Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, who returned to the field in 2010 after missing 2009 while recovering from cancer, remained upbeat about his NFL prospects despite going undrafted.
"I have been told that I can't play football before," Herzlich tweeted Saturday night after the conclusion of the NFL draft. "We all know what happened with that."
After the Senior Bowl in late January, ESPN's Scouts Inc. rated Herzlich as a late fifth-round selection, but he was considered an early-round prospect before being diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a form of cancer that attacks the bones, following a stellar 2008 season.
Herzlich expressed disappointment in not hearing his name called during the draft, but managed to keep it all in perspective.
"Today sucked for me but everyone needs to pray for all the people in Alabama," he tweeted in reference to the devastating tornadoes that swept through the South. "They need us more than ever right now."
At the NFL combine in February, the relentlessly positive Herzlich credited beating cancer with helping him learn to focus on looking ahead and targeting the next goal.
"Once I got diagnosed, I said a prayer every morning and night to be cancer-free and play football again," he said in February. "That goal was what got me here. I've talked to a lot of people going through cancer right now, or are battling through something, and the biggest problem they have is not having that light at the end of the tunnel. My goal happened to be running out of the tunnel with my team. It got me through a lot of things."
That optimism continued unabated Saturday despite a disappointing three days of the draft.
"Great thing about a bad day is that you can thank God for the opportunity to wake up the next with a smile on your face," he wrote in another Twitter post.
Nonetheless, Herzlich isn't content to allow the football angle of his inspirational story to end with his comeback for the Eagles.
"Let's all prove to the world that we can beat the odds," he tweeted. "And come out on top."
ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss contributed to this report.