Nine Notre Dame Players Invited To 2020 NFL Combine
One year after sending eight players to the 2019 NFL Combine on the strength of a College Football Playoff appearance, Notre Dame topped it with nine invites this year.
The 2020 NFL Combine will be held at Indianapolis from Sunday Feb. 23 through Monday, March 2, and is comprised of interviews with NFL teams, medical exams and testing in numerous drills, including the 40-yard dash, shuttle, vertical jump, 225-pound bench press reps, and even the wonderlich exam, which challenges mental skills.
Among the 337 players invited, the nine from Notre Dame represented the sixth most, behind reigning national champion LSU’s 16, Michigan and Ohio State with 11 apiece, and Alabama and Georgia with 10 each.
The nine have four from offense and five on defense:
Receivers Chase Claypool & Chris Finke
Running back Tony Jones Jr.
Tight End Cole Kmet
Defensive ends Khalid Kareem & Julian Okwara
Safeties Jalen Elliott & Alohi Gilman
Cornerback Troy Pride Jr.
Kmet, who turned pro after his junior season, is projected as one of the top two or three tight ends in the draft — a main reason for leaving early — and likely the highest pick from the Fighting Irish in 2020.
Claypool and Pride both excelled at the Senior Bowl practices and enhanced their stock. Claypool could be selected in the first three rounds, maybe even eclipse the third-round selection of 2015-18 Fighting Irish wideout Miles Boykin last year.
With his speed, Pride might surpass the fifth-round selection of former Notre Dame cornerback and consensus All-American Julian Love last season.
Kareem and Okwara likewise could crack the top three rounds, but it will be a longer road for Okwara, who is recovering from a broken fibula in the Nov. 9 victory at Duke. Individual workouts will be especially important for him.
Elliott and Gilman are projected in the fourth-to-seventh-round categories, while Jones and Finke are perceived more as free-agent possibilities.
One surprising omission was Buck linebacker Asmar Bilal, whose 83.4 run-grade defense by Pro Football Focus in 2019 was the best among Irish defenders, and whose overall 80.4 mark was eclipsed among the defensive starters only by Kareem. Bilal finished third in tackles (79) and tackles for loss (10).
Another senior, defensive end, Jamir Jones, thrived after co-starters Daelin Hayes and Okwara were sidelined. He finished with 26 stops, 6.5 tackles for loss (4.5 sacks) and accepted an invitation to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which was held Jan. 18 at the Rose Bowl.
The 2020 NFL Draft will be held April 23-25 in Las Vegas.
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