"I was ecstatic," Tartt said. "I prayed to God to put me in the right spot, and he came through for me. I ended up on a team with my best friend."

Tartt, a safety, was a FCS All-American as a senior last fall. He finished his collegiate career with 277 tackles, six interceptions, 20 pass breakups and 6.5 tackles for loss.

Ward was one of the first people Tartt texted after the 49ers called and welcomed him to the organization. The two met as freshman in high school but became much closer friends in college.

"We competed every Saturday. We compared our stats," Tartt said. "We talked before the game like, 'I'm going to go out there do this today.' We just wanted to compete however we could. Just encouraging each other."

Although Ward always had aspirations of playing in the NFL, Tartt figured he'd play the sport in college so he could earn a degree and get a stable job after graduation. Tartt's major at Samford was in Geographic Information Systems.

His friend, however, encouraged him to pursue football as a career.