James Bradberry was so sure he was going to be drafted Friday night, he was about to start fixing the toilet in his mother's bathroom when the call came. That's to say, he wasn't expecting it.

"I had my phone in my pocket, and I’m walking into the bathroom in my home. Me and my friends fixing the toilet," Bradberry recalled on a conference call minutes after the Panthers used a second-round pick on the Samford cornerback.

"I feel my phone vibrate, and I think it is a text message, but it’s a Carolina area code. That was when my heart started beating real fast. I go into the hallway and answer the phone call, and it’s the Panthers."

Pegged as a third-day prospect by pretty much every draft analyst, Bradberry was with family and friends. But they weren't having a draft party. That was planned for Saturday night, after the draft wraps up.

Now it's canceled. So is the plumbing job. Not like Bradberry's much of a handyman, anyway.

"My mom just had me fixing it. I don't know how to fix things for real, but I try when I can," he admitted.

The biggest call of Bradberry's life served as a good excuse to get out of Friday night chores. And because he'll be on a flight to Charlotte Saturday morning, a toilet in Pleasant Grove, Ala. will just have to remain broken.

"It's still in there waiting on me," Bradberry said.

"It may not get fixed."