[EmpireWF]

Over at the Great Blue North Report (a tremendous site for info on the NFL Draft), they're coverage of this weeks NCAA Game of the Week brings us to the Trojans and Irish. They give a detailed report of how the game could impact the draft as there are plenty of NFL-caliber players on both teams.

Here's a look at some of Notre Dame's potential NFL players:

"...Notre Dame has only had 3 players taken in the opening round in the past dozen years and hasn’t had a player taken in the top 10 since 1994. That will change this coming April, though as QB Brady Quinn (6-4, 235) is the consensus choice to be the first player off the board this spring. And Quinn could be joined in the opening round by rangy, go-to WR Jeff Samardzija (6-5, 215), while veteran OT Ryan Harris (6-5, 290), DE Victor Abiamiri (6-4, 260) and safety Tom Zbitkowski (5-11, 210) should rate late first or early second round consideration. In fact, this is a very experienced Irish team which also includes WR Rhema McKnight (6-1, 210), who has come back nicely from a serious leg injury suffered last season, veteran interior offensive linemen Bob Morton (6-3, 295), Dan Santucci (6-3, 295) and C John Sullivan (6-3, 300); disruptive, albeit undersized DT Derek Landri (6-3, 270), FS Chinedum Ndukwe (6-1, 220) and CB Mike Richardson (5-10, 195)."

[Lefty Noob]

Everybody knows Quinn's due to be a top 5 draft pick, and probably the first QB off the board in April. The guy I think will really surprise a lot of people and excel at the next level is Abiamiri. On the other hand, I'm not sure there's a more overrated player in college football, in my opinion anyway, than Zbitkowski. He is constantly out of position in coverage schemes and his tackling technique is pitiful.

[domer747]

At the beginning of the year, Mel Kiper said ND would probably end up having 5-6 guys end up in the first round. I think that probably holds water for 4-5 of them. I still think Brady Quinn will go number one, but if a team needs offense, could there be a better move than if the top team traded up to get both Quinn and Samarjdzia? Chemistry and talent, that would be a great addition to an offense.