Every kid who has ever played football dreams of getting the call from an NFL team on draft night — especially when it’s in the first round. On Thursday night, Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka got that call from the Bucs, as Tampa Bay made him the No. 19 overall pick in the 2025 Draft.

“I was just like, I don’t know. I was watching the screen and then I was holding my phone in my hand and it started buzzing,” Egbuka said. “The dots didn’t click right away and then I looked down and I see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on my phone so I answered the call. My mom started freaking out. She started saying, ‘Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.’

“And then my dad is yelling, so it was a very high-octane moment but it was a feeling like no other.”

Former Ohio State/new Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka Photo by: USA Today

It’s clear to see in the video just how much support Egbuka had at his draft party. So, who all did the newest Buccaneer celebrate his draft night with?

“I think the better question is, who didn’t I [laughs]? There is like 100 people at my draft party,” he said. “There are coaches, family friends, my parents, my siblings, my best friends since high school. Everybody is here to celebrate this moment and I’m so thankful they were all able to come and join me. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“They say it takes a village to raise a child, so everyone who came to my draft party tonight has had an instrumental role in helping me develop into the man that I’ve become today. I wish more people could’ve even been here than there are now.”

Egbuka was born in Tacoma, Washington, and grew up south of Seattle. He then went halfway across the country to play his college ball at Ohio State, and now, he’ll be even farther away from home as he heads to Tampa to begin his NFL career. His background and upbringing will have prepared him to handle it well, though.

While he grew up primarily with his mother and stepfather in Washington, he is also very close with his father, who was born in Nigeria and came to the U.S. in 1996. His father’s job as a civil engineer with the U.S. military meant time overseas, including a six-year stretch in Germany, where Emeka Egbuka would spend some of his childhood summers.

Emeka Egbuka Excited To Reunite With Bucs WR Jalen McMillan

Bucs WR Jalen McMillan – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

While Emeka Egbuka was understandably thrilled to get his draft call on Thursday night and is excited to get to work with two Bucs legends in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, he’s also excited to be teammates with another receiver who he’s known for a long time: second-year receiver Jalen McMillan.

“…And then other young guys like Jalen McMillan – he grew up in California but he played for a Washington 7-on-7 team so I’ve known him since I was in high school as well,” Egbuka said Thursday night. “We’ve been friends for a long time, so just watching him do his thing at ‘U-Dub’ (University of Washington) and now I get to join him as a teammate is going to be really fun. [It’s an] amazing wide receiver room.”

The Bucs certainly have built an “amazing wide receiver room,” as Egbuka called it. Evans and Godwin will certainly lead the way, while McMillan and now Egbuka fill out the next two spots on the depth chart. From there, it’ll be a mix of Sterling Shepard, Rakim Jarrett, Trey Palmer, Ryan Miller and Kameron Johnson.

Ohio State/Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State QB Will Howard Photo by: USA Today

General manager Jason Licht said Thursday night that the selection of Egbuka was both for now and the future. So, how will the first-round pick handle being in a crowded receiver room, especially with the likes of Evans, Godwin and McMillan at the top of the depth chart with him? It’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with before. He played with some stellar wide receivers at Ohio State, and it’s clear he’s developed the right mentality to be a team guy – not unlike Evans and Godwin have been for years.

“I think something that I learned throughout my time at Ohio State, especially sharing the wide receiver room with so many talented players, is [that] when you have a strong culture built around your program and around the wide receiver room, their success just feels like your success,” he said.

“Like, I can’t recall a touchdown where I was salty about my other teammate scoring – I was just as happy, and it was just as if I scored. I think trying to carry that same mindset and that same culture into this wide receiver room, especially sharing it with so many talented people – people who I frankly look up to – it’s just a blessing for me, honestly.”