Notre Dame is hoping a handful of players are selected in this spring’s NFL Draft while a smaller group have an outside shot at hearing their names called by a professional organization. This year’s Draft takes place in Las Vegas as the Raiders stadium beginning on April 18th.

The NFL Combine was just completed in Indianapolis this past weekend and now we’ll dig into some scouting reports for the Fighting Irish.

Today, we’ll look at the fringe prospects unlikely to be picked.

OG Cain Madden
6-2 1/2, 310

Coming into last season Notre Dame fans were excited to welcome Madden from Marshall as an All-American-level guard. At the first media viewing of practice he was behind the veteran backup John Dirksen although that competition was quickly put to bed with Madden securing 1st-team reps at right guard. The initial reaction to Madden’s performance in practice wasn’t great but didn’t foreshadow the immense struggles that would occur early in 2021.

Madden did pick himself up and improve after a slow start, no doubt. Still, it was a very bumpy last season in college for him and arguably he torpedoed his stock in the NFL by coming to Notre Dame.

Was he ever really a NFL prospect? With his size I’m not sure it was a reality as he looks closer to 6-0 than his listed height. The move to South Bend should’ve been a moment to flourish for Madden and instead he left with a ton of questions about his size and ability to move in space. He’s also quite old, having completed his 6th season in college in 2021.

Prediction: Camp invite

LB Isaiah Pryor
6-1 1/2, 217

Ohio State didn’t seem to be awfully bothered when Pryor transferred to Notre Dame. In retrospect, it made sense. Pryor made a minimal impact in 2020 working primarily at safety before moving into a more comfortable linebacker role at Rover for 2021. To be fair, his stats are pretty solid in his final season in college: 42 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1 sack.

What role could he play in the NFL? Pryor’s biggest strength was playing aggressively down-hill and he flashes good burst and straight line speed. Anything that isn’t down-hill you wonder if he’ll be able to keep up at the next level. I don’t think he’s twitchy or athletic enough to remain at outside linebacker when the NFL guys at those positions are now among the freakiest athletes on the planet.

However, Pryor strikes me as someone who could offer a lot of special teams value and backup linebacker potential. It wouldn’t shock me if in a few years he’s put on weight and is playing inside linebacker with mostly a special teams role for an organization.

Prediction: Camp invite

LB Drew White
6-0 1/4, 228

I’ll never forget how we heard virtually nothing of Drew White’s progress in the program as a true freshman and into his redshirt freshman season, then due to injuries he was suddenly starting against Navy on October 27, 2018. It was a brief glimpse of White’s abilities but then he saw only minor action the next week against Northwestern and that was it. We were left thinking, “Wait, is this guy any good or not?”

Three full seasons later, we can say White had a good career for the Irish finishing with 199 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, and 5 sacks. Those numbers seem a little surprising (especially the TFL number!) but we have to factor in that White was asked to do a lot from the Mike linebacker position and was put in a role to make a ton of plays.

His ability to make those plays was pretty hit and miss. Overall, there’s probably some sort of future in football for him if he can stay healthy. He’s got some good wheels as a blitzer, can move in space well, and was a big leader for Notre Dame. At his size I doubt many teams are looking for a draft pick but White should get plenty of phone calls to sign a deal somewhere.

Prediction: Undrafted Free agent

PK Jonathan Doerer
6-3, 197

Doerer made the first 20 out of his 24 field goal attempts at Notre Dame, good for a 83.3% success rate. He finished his career making 29 out of his last 42 attempts for a 69.0% success rate. If you ever felt like his career kind of regressed there are the numbers to back up that assumption.

Doerer has the size that the NFL likes and he was able to flash a fairly strong leg on longer field goals over his career. Still, I’m not sure he would be described as having a very strong leg and kickoffs especially always seemed to be a lot more of an issue pushing the ball through the end zone for touchbacks.

He’s also not the smoothest kicker out there, can be slow to the ball, and has struggled with accuracy even when he was making field goals. There’s nothing more competitive in the NFL than field goal kicking, this one is an up-hill battle.

Prediction: Camp invite