Notre Dame's Ian Williams and Armando Allen's Combine Results

A recap of the Notre Dame performers at the combine:

Ian Williams: Williams completd 31 reps on the bench press, good for sixth among defensive linemen.  Although not particularly relevant for defensive tackles, Williams ran a 5.21 40, which the big guy vowed to improve upon at Notre Dame's Pro Day.  He also sat down with the Dallas Cowboys and appeared to have a very good meeting.  Williams is a smart guy, and has turned the continual upheaval in defensive coaching staff during his time in South Bend to his advantage:

Williams said it was tough playing at Notre Dame because he had three different line coaches and defensive coordinators. Yet he also feels the multiple systems he played in makes him versatile.            

Williams will get another chance to impress on April 7th at the Notre Dame Pro Day.

Armando Allen: Allen only did the bench press, notching 23 reps of 225.  That was good for 12^th among the 37 running backs who partook in the drills.  Allen is still recovering from his November 4^th hip surgery and will run the 40 with the rest of his teammates at the pro day.

Kyle Rudolph: The presumptive first tight end off the board had a frustrating time in Indy watching everyone else gets measured, tested and prodded.  Rudolph, still recovering from his hamstring injury, thinks he should be ready to go in another five weeks:

"I'm about 75 to 80 percent but I feel great and I expect to do everything at my pro day," Rudolph said Friday. "Right after I had my surgery in October I wasn't sure, but as things went along and as I progressed, this is something that I'll make a complete recovery from and knowing that, it's not a factor anymore and I'm just moving forward."

The leg seems to be healing up rather well, as noted in this story from February 20^th:

Kyle Rudolph's celebratory bellow last Monday cut through the commotion at Velocity Sports Performance. His lead strength coach, Ken Vick, looked over, and Rudolph raised one finger on one hand and four on the other: He'd reached 14 mph on a self-propelled treadmill.

Rudolph then signaled that he distributed weight evenly between both legs, and he smiled a goofy smile. Seventeen weeks after hamstring surgery, and just two weeks before the NFL scouting combine, it was the fastest the former Notre Dame tight end had moved. For Rudolph, everything was in balance.

So the lesson to take from all of this is that April 7 is a big day for the prospective NFL draft picks, as scouts from across the league visit South Bend.  A few other fun non-Irish stories from the Combine:

• Greg McElroy is too smart for the NFL.  In a story that recalls one of the problems NFL teams had with Myron Rolle, NFL coaches are so insecure that they're threatened by someone as intelligent as McElroy in the locker room.  A lockout couldn't happen to a better league.
• Julio Jones ran a 4.39 40.  This is pretty remarkable, because he is 6'4" and 220 pounds.  What makes it even more ridiculous is that he did that on a broken foot, which he's going to have surgery to repair.  SEC teams must be very, very happy that he and A.J. Green have moved on.
• Stephen Paea is really strong.

Watch NFL Scouting Combine Feb 24 - Mar 1