Penn State linebacker Sean Lee and his family sat and watched the NFL draft and held out hope that his hometown team, the Steelers, would draft him in the second round.

That didn't happen, but Lee still realized one of his dreams. About 10 minutes after the Steelers used their second-round pick to select Jason Worilds, Lee's phone rang and on the other end was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who said:

"You're going to be a Cowboy, now how do you feel about that?"

It was the kind of news that Lee, from Upper St. Clair, had hoped to hear in the second round. There were questions about how high he would be drafted because of knee injuries that slowed his progress the past two years.

"After the Steelers picked in the second round, we were all a little disappointed because Sean said there wasn't likely any other teams looking for a linebacker left in the second round," Lee's father, Craig, said Friday night. "Then he said, 'well, except for the Cowboys' and right after that, the phone rang and it was Jerry Jones.

"It was a hectic night for all of us, a lot of emotions, but he's going to a great team and he'll have a chance to have an excellent career there."

Lee, 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, was the second- or third-rated inside linebacker by most scouting services, but he missed the 2008 season with a torn ACL in his right knee and then missed three games this past season with a sprained left knee.

Even though Lee passed all of his physicals throughout the draft process, questions about his knees probably cost him a chance to be a first-round pick.

But his production when he is healthy and his total body of work with the Nittany Lions was too much for the Cowboys to overlook. Lee was a two-time captain for the Nittany Lions and ranked fourth in school history with 325 tackles.

The Cowboys were one of five teams, along with the Steelers, that Lee had visited in the past month, so his selection by the team was not a surprise.

Lee's teammate, Navorro Bowman, a 6-foot, 240-pound linebacker, was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round (91st overall). Bowman left school a year early to enter the draft and was projected as a high second-round pick.

Also, Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski, who played at Woodland Hills, was selected Friday by the New England Patriots (10th pick of the second round, 42nd overall).

Gronkowski, who is 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, is from Buffalo but moved to Wilkins and transferred to Woodland Hills before his senior season. He was one of the WPIAL's high-profile transfer cases in recent years.

He sat out last season recovering from back surgery, but in 2008 he caught 47 passes for 672 yards and 10 touchdowns and was generally regarded as one of the top two tight ends in the draft.

The Patriots traded up two spots -- with Oakland -- to make the selection.

Shortly after he was picked, Gronkowski told NFL Network that was "fired up" to join the Patriots because it is a "great organization."

Other local players hope to be drafted today, including Pitt's top two prospects, tight ends Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham.

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