| INDIANAPOLIS — Compared
to all the high-profile draft prospects on display 24 hours earlier, the interview room at
the Indianapolis Convention Center was as quiet as a church on Sunday, when the focus was
on linebackers, defensive backs and tight ends. Draftniks en masse agree that the
pickings are slim at all three of these positions.
On Saturday, when the draft’s top QB, WR and DL prospects were the featured
attraction, members of the national media got to rub shoulders with 17 blue-chippers
projected as first-rounders in PFW draft expert Joel Buchsbaum’s most recent mock
draft.
On Sunday, just five projected No. 1 picks were scheduled for interview sessions —
CBs Nate Clements (Ohio State), Jamar Fletcher (Wisconsin) and Fred Smoot
(Mississippi State); LB Dan Morgan (Miami-Fla.); and TE Todd Heap.
Of the five, only Morgan appears to be a definite first-round pick. While Morgan
clearly attracted more attention than any player at any position (see PFW senior editor Jeff Agrest’s Monday column), there were plenty of
players present who experts feel might make their mark in the NFL.
One of the more optimistic along those lines is Arkansas’ Quenton Caver,
who is the second-ranked outside linebacker available for this year’s draft,
according to Buchsbaum.
"I study game tape like people eat food," said Caver, whose stock rose after
a solid performance at the Senior Bowl. "I’ll spend 2-3 hours a day studying. My
position coach at Arkansas (Bobby Allen) has encouraged me to be a real student of the
game.
"If I have a problem, I guess it’s my pad level and that I tend to play a
little too high (upright). But I’m working on that all the time."
Both Clements and Fletcher, ranked 1-2 respectively at the CB position by Buchsbaum,
opted to forgo their senior seasons.
Clements says he has no regrets. "I felt the opportunity was there, and that I
needed to take advantage of it," the Shaker Heights, Ohio, native said. "If I
had played another year, I might have gotten injured. You never know. It had nothing to do
with the coaching changes at Ohio State. I just sat down with my family, and after a long
discussion, we came to the conclusion that going pro was in my best interests."
Like many of the top players at the Combine, Clements is skipping all the workouts in
Indy with the intention of displaying his wares down the road in a personal workout (March
9 at Ohio State). But unlike most of those players, his decision was not based on the fact
he wanted to perform in more comfortable surroundings.
"I had the flu," said Clements, who played in the same Ohio State secondary
as NFL DBs Antoine Winfield and Ahmed Plummer. "I was going to try and do the bench
press, but I was just too weak. I’ll be ready on March 9."
Workout rumblings
Following in the footsteps of Michael Bennett and Travis Henry, who
cranked out impressive 40-times in Saturday workouts, a host of running backs are
reportedly making scouts take note with surprisingly fast times on an RCA Dome surface
that has always been considered slower than most. Texas Christian’s LaDainian
Tomlinson continued to separate himself in the eyes of many scouts from injury-prone Deuce
McAllister with a sub-4.4 time.
It wasn’t just running backs raising eyebrows with their 40-times. Gargantuan
Texas OT Leonard Davis, who said he was "going to put on a show," zipped
out a 5.2 40, which isn’t too shabby for a man weighing 370 pounds.
Despite not feeling 100 percent, Arizona State S Adam Archuleta, who is making
the transition from being a linebacker in college, set a new record at his position with
31 reps in the 225-pound bench press.
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