Norm's advice: Stay in school

This just in, a few Iowa juniors are going to have decisions to make at the end of this season on whether or not to turn pro.

Basically, Iowa has the Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech on Jan. 5 and then offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga, defensive end Adrian Clayborn and defensive back Amari Spievey have 10 days to decide on the NFL draft. The deadline for underclassmen to declare is Jan. 15. Players can declare and not hire an agent, but football isn't like basketball in that regard. The combine and draft collide with spring practice and basically force the players' hands.

Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker didn't name names Wednesday when he was asked if he thought Clayborn and Spievey were ready for the NFL, but the only way to interpret his passionate response was "stay in school."

"In my humble opinion?" Parker asked. "I think any of you guys who write that these guys are going to the NFL don't know what you're talking about.

"It's to their advantage to be a year bigger and stronger and faster and more mature. There's a great deal of difference between high school and college, and college and pro. And if you get there too early, you'll get eaten alive.

"Too many guys listen to too many agents and guys that think ‘Oh you're going to be this or that.' The only guys that will decide where they're selected are the professional teams. Those are the only guys who decide where they get drafted and when. It has nothing to do with what (ESPN draft expert) Mel Kiper says or the New York Times or anything else. It's what does that football team say."

Clayborn said after the Minnesota game that he didn't want to discuss the NFL. Spievey hasn't commented on the issue.

"I think before any of those guys think about turning pro, they'd better get with the football teams and the people that know and find out exactly where they would be drafted," Parker said. "Not what some guy says or what some agent tells you, because he's trying to get a dollar out of your pocket. They tell these guys all kinds of things, like they can get you drafted; they can't do a damned thing for them. No way.

"When we recruit, we're going to talk to the high school coach, to this guy or that guy, but we're going to recruit the guy we want. We're not going to get talked into by so and so said this. We want to see it on film and those guys do the same thing.

"There are a lot of guys out there that try to do it too early and they get lost in the shuffle. There are very few guys that can come out as juniors and make it. The guys that can do it are usually the skill guys. Percy Harvin (Minnnesota Vikings wide receiver from Florida) or someone like that. But those guys, where it takes strength and power and learned things, it's hard to do.

"It's hard to do. I think they better find out exactly where they are going to be drafted before they venture out in the deep water. That water is not only deep, it's cold."

The only way to interpret that is "stay in school."

Offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe didn't talk about Bulaga's NFL prospects -- before being named to several all-American teams this week, Bulaga has said nothing has been decided -- but he did say the information Iowa's juniors will get from head coach Kirk Ferentz would accurate and without bias.

With Ferentz's blessing, tight end Dallas Clark and running back Shonn Greene left Iowa with a year of eligibility remaining. In 2002, offensive tackle Robert Gallery decided to stay in school and improved his draft status to No. 2 overall.

"There are less than a handful of coaches in the country who have the ability to get the correct information for people and to give them good guidance," O'Keefe said. "Kirk's not selfish. He's proven that in the past. He's got a lot of friends who are GMs and head coaches. He can give our guys a lot of good advice.

"I would suggest that they listen and it's hard to do. There are a lot of people talking to you. These guys have the best resource there is, as far as I'm concerned, in college football.

"A guy (Ferentz) who has all the information, has professional knowledge of the league himself and has you (the players) first and foremost in mind. I don't know how you could go wrong listening to what Kirk has to tell them."