A wild 2025 NFL Draft was chock full of non-football drama. On Friday, the spectacle peaked when former Jackson State star Shedeur Sanders received a call that appeared to be an NFL general manager telling the quarterback his dream of playing professional football was coming true, only to discover it was a prank call.
After the dust settled and Sanders had been picked by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round, the Atlanta Falcons announced that the team’s defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son, Jax Ulbrich, was responsible for the phony conversation. A video of the call surfaced, showing an unidentified friend of Jax’s speaking to Sanders while wearing an Ole Miss shirt. The caller is yet to be identified.
Contrary to reports, Jax Ulbrich is not currently registered as a student at Ole Miss. Ulbrich is presently listed as an active player on Berry College’s football roster. Neither school has responded to a request for comment.
Friday marked day two of the draft, and there was already a cacophony of speculation as to why Sanders, previously thought to be a first-round talent, had gone unchosen. Ulbrich’s stunt compounded a tenuous situation surrounding the star-studded Sanders family as the football fate of the son of NFL legend and former Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders hung in the balance.
In their statement, the Falcons said the 21-year-old Ulbrich “unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number for Shedeur Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parents’ home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call.” The pair also apparently rang up several other high-profile prospects, including former Penn State tight end Tyler Warren.
Ulbrich released a public apology Sunday in the wake of the mischief, calling the call a “tremendous mistake.”
“Shedeur, what I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful,” Ulbrich wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m so sorry I took away from your moment, it was selfish and childish.”
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Prior to the admission by the Falcons and Ulbrich, fans of Shedeur Sanders took to social media to blast an Ole Miss student with an NFL affiliation. Sydney Schoen, the daughter of New York Giants General Manager Joe Schoen, was accused by an online entourage of leaking Sanders’ phone number to the two individuals on the phone call.
The Schoen family was undoubtedly absolved of wrongdoing once the source of the phone number leak was revealed. New York, instead of drafting Sanders in the first round, banked on Rebel great Jaxson Dart to be the franchise’s future signal caller.
Sanders will play with another former Mississippi-connected football star in Cleveland, ex-Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins, who was taken in the second round by the Browns.
