George Iloka read the reports — including Pro Football Weekly’s — that rated him the third-best safety in the draft.

He was happy with his Combine performance, which was one of the best among the safeties, and felt like he could hear his name early on Friday, certainly by the end of the day when Round Three wrapped up.

There was no call.

“I was definitely disappointed,” Iloka said from his home in Texas. “I kept watching in disbelief.”

Instead, Iloka watched several names roll off the board after the top-two consensus safeties, Mark Barron and Harrison Smith, were picked in Round One.

First, Tavon Wilson (who?) in Round Two to the Patriots. Then LSU’s Brandon Taylor and Oregon State’s Brandon Hardin, six picks apart, in the middle of Round Three. That was it for Thursday. On Friday, four more went, and wait until you hear where they were from: Christian Thompson, South Carolina State (!); Jerron McMillian, Maine (!!), Matt Johnson, Eastern Washington (!!!); and Corey White, Samford (!!!!).

Uh, yes, that’s Samford, home of the fighting Bulldogs in Birmingham, Ala.

“It stung a little bit, seeing names I had not heard of go before me,” Iloka said.

God bless the FCS, but Iloka started 45 games at Boise State, which, if you have not been tuning in, was the national party crasher in recent years, with a 49-3 mark the past four seasons. Iloka played in all of those and did pretty well, too. He totaled 232 tackles and seven interceptions and has rare size for the position at 6-foot-3 and 225.

The Bengals clearly saw something in him. They took him in Round Five, ending the slide, and adding to their cadre of tall safeties with Taylor Mays (6-3), Robert Sands (6-4) and Jeromy Miles (6-2). Iloka feels he should have gone higher, but he’s happy he went to Cincinnati to play for Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer, two excellent defensive coaches.