The other BC players: draft buzz

First, it was Anthony Castonzo. Yesterday, we looked at Mark Herzlich. Today, we will see what the media is saying about our other five Boston College football players who have declared for the NFL Draft. They are Alex Albright (DE), Thomas Claiborne (G), Wes Davis (S)*, Deleon Gause (CB), and Rich Lapham (T).

(*-Davis is listed by ESPN.com as being in the draft, but following his neck injury in October, he ended his playing career. He is not a candidate.)

Those who read Soaring to Glory know that I have not been high on any of these players getting drafted into the NFL. Indeed, it is likely that Castonzo and Herzlich will be the only two Eagles who have their names called at Radio City.

There has, however, been some recent buzz around a few of the other guys who Boston College is putting forth. For example, for the first time in my scans of the mock drafts (and I’ll remind you all again that there will most certainly be a final mock draft update next week, perhaps with some projections of my own), Alex Albright has come up. In it, Albright was taken in the seventh round by the Buffalo Bills.

That was Albright’s only mention that I could find. There is a lot more out there about his teammate, guard Thomas Claiborne, however, than I thought there would be. The Sun Sentinel out of Fort Lauderdale has Claiborne as the “runner-up” for the Miami Dolphins’ sixth-round pick. One of the writers who participated in the article described his ability to move the pile as “underrated,” which means at least someone has taken notice. Unfortunately, that same article pans tackle Rich Lapham, saying that he “always seemed to struggle” on the other side of likely first-rounder Anthony Castonzo. We do know, however, that the Patriots have given Lapham a workout and appear to have at least some interest in his services. The fact that he is the nephew of former NFL player Dave Lapham might not help, but it probably doesn’t hurt, either.

Back to Claiborne: more than just two beat writers in south Florida, in fact, have taken a look at him. Two separate articles on SportingNews (here and here) have had Claiborne as a possibility on the third and final day of the draft. One mock draft has him going to Steve Spagnuolo’s Rams, while the other article gives him a chance to be a sleeper pick of Lovie Smith’s Bears.

Given the unfortunate circumstances which surrounded the end of Wes Davis’ Boston College playing career, and ultimately his football career, he will obviously not be drafted. It would appear that Deleon Gause, another Eagle with an injury last season, is mostly off the radar as well, though there was word from earlier in April that he attended a Miami Dolphins workout session for local draft prospects.

While it seems a longshot for any of these former BC players to get NFL draft picks, given the buzz around some of them in the media as we draw closer, it is not entirely out of the question that one or two may get picked. I think the possibility that one of them may be selected, remote or not, should make the final day of the draft mildly interesting viewing for Eagles fans.