Marcell Dareus says he avoids televised sports. No highlights and no commentary, unless roommate Jerrell Harris makes him, but Dareus has steadfastly avoided early NFL draft hype.
“I don’t focus on that,” Dareus said. “I’m worried about this last game, focusing and getting a ‘W.’ I don’t look at the rankings. I don’t look at the big boards. Nothing like that.”
Dareus is one of several Alabama juniors facing NFL-related decisions.
After the Crimson Tide plays Michigan State in the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl, its third-year players have two weeks to decide whether to declare for the NFL draft. The deadline for those decisions is Jan. 15.
“We try not to too much care about or talk too much about trying to leave early,” linebacker Dont’a Hightower said. “There’s a couple guys that’s in that position now. Right now, I feel like we’re all focused on the bowl game.”
Dareus, a defensive lineman, is the highest-projected pick of Alabama’s underclassmen and could go in the Top 10 in the April draft.
Receiver Julio Jones is next amongst the Tide’s juniors. Running back Mark Ingram, safety Mark Barron and Hightower are possibilities, too. None has publicly announced a decision.
“Not yet,” Ingram said. “My main focus now is preparing ourselves to play a great bowl game and finish the season strong and get a 10-win season. After the bowl game, I’ll sit down with Coach (Nick Saban) and my family, and we’ll make a decision.”
A simmering labor showdown between the NFL players union and owners could complicate those decisions.
The looming lockout -- which could start early enough to shut down spring mini-camps -- will affect the advice he gives the players, Saban said.
Saban said he usually tells a potential first-rounder that he should leave early. He did advise Kareem Jackson to stay, only for Jackson to be taken in the first round.
“With the unknowns this year, I’ve kind of reduced that to guys that are a top-15 pick or that they don’t have a chance to move up in the future,” Saban said. “With the labor situation and the strike coming up, it really could affect how much a guy can develop this year.
“If there’s no mini-camp, if there’s no training camp, it will be much more difficult for guys to learn the system and make an impact. At the end of the day, it really comes down to what’s in a player’s heart.”
Saban said he and his coaching staff have talked to NFL scouts about Alabama’s underclassmen. He and the staff have also spoken with the players and their families. He declined to specify what he had advised.
“Coach Saban came in there and talked to me and told me what was there on the table and everything else, but that’s as far as it went,” Jones said.
Alabama senior quarterback Greg McElroy, who has close ties to professional football and has hopes of one day running a team, said he doesn’t think the labor showdown will last long. McElroy’s dad works for the Dallas Cowboys.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players expires March 4.
“When it comes down to it, we all need to realize that the players just don’t have as much bargaining power,” McElroy said. “They’re not as set financially as the owners, so they don’t have as much leverage.”
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