There was a lot of pacing.

There was at least one broken cell phone.

There were four huge sighs of relief.

Four former University of Tennessee football players added their names to the NFL ranks as the 2006 draft came to a close on Sunday.

Defensive end Parys Haralson (San Francisco), linebacker Omar Gaither (Philadelphia) and defensive tackle Jesse Mahelona (Tennessee Titans) were fifth-round selections.

Linebacker Kevin Simon (Washington) had to wait until near the end of the seventh and final round.

For all involved — including those Vols not taken — it was a long, gut-wrenching day.

Haralson, thought by some to be a second- or third-round pick, was so nervous he had a little mishap.

"I was pacing back and forth in the hotel room and my phone was on the floor," he said in his teleconference. "I stepped on it and snapped it.

"I went to the Nextel store to try and get it fixed when they drafted me."

San Francisco made Haralson (6-foot-1, 253 pounds) the seventh pick of the fifth round, No. 140 overall.

"I think they want me to come in and play outside linebacker for them, which I think I can do," he said. "I played outside linebacker in high school and I came to Tennessee as an outside linebacker."

ESPN analyst Mel Kiper obviously thinks Haralson’s chances of making an impact are strong in San Francisco.

"When you look at an opportunity, that’s what draft day is all about," Kiper said. "If you’re Parys Haralson, yeah, you’re disappointed you go at this point of the draft in round five, but if you’re up to the task, a starting opportunity is out there."

Gaither and Mahelona are hoping for the same opportunities. They went back-to-back at the tail end of the fifth round.

The Eagles made Gaither the 36th pick of the fifth, No. 168 overall. He’ll be able to join Darwin Walker, another former Vol, in the defensive front seven at Philadelphia.

Mahelona went next with the final selection of the fifth round to the Titans.

"You try to hope for the best and I was shooting for an earlier round on the first day," Mahelona said on his draft-day conference call. "Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you want them to.

"It’s not always that it works against you. In this case, I think that I fit in well with the Titans. I’m excited."

Mahelona could find himself playing backup to former UT defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.

"I’m just proud that I got drafted and hopefully I can show my talent," Mahelona said from his home in Hawaii.

As for Simon, he had almost given up on his name being called.

With just six picks remaining in the final round, the Redskins made him the 250th overall selection.

"We brought him in for a visit and got to see him up close," Washington coach Joe Gibbs said. "He’s bright, can make the calls inside, and has made the calls inside (at Tennessee).

"We were impressed with him when we had him here and we think he has a chance to compete and give us some depth at middle linebacker."

That was it for the Vols.

Some draft analysts had predicted as many as eight to 10 former UT players would be selected.

Five was the grand total, including Saturday’s first-round selection of defensive back Jason Allen by Miami.

Other players like Rob Smith (Cleveland), Gerald Riggs (Miami), Cody Douglas (Tennessee), Albert Toeaina (Carolina), Jason Hall (Buffalo), Tony McDaniel (Jacksonville) and Chris Hannon (Kansas City) had to go the free-agent route.

Still, it was the most Vols taken in the draft since 2003 when eight were picked — Eddie Moore, Kelley Washington, Jason Witten, Julian Battle, Aubrayo Franklin, Keyon Whiteside, Rashad Moore and Demetrin Veal.

Four were selected in 2004 (Gibril Wilson, Troy Fleming, Mark Jones, Scott Wells) and three last season (Kevin Burnett, Dustin Colquitt, Cedric Houston).

SEC Breakdown: Georgia and LSU topped the SEC charts, each finishing with seven draft picks.

Tennessee and Alabama tied for third with five apiece.

Auburn had four players selected, Florida three and South Carolina two.

Ole Miss, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt had one each. Kentucky was the only SEC school not to have a player picked this year.