Due to the NFL's plan to alienate everyone who enjoyed rolling out of bed hungover at noon on Saturday to see the first pick of the draft, they've bumped it back until 3:00 in the afternoon.  To counter that unneeded delay (they want the first round to reach primetime and get that cash), they are mercifully cutting the amount of allotted time in the first round down to ten minutes.  The previously allowed fifteen minutes per pick was absurd, and while I understand teams need that time to try and maneuver their way up and down, it was one of the most dragged out affairs in sports.

Last year we saw some Notre Dame-related drama as Brady Quinn tumbled out of his presumed top ten position into the twenties thanks to the Worst Draft Pick Ever Of Any Kind by the Miami Dolphins, who took Ted Ginn, Jr., a punt returner and sometimes wide receiver, because Cam Cameron loves the Ginn family.  (That was actually his argument.  If Brady ends up being a top-notch NFL quarterback - which could go either way, who knows at this point - that really might be the actual Worst Draft Pick Ever of Any Kind.)  Quinn handled himself with class in an extremely tough situation, but made the mistake of holding out into training camp, which put him in the position behind Derek Anderson that he remains in today.

This year's draft doesn't have any sure-fire first round picks coming from the Irish.  I know what you're thinking: After a 3-9 season, how aren't our upperclassmen all NFL prospects?  But apparently NFL teams just don't "get it," so we'll be looking forward to the late first round and early second round to hear the names called of the following:

Trevor Laws, DT The heart and soul of the team last year, and a guy that would have made a lot of award lists if not for the fact the team was so abysmally awful everyone stopped watching after the Michigan game.  He would usually take on two or three blockers and still end up chasing the quarterback around, and his tackle total was absolutely absurd for a defensive lineman.  I've mostly seen him going in the second round, but our SBN Mock Draft had the Jacksonville Jaguars snagging him with the 26th overall pick.  If Laws ended up in Jacksonville, reunited with Derek Landri, that would provide a jersey combo for every pair of Irish fans. For more on Laws, check out his great site.

John Carlson, TE I don't think I've seen Carlson falling out of the second round in any of the drafts, but he hasn't been creeping into the first round in many either thanks to a bad 40-time.  After all, nothing is more important to how you'll transition to the professional level than how fast you run in shorts while a bunch of guys stand around with stopwatches.  I've read in a few places (Monday's Chicago Tribune for one) that Carlson is a great blocker, but that's simply not true.  He's a capable blocker, but in no way is he dominant in the running game.  Instead, you're getting a guy capable of really spectacular catches (see his 2006 highlight reel for proof) who would have won the Mackey Award that season if not for a late season injury.  If you're in need of a tight end, you could do far worse than adding Carlson to the ranks.  SBN's own mock draft has Carlson going 55th to the Seahawks.

Tom Zbikowski, S Really interesting proposition for a team when taking Zibby: he could be a really, really good special teams player in the NFL, but I'm not sure how he would translate to actually playing safety.  The success of Chinedum Ndukwe after leaving the Notre Dame secondary's "system" should give teams some hope, but the fact of the matter is that Zibby was not really a great safety.  He did a lot of other things well - return punts, box - but was woefully out of position so many times on deep passes with a tendency to go for the spectacular tackle instead of just wrapping up on run support.  I've seen him floating around in the third or fourth round, but I think it's somewhat of a gamble for NFL teams, despite the massive rewards awaiting the franchise that can craft this killer athlete into the player he could potentially be.

Joe Brockington, LB Did you just do a double take?  I don't think many people thought Brockington would have his name called by a NFL team this weekend, but in Todd McShay's latest full mock draft at ESPN, there he is at 235 going in the waning moments of the 7th round.