, " said Steven Gaither, HBCU Gameday.

"You're talking about just five HBCU players drafted in the last six years. It's not enough. Zero were drafted last year. If you look at the landscape of the NFL, HBCU players that are in the NFL right now, about 40% of them were signed as undrafted free agents. So my thing is, why not draft them?" said Dornal Ware, BOXTOROW.

Sports experts believe Davis could get picked in rounds four to seven or become a free agent.

"He's a guy who's going to have several options just based off, not only his production during his career, but also those workouts. I mean, he's just got some numbers that you just can't coach or teach as far as his height and his speed. He's shown the ability to catch the ball as well," said Gaither.

"Best players to ever play in the National Football League from a historical standpoint...a lot of them were undrafted and a lot of them were HBCU players. It's no doubt about it that there's a lot of talent at the HBCU level," said Ware.