He was smart enough to get into Harvard. He was good enough to play at Alabama. Now he's a New York Giant. Throughout the season, rookie defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson will check in with Giants.com and provide an inside look at his journey of making it to the NFL. In this post, the second-round draft pick talks about the build-up to the Cowboys game.
Right now, it's just like a dream come true. I'm just looking forward to this opportunity, to this game. I'm just going to keep preparing so I can play the best I can. Just looking back a year ago, my life has changed a lot in that time. Being at Alabama was an amazing experience and now I'm playing in the NFL. I always dreamed of this moment, and now it's here. It's crazy.
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I went down last week to Atlanta to see my old 'Bama coaches and teammates take on Florida State. We won, but it was a little bit weird for me. Just being on the sideline and not going out there when a certain defense was called or things like that, it was weird. It was good to see my old coaches, though. They were excited for me. They said they're hearing I'm doing a good job up here and they told me just to keep grinding.
When I got back up here, it was go time. It's getting more serious now that a real game week is here. It's getting more amped up. I'm just taking it one day at a time.
I know I'm ready because of the way I go in and prepare each and every day in the meeting room. Just like every other defensive lineman, we have to go in there with the mindset to get better each and every day. And even if that day is just a jog-through, we have to get better. That's the mindset we have.
There will still be a lot of nerves, though. I always get butterflies, even in the preseason. I remember my first game at Alabama, there were a lot of nerves, but I just went out there and had fun. Everything else took care of itself.
And the Cowboys' stadium won't be anything new for me. I played at AT&T Stadium against Wisconsin, USC, and Michigan State in the College Football Playoff. So I know the stadium well, and we won all of those games. I know all about the big video screen.
Don't forget to follow the second-round pick on Twitter [@DalvinTomlinson.
](https://twitter.com/DalvinTomlinson)
