Nine former Notre Dame players were invited to the NFL scouting combine, including all three players who declared for the draft early.
TJ Jones, Zack Martin, Chris Watt, Louis Nix, Prince Shembo and Bennett Jackson will be in Indianapolis for the Feb. 22-25 event, along with underclassmen George Atkinson III, Troy Niklas and Stephon Tuitt.
Notable former Irish players to be left off the list are Tommy Rees and Carlo Calabrese, along with Dan Fox, who spoke of the snub to CSNChicago earlier in the week, saying he plans to use it as motivation.
It will be interesting to see how a number of these players fare, and if they can seriously affect their stock either way. We all remember Manti Te'o's 40-time being a source of much questioning last year.
The intrigue this year will likely be among the early departures. Tuitt will more than likely be the first of the trio drafted, but he has already seen his name fall out of the first round of Mel Kiper Jr.'s mock draft. The jumps by Niklas and Atkinson were more surprising, but given the former's strength and the latter's speed, they could turn out to be combine stars.
