Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IRISH IN THE PROS BY ANDREW OWENS L ast year, Notre Dame sent nine former play- ers to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis for tests o n e v e r y t h i n g f ro m skills and strength to mental aptitude. In mid-February, the Irish sent only three: tight end Ben Koyack, k i c k e r / p u n t e r K y l e Brindza and wide re- ceiver DaVaris Daniels. H e a d c o a c h B r i a n Kelly's program has now sent 20 players the past four years. That to- tal ranks fifth in the na- tion behind only Florida State (34), Alabama (33), LSU (30) and Florida (27). While Notre Dame did not make the national splash it did at the event last year, it was still an eventful weekend for the trio of players hop- ing to impress 32 NFL organizations. "This is a little bit of the calm before the s t o r m , " D r a f t C o u n t - down.com analyst Scott Wright said. "I think they have some pretty talented kids [on the 2015 squad]. This will be a very ordinary year in comparison to last year and maybe next year." The following is a look at the three participants with their NFL Combine numbers. DAVARIS DANIELS Height: 6-1 Weight: 201 pounds Arm length: 31¼ inches Hands: 9 inches 40 time: 4.62 B e n c h p re s s re ps o f 2 2 5 pounds: 13 Vertical jump: 37 inches Standing broad jump: 122 inches 2013 stats (did not play in 2014): 49 receptions for 745 yards and seven touchdowns While Daniels disappointed in the 40-yard dash with a 4.62-sec- ond showing, the most notewor- thy part of his weekend came in interviews — both behind closed doors with NFL executives and with the media. After missing the 2014 spring semester due to an academic sus- pension and then the 2014 sea- son last fall due to the academic investigation that engulfed five Irish athletes, Daniels had plenty of explaining to do for front of- fices. While he declined to get into specifics on the investigation or his involvement with the media, he said he does not hold any ill feelings toward the university. "I know what I can do," Daniels told The Chicago Tribune. "People haven't seen me in a while. Even getting the story out there — get- ting them the details of what ac- tually went down, everything — just the details of it, which I can tell them. I'm not really going to release it to anybody. "It's some things a lot of peo- ple would never understand. I pretty much just break it down for them and give them that in- sight, and I think it's going well. … I always wanted to go back to Notre Dame. Unfortunately, some things happened that it wasn't a choice for me. This is what I'm choosing and this is what I'm go- ing to stick with." He indicated that he will partici- pate in Notre Dame's on-campus pro day on March 31. DraftCountdown.com analyst Scott Wright's take: "I think it's pretty easy to make an argument that Daniels is a draftable talent. When he's played, he has pro- duced. He's got good size. He's over 6-feet tall, 200 pounds. He didn't run blazing fast, but for Former Irish Players Prepare For NFL Draft