LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Ending two weeks of speculation, the Los Angeles Rams today selected Cal quarterback Jared Goff with the first pick of the NFL draft. Rams officials had been tight-lipped about their plans for the number- one pick since they acquired it in an April 14 trade with the Tennessee Titans. The team was guaranteed to select a quarterback, with the only question being whether it would be Goff or North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, who wound up being chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles with the draft’s second pick.

The Rams, who had 10 minutes to make a selection once the draft was declared open shortly after 5 p.m., stretched the suspense by waiting about seven minutes before submitting the team’s pick, which was then announced in Chicago by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “It’s exciting. It’s an exciting time for the whole organization,” Goff said. “I’m very proud to be the pick they chose. It’s a very big honor and something, you know, like I said, I’m gonna prove them right and let them know they made the right decision.”

Asked about his first thoughts when he heard his name called, Goff said it was “how honored and excited I am to really get down there and get to work.” “It’s been a long process. It’s been a long four months or so, and for it to be finally come to a close now, and I’m ready to take that next step into a professional football career and work as hard as I can to be as successful as I can,” he said. Goff said the biggest adjustment he will have to make in the NFL will be getting used to the speed of the professional game. “The speed’s always that much faster,” Goff said. “I made the transition from high school to college pretty seamlessly and kind of expect to do the same thing. Goff set 26 school records in his three seasons with Cal, including passing yards (12,220), passing yards per game (329.7), touchdown passes (96), completions (977), passes (1,569) and total offense (12,086 yards).

Goff started all 37 games possible during his college career and is the only quarterback in school history in to start his first game as a true freshman. The 21-year-old Goff is listed at 6 feet 4 inches tall and 215 pounds. Six recruiting services listed him as a four-star recruit out of Marin Catholic High School — one short of the maximum — while one gave him three stars. Goff and the team’s other picks in the draft, which continues through Saturday, and the players bypassed in the draft they sign as free agents, will participate in the team’s three-day rookie mini-camp which begins May 6 at the Residence Inn River Ridge in Oxnard.