You can bet that both players and their families are also talking with Charlie Weis about their draft status.
The "wrinkle" this year is the negotiation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NFL and NFLPA. College underclassmen (Juniors and redshirt Sophomores) must declare for the NFL Draft by the second week of January and it's expected that the CBA will not be settled at that point.
It appears very likely that there will be a "lockout" this year -- delaying the start of the NFL season and impacting the "incomes" of the NFL players -- as the CBA is negotiated. College players, thinking about coming out early, will have to determine if they want to risk the chance that there could be a prolonged delay to the start of the NFL season or even no season at all. (the latter is highly unlikely)
You'll recall that twelve months ago -- the impending NFL/NFLPA CBA negotiation was one of the motivating factors for a number of underclassmen to declare early last year. One of the issues on the negotiation table, is the pay scale for rookies. It was widely assumed that the 2010 NFL Draft would be the "last time" NFL teams would pay out large sums of money to rookies in their first NFL contract. Thus, players like Clausen and Tate had even more reason to believe leaving early last year was the right thing to do. The college underclassmen this year have much different circumstances to assess.
The good news is we will know one way or another by January 15th -- as to whether we'll have #3 and #9 back in gold helmets next season. The bad news is the ND GO IRISH BLOG predicts -- they both will enter the 2011 NFL Draft.
Here's some links to what's being said about Floyd and Rudolph's NFL Draft status along with a look back at Jimmy Clausen's evaluation process last year:
LINK: KYLE RUDOLPH -- DRAFT STORY
LINK: MICHAEL FLOYD -- DRAFT STORY
LINK: SCOUT INC'S TOP 32 FOR 2011 NFL DRAFT
LINK: JIMMY CLAUSEN'S DRAFT EVALUATION
