Former Michigan lineman Steve Schilling says the NFL Draft "kind of feels like a holiday." He'll be surrounded by family and friends at his suburban Seattle home as the draft plays out through Sunday.

AnnArbor.com file photo

The three-day party for Steve Schilling began on Thursday night. Tonight, both the tension and excitement level might rise inside his family's home in Bellevue, Wash.

As the four-year anchor of Michigan's offensive line drove to the airport Thursday afternoon to pick up his girlfriend, he admitted that, yes, he realizes by the time the NFL Draft ends this weekend his life is going to be different.

“It’s starting to sink in a little bit that yeah, by at least Sunday, I could know where I could be living next year,” Schilling said, laughing a little. “The last four months I’ve been in limbo, don’t really have a home address or anything.

“Definitely it’s starting to sink in, I’m sure it will (more) as we get into Friday night, definitely Saturday morning if my name gets called.”

Most mock draft sites have Schilling going anywhere from the third to sixth rounds in the NFL Draft, which started Thursday night and concludes Saturday.

Which is why Schilling could sit back and relax Thursday night and the first round took place. He knew he wasn’t going to be selected that early. But starting today, he knows things could change in a moment.

The draft is also a culmination of nine years of playing amateur football combined with the start of a professional future he has no control over. It’s why he laughs when he’s continually asked where he’d like to play. Because he knows he doesn’t have a choice.

It's the question he said he’s heard the most over the past four months as he migrated from Ann Arbor to Arizona to train, then back to Ann Arbor for Michigan’s Pro Day and to train some more. Finally, this week, he's back at his home in suburban Seattle to hang out with his parents, Joanne and Ralph, his sister, Brandi Cypher, and his almost-year-old nephew, Quinn, among others.

“It’s finally here, you’re excited about it,” Schilling said. “I’m just going to be sitting around the house waiting for friends to come over later.

“It kind of feels like a holiday almost, when you have family coming over at night to hang out.”

It is, kind of. Except all of the celebration and attention will be focused on him.

In recent days, he’s thought about the past four months, from the intensity of the NFL Combine to the constant movement to the consistent training he’s gone through all leading to this weekend.

Schilling talked with other Michigan alumni last weekend during Michigan’s spring game. He listened to former quarterback Brian Griese explain what his draft weekend was like and took away one piece of advice.

All at once, this is an end of a beginning and the beginning of an end.

“All those guys were real supportive. (They told me) to keep working hard and no matter where you land, this is just the beginning, getting drafted,” Schilling said. “It doesn’t matter first or second round or free agent. If you go somewhere and you can play, you’ll play. If you can’t, you can’t.

“So just don’t get too down if your name falls or too excited if it is early.”

Michael Rothstein covers Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by email at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.