Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS "The key now for Notre Dame and Brian Kelly is to build on this," Wright said. "You've got the ball rolling, and you can take this to recruits and say: 'Look, here's what we do. We just sent eight guys to the pros this year alone. Do you want to be next?' "You see it happen with a lot of pro‑ grams, but the key is to do it year af‑ ter year like Alabama and USC at one point. We'll see if they can continue that. Certainly it's a huge positive sign for the program having that many guys drafted." Defensive back coach Kerry Cooks posted a not‑so‑subtle brag on his Twit‑ ter account when he tweeted, "ND x 8, we can get cha there" with a screenshot of an ESPN.com headline: "No Long‑ horns drafted for first time since '37." It's momentum the program needs to carry into the season, even if next year 's draft class is not projected to come close to the monster 2014 haul. For too long, Notre Dame had fallen off the radar of NFL relevance. The eight selections this year were the most in 20 years. In former Irish head coach Charlie Weis' final three years at the helm, a total of nine players were drafted. Twice in the previous five years, just one Notre Dame player 's name was called. At his National Signing Day press conference last February, Kelly com‑ plained about the trend of underclass‑ men declaring for the NFL Draft. This year, three Irish players — tight end Troy Niklas, defensive linemen Ste‑ phon Tuitt and running back George Atkinson III — passed up their senior seasons to go pro, but none of the de‑ cisions stung more than the surprising departure of Niklas. "When we were having this oppor‑ tunity to recruit a young man, they had to have a passion for wanting to get a degree from Notre Dame and winning a national championship," Kelly said. "If they want to come here just to hang their hat to play football and go to the NFL … we passed on some pretty good players, because I don't want guys to come here and not finish their degree. "I want guys to come to Notre Dame, get their degree, help us win a national championship and be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. That's what I want, if that's what they want." Ideally, players will stay in school for four years, but that's not com‑ pletely realistic in 2014. It's difficult to blame Niklas for grabbing the money now when it's a sure thing. While he could have moved up the draft board by staying in school another year, the money would not have been that much different. Players leaving early did have one benefit. Notre Dame was in the same sentence as LSU and Alabama (the other schools with the most draftees, with nine and eight, respectively), and that hasn't happened lately. If the Irish can continue to pump out NFL talent, it means Kelly and his staff are doing something right in South Bend. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com