Notre Dame Fans Look Forward To Big NFL Draft Weekend

By Joshua Vowles | Apr 28, 2016

Notre Dame Fans are eager to find out where their favorite players end up in the NFL.

One of the biggest and most ridiculous weekends in the sport of football is now upon us (mostly because the NFL saw the money and took a great two day event and dragged it out to a four day festival). Yes, the NFL Draft is here and yes, I think it is just like National Signing Day for its equal parts of importance and insanity. The one glaring difference is that players don’t always end up where they want. You could say that the best players don’t end up on the best teams- but that has been proven wrong time and time again by most top 20 draft picks.

For college football fans, the NFL Draft usually turns out to be nothing more than a chance for bragging rights while simultaneously hoping their favorite NFL team grabs that insanely athletic linebacker from Big Rival U.

It can be a fun time. It can also be quite frustrating, if a fan gets too invested in how the draft unfolds (images of Brady Quinn’s NFL Draft experience immediately come to mind).

More from nfl draft

Notre Dame fans have a lot to pay attention to in this NFL Draft. After sending a school record number of players to the NFL Combine, the Notre Dame contingent has a chance to have 8-9 players selected in the draft. The Irish had just one player selected in last year’s draft in Ben Koyack- and that didn’t happen until the 7th round. The year before, however, Notre Dame had eight players selected including five in the first ninety picks.

The storylines are complicated this year. While Notre Dame will have at least one first rounder in Ronnie Stanley, we await the fate of Will Fuller and his chances of getting his name called on Thursday night. The biggest story however, has to do with what is the best player from Notre Dame and arguably the best player in the draft in Jaylon Smith… when healthy.

I’m sure Notre Dame fans will be glued to the report, rumors, and results concerning Jaylon Smith, but they will also be watching where CJ Prosise goes, who gets Sheldon Day, and who takes a chance on Elijah Shumate as well as many other storylines.

While pro bowl nominations and hall of fame inductees is probably the best way to judge what kind of talent Notre Dame is sending to the NFL, the NFL Draft is a fluid measuring stick as to how Notre Dame is doing on the recruiting trail and on the practice field. It’s not a perfect set of data points, but it also serves as its own recruiting pitch for possible prospects.

We eagerly await the results, and throw caution to the wind.