NFL Combine Preview: Ian Williams Looks to Make a Splash

This Thursday marks the beginning of the 2011 NFL combine, the annual meat market held in Indianapolis prior to every draft.  A bunch of twenty something men in various states of undress will be poked, prodded, interviewed and tested in a myriad of ways to see where they'll go in April.  While it might seem silly to outsiders, a few tenths of a second on a sprint or two more reps in the weight room could mean the difference of tens of thousands of dollars when it comes to draft position and rookie contract.

Three Notre Dame players received invitations to Combine back in January: nose guard Ian Williams, running back Armando Allen and tight end Kyle Rudolph.  Defensive back Darrin Walls was also selected as an alternate.  Here's a rundown of what each can hope to achieve in Indianapolis.

Ian Williams - After missing the last month of the regular season, Williams has been attempting to make up for lost time, and it appears he's been doing a rather good job of it.  He was a force in Notre Dame's Sun Bowl victory over Miami, then went on to attend the Senior Bowl.  At the Senior Bowl weigh-in, he was described as a "fireplug who is thick and solid with bubble butt."  After putting that awkwardness behind him, Williams went out and played extremely well in the game, notching five tackles and a sack.

With a strong performance in Indianapolis that shows off his mix of strength and agility, some think that Ian might be able to work his way all the way up into the second or third round.  While he's undersized to play nose tackle at the professional level, he could easily contribute to an NFL team as an active interior lineman in a 4-3 defense.  Williams was a four-year starter who improved over his time, and it would be great to see him get a chance to continue to shine on Sundays.

If you're interested in following Ian's journey to the draft, he's doing a diary for the South Bend Tribune.  Some enjoyable excerpts from the end of his initial entry:

My senior year under coach (Brian) Kelly helped me so much. He expected a lot from us, to be a leader on and off the field. And I think that helped me mature over the season.

And going forward, I'm just looking to be a great player, a great person and to be an example for guys who are freshmen, juniors, seniors now.

I like Notre Dame's recruiting class with all the defensive linemen in it. Every year you see the teams in the national championship, they have a great D-line. It comes along with being good.

I actually had the luxury of being able to meet a lot of the guys who came in for the junior days and some of the senior visits. I actually hung out with Ishaq (Williams), and I was able to kind of recruit him and get him, so I'm kind of proud for that.

And I just wish I could go back for another four years and be under Coach Kelly, because I can only imagine what he's going to do with this class and future classes.    

Kyle Rudolph ­- As he continues to recover from the hamstring injury that ended his season, Rudolph will not be participating in the physical activities at the combine.  Instead, NFL teams will have to wait for Notre Dame's pro day to see the Irish early entrant in action on the field.  Rudolph is considered by everyone to be the number one tight end on the board, yet it's hard to find a mock draft that has him going in the first round.

Why is that?  Well, if you play fantasy football, you'll remember that there were plenty of quality tight ends to go around, even with Dallas Clark and Jermichael Finley going down.  Heck, two of Rudolph's Irish predecessors at the position are holding down starting spots in Miami (Anthony Fasano) and Seattle (John Carlson).  The Patriots went out and got two stud tight ends in last year's draft and didn't have to spend a first round pick to do it.  The one team that intrigues me as a possible first round destination for Rudy at the bottom of the first round is Atlanta, who could look to get the great Tony Gonzalez's replacement in place.  Rudolph could help the chances of this happening by showing that the hamstring is healed at Notre Dame's pro day.  There is a very recent precedent for this, as the Bengals made Jermaine Gresham a first round pick last year after he missed far more of the 2009 season with injury than Rudolph did in 2010.

Armando Allen ­- Allen also missed the last third of the regular season with injury, ceding his touches - of which there were many over his four year career - to Cierre Wood, Robert Hughes and Jonas Gray.  Allen has a lot of work to do to get his way onto an NFL roster, with two main issues potentially holding him back.

The first is his durability.  While few college players were as versatile as Allen, he missed time due to injury during his last two seasons.  (He also missed part of his high school career due to injury,)  When he announced that Allen had undergone season-ending surgery, Brian Kelly said that the doctors had found more damage than they initially were looking for:

"[Allen] had only one of the hips repaired," Kelly said during his only meeting with reporters during the Irish's bye week. "He's going to have to have another one. There was a lot of things in there that showed that maybe this was an injury he's had for many, many years."

This may tie into solving the other issue with Armando Allen, which is a seeming lack of breakaway speed.  Whether it was shoddy downfield blocking or just a lack of escapability, Allen's long run during his career in South Bend was only 31 yards.  (He did have a 41-yard reception his sophomore year.)  If the surgery went well, it is possible Allen will find his forty time dropping.  When you consider his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, pick up blitzers and make an impact in the return game, Allen could be a contributor on an NFL team.  He just has to prove that he's healthy first.

* Watch NFL Scouting Combine Feb 24 - Mar 1