Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME DaVaris Daniels By Dan Murphy NFL Draft weekend should be quieter a year from now. Only six regular contributors will ex- haust their eligibility in 2014 and none of them will be projected in the first or second rounds this fall. Several others could leave school a year early, and among that group wide receiver DaVa- ris Daniels would be the first on my draft board heading into the season. Daniels' semester away from South Bend could be the proverbial kick in the pants he needed to fulfill the game-breaker poten- tial Irish coaches have talked about since his ar- rival. It also leaves him as healthy as he has been since redshirting as a freshman. The table is set for Daniels to have a big season in 2014. Brian Kelly's offenses have found a go-to receiver each season at Notre Dame. Daniels is next in line if he's up to the task. He also has his partner Everett Golson back under center this season. The classmates showed an obvious chemistry during the second half of the 2012 season; Daniels made 13 catches for 201 yards in the last two games he played with Golson. Last year, Daniels never seemed to get in sync with senior quarterback Tommy Rees. Daniels has the NFL pedigree (his father, Phillip, played in the league for 15 years) that looks good on a draft day résumé. If he can post the stats to match, he may find himself among the top wide receivers on many "big boards" next year. KeiVarae Russell By Andrew Owens As Dan mentioned, Notre Dame's 2015 NFL Draft class is somewhat of a mystery heading into the 2014 season. The potential is there for wide receiver DaVa- ris Daniels and defensive end Ishaq Williams, whom people have been hailing as a future first-round pick for years. Although Williams, who underwent a posi- tion change this offseason, has not seen his career pan out yet, the talent is there and scouts value nothing more than talent. The most intriguing 2015 NFL Draft candidate on the current roster, however, is cornerback KeiVarae Russell. The coaching staff molded the Everett, Wash., native into a cornerback shortly after his arrival on campus in 2012 due to a depth concerns that were later made more extreme by a season-ending injury to Lo Wood. Russell started all 13 games and helped the Irish reach the BCS National Championship Game. At the national championship media day, then-de- fensive coordinator Bob Diaco touted Russell as the future No. 1 cornerback in college football. As a rising junior, Russell still has a lot of work to do to achieve that claim, but it no longer seems so far-fetched. He has displayed the skills as a shutdown cor- ner that NFL executives desire so much. In new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder's system the confident cornerback should also be able to force more takeaways to boast the total package as a player worthy of a first- or second-round pick. If that happens, he will be an easy choice as Notre Dame's first player taken off the board. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHO WILL BE THE FIRST NOTRE DAME PLAYER PICKED IN THE 2015 DRAFT? Click here to listen to the complete discussion. ▼ DANIELS RUSSELL