David Molk

Draft Day! Woo-hoo!  Time to make your predictions for where our beloved recently departed Wolverine heroes will be selected (round and team). Very unlikely any of our guys get selected in the first round tonight, but I figured might as well get the thread up now.

Here are my best guesses:

Mike Martin

I will be shocked if Hulk Smash lasts beyond the 3rd round -- there must be at least a handful of teams who've fallen in love with his motor and measurables (and a Greg Mattison thumbs-up) and who will be willing to spend a third-rounder on him. A lot of mocks have him going to the Bears at #79, which sounds plausible. I could also see Cincinnati taking him at 83 -- he'd be a good fit in Mike Zimmer's 4-3.  Saints at #89 is also a possibility. Denver at 87 or 108 (mid-4th round) could also use a 4-3 DT.

David Molk

Someone's going to get a steal with Molk, because he'll drop due to his size -- he'll only fit a zone-based running scheme, and he's not big enough to backup at guard in a pinch.

Tennessee runs a zone-blocking scheme and needs a center -- Molk's a good fit for them at #155 in the 5th round. Green Bay is also a great fit at #163 -- they signed Jeff Saturday to replace Scott Wells, but Saturday's 36 and he could groom Molk as his eventual replacement. The Colts could also pick him up at the end of the round (#170) to replace Saturday.

Junior Hemingway

His combine performance probably boosted him from a fringe late-round pick or UDFA into a mid-rounder. Still, this is a deep draft at WR, so I think Junior goes in the 5th at best, more likely the 6th -- New Orleans at #179 or Carolina at #180.

Ryan Van Bergen

RVB's probably a borderline 7th round/UDFA-type, but I can see a 3-4 team looking for depth at the 5-tech DE spot taking a flyer on him late in the 7th round -- perhaps Pittsburgh, which has a ton of picks at the end of that round. San Diego's also a possibility there at #250, or Arizona at #221.

Kevin Koger

I would've had Kevin Koger as a late (6-7th round) pick before the Achilles surgery.

Undrafted free agents who will at least get a shot at a camp:

Martavious Odoms

Troy Woolfolk

All right, have at it everyone.

Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel does a annual series of position-based draft previews by talking to NFL scouts and GMs (he seems to have pretty amazing contacts, in that he gets these guys to talk on and off the record about both draft prospects and Packer opponents every year). As with any draft preview stuff, take this with a grain of salt, teams trying to hide their intentions, etc., etc. 

Anyway, here's his summary for Molk. He has him as the #3 center after Peter Konz of Wisconsin and Ben Jones of Georgia, going in the 3-4 round area.

3. DAVID MOLK Michigan 6-1 299 5.05 3-4 Overcame a broken foot and torn ACL to start 41 games over four seasons. "He's a tough kid and probably as quick as any center off the snap that's in this draft for sure," Reiprish said. "I think he'll battle pretty well. He's got stout body strength. I don't know if a center can be too small." Rubbed some observers the wrong way after screaming about how much money he had just made after benching 41 times at the combine. "Different kind of guy," one scout said. "Very opinionated. He maybe rubs people the wrong way." Hails from Lemont, Ill. "He's a midget," another scout said. "You've got to love him. He's tough as hell, he really is. But he's also small. We took one like that a few years ago because of our idiot line coach."

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/draftcaps20-vn4vq5d-148210085.html

He's only done QBs and OL to this point. Will be interesting to see where he sees Martin going, and if Koger or Hemingway are even written up (they tend to be the top 5-10 prospects, depending on position)

Wanted to be clear, I don't know anything.  Wondering how Martin, Koger, and Molk did.

Didn't see this up here, and the title says it all, but a couple enjoyable tidbits from the ESPN/Ann Arbor News post:

In an interview with AnnArbor.com, the Rimington Trophy winner says it's "pretty stupid" to think any other center should be drafted ahead of him, including Wisconsin's Peter Konz and Ohio State's Mike Brewster.

Molk also doesn't believe that Ohio State's Brewster, a four-year starter and 2010 All-American, should be drafted higher than him.  "He is nowhere near me as a player," he said of Brewster.

Awesome.

Full interview at:

http://www.annarbor.com/sports/um-football/michigans-david-molk-believes...

ESPN's Wolverine Nation has continued its "Exit Interview" series with a phenomenal interview with David Molk.  The entire interview is great - if you're an ESPN Insider, check it out.

As you might expect, Molk came strong with it when describing his frustration with seeing how some veteran players handled the first coaching transition:

"That pissed me off.  It kills me.  That's why when this last coaching transition happened, right after the announcement that Rich was being fired, I stood up and said, 'No one is f---ing leaving.  You're staying here.  No one is transferring.  No one is moving.  No one is going anywhere.  You're staying on this team.  This is f---ing Michigan.  It doesn't matter who the coach is. We're Michigan. You're staying.'"

Between this year's football and basketball teams, I don't think anyone could imagine a stronger group of senior leaders.  Winning is always fun, but it carries extra meaning when you consider the journey our football and basketball seniors have gone through to bring these programs to their current levels.  Hail.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/43141/video-michigans-man-in-the-middle

You have to wait for the ad, but it's worth it.