Besides Brady... | by Jay

Overlooked among TV appearances and EAS endorsements and throwing footballs in the streets are the other guys who might get called up to the podium this weekend. In fact, along with Brady, ND's got an outside chance to place more guys in the NFL draft since the '94 draft. We had 10 in '94, and the most since then has been 7 in '99 and '03.

(A little trivia. Since '94, we've had two years where we had just one guy drafted. What were the years, and who were the players? Answers, and a complete rundown of Notre Dame players in the NFL draft are here.)

As for this year's Irish hopefuls, Blue & Gold has some nice capsules, with some handicapping from Scott Wright of NFL Countdown. Hansen in the SBT has got some quotes from Frank Coyle of Draft Insiders. And UHND put out a good rundown of draft prospects for this year (way back in Spring of '06! Fun to read.)

Right now this seems to be the consensus:

sure-fire draftees:
Quinn - 1st round
Abiamiri - late 1st, early 2nd
Harris - 3rd or 4th
Walker - 3rd or 4th
McKnight - 4th or 5th
Santucci - 4th or 5th
Landri - 6th or 7th

on the bubble:
Ndukwe
Richardson
Frome

As for the Brady Quinn odds, here's what the BGS Sports Book & Casino is showing:

BRADY QUINN IN THE 2007 NFL DRAFT
---------------------------------
Cleveland        3/2
Oakland          6/1
Tampa Bay       12/1
Miami           12/1
Detroit         15/1
Minnesota       25/1
Carolina        50/1
Chicago        100/1