GREEN BAY -- Kregg Lumpkin, Taj Smith, Danny Lansanaha, Joe Porter and Jake Allen spent part of Saturday afternoon playing cards at their hotel, trying to take their minds off their football futures on the NFL's annual final cutdown day.

Of the five, only Lumpkin was holding a winning hand.

The undrafted free agent running back from Georgia was the only one to make the Green Bay Packers' 53-man roster, joining starter Ryan Grant and backup Brandon Jackson in the backfield after veterans Noah Herron and Vernand Morency were among 19 players released.

"Oh, man, it's a dream come true," said Lumpkin, who finished the preseason as the Packers' leading rusher (38 carries, 153 yards, 4.0-yard average, one touchdown) while adding seven receptions for 59 yards and another TD. "Bouncing through all the trials and tribulations and continuing to fight and work hard for what I wanted to accomplish, it's exciting."

After his promising college career at Georgia was derailed by injury, the odds that Lumpkin, who came out of Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain, Ga., ranked as the No. 2 prep running back in the country, would make it in the NFL appeared remote.

But every day, he quietly and consistently performed in practice, and despite a key fumble late in the Packers' preseason-opening loss to Cincinnati, he outplayed his competition.

In the Packers' 23-21 preseason-ending loss Thursday night to the Tennessee Titans, Lumpkin rushed for 27 yards on 10 carries behind shoddy blocking but caught a team-high four passes for 33 yards.

"He runs physical. He continues to improve. He breaks tackles. He's a better player when he gets past the line of scrimmage than I originally thought," coach Mike McCarthy said after the game. "(As) he gets more comfortable, you see the physicality of his play has increased. I thought he did some good things."

After watching his four card-playing friends go to Lambeau Field to turn in their playbooks, Lumpkin wondered if he was next as the 5 p.m. cutdown deadline loomed.

"All I could do is sit by my phone and wait," Lumpkin said.

When it finally rang, it was running backs coach Edgar Bennett with the good news.

"He told me Congratulations,' and at that moment, I was all smiles," Lumpkin said.

For Lumpkin, though, being the feel-good story of camp only means something if he does something with the opportunity.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "I just have to continue to work hard and try to expand my game and my knowledge of the NFL and try to help the Packers to a championship."