The NFL Scouting Combine commences this week, and the event nicknamed the “shirts and shorts Olympics” is of great interest to Notre Dame football fans everywhere. There’s obviously the speculation surrounding quarterback DeShone Kizer, who might really be the first QB off the boards (we cover him in detail at this link).
In addition to Kizer, Defensive linemen Jarron Jones and Isaac Rochell, along with running back Tarean Folston and linebacker James Onwualu are in the NFL Draft conversation.
NFL Network Analyst and resident draftnik Mike Mayock did his well known pre-combine media conference call on Monday, and it was as every bit as glorious as we hoped it would be. No matter what you think of his TV punditry during the draft (and we’ve all made fun of something that he’s said on air on some time or another), you must admit that he really has acumen when it comes to this stuff.
His pre-draft media call will no doubt be stellar as well.
The NFL Draft comes to his hometown of Philadelphia this year, and we included some of his insights from the media call where and when appropriate in our 2017 NFL mock draft update this week.
Mayock on the four non-Kizer Notre Dame football players–
On Jarron Jones:
“It’s an interesting conversation with Jones and Rochell. If Jones played every week like he did against Miami, he’d be in a completely different conversation than the reality he faces now. You know, he was dominant against Miami. He showed length and power and quickness and everything. He dominated that game, but you don’t see the consistency of his effort and production, which is going to hurt them.”
On Isaac Rochell:
“So then people look at Isaac Rochell, and they don’t see quite as much talent, but they see a guy that comes to work every day, he’s banging and working, and not as long, he’s 6’3″, 280. So I think Rochell’s going to be a base 4-3 end. He probably goes on the third day, fourth or fifth round. I think Jones is looked at more as a 3-4 defensive end, which is called a five technique. And I think his talent warrants him going higher. But he probably doesn’t go to the third, fourth, fifth round either.”
On James Onwualu:
“I really like Onwualu. He doesn’t have as much talent as maybe you want, but you want to talk about a hard-working, tough kid. Assignment sound, knows what he’s doing. Onwualu is going to be late draftable or a free agent, but he’s going to play for special teams and he’s not going to make any mistakes mentally.”
On Tarean Folston:
“kind of interesting to me. I don’t think he’s going to get drafted. But when he first got to Notre Dame, I thought he had natural runability. I thought he had a good feel for the run game. In his workouts, he’s got to run well and catch the football even better.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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