According to a John Walters tweet he apparently has a reliable source who has informed him that Michael Floyd will declare for the NFL Draft. Bummer.
Floyd right now is projected to be a 2nd to 3rd draft pick. His college career was spectacular when he was healthy. The problem was he could never stay on the field for a whole season. Personally I think he should have stayed for his senior season. Unlike teammate Kyle Rudolph who is projected to be the first tight end taken in the draft most "experts" don't even have Floyd in their top 5 for college receivers (AJ Green, Julio Jones, Justin Blackmon, Jonathan Baldwin, Torrey Smith are the consensus). I'm obviously bias but I think Floyd is right up there with top 3 but I wouldn't put him in the AJ Green class of receivers.
Losing Floyd to the NFL early is a tremendous loss for the Fighting Irish. There is nobody on their roster who can replace his size, strength, and #1 receiver ability. Theo Riddick and TJ Jones are going to be good ones at ND but they are more #2 receivers. Also Rudolph was easy to replace for ND since Tyler Eifert stepped up in his absence and was more than adequate. Somebody will have to step up to replace Floyd's production and honestly I don't see anybody currently on the roster. But then again I never though much of Jeff Samardzija till his junior season so who knows if guys like John Goodman, Daniel Smith, or Bennett Jackson have that capability of being a go-to receiver.
Anyway you look at it losing Floyd to the NFL sucks. I wish him luck but I can't help but think he would have been better off staying another season and developing his game while putting his name in the Notre Dame record books and also improving his NFL stock by being the #1 guy in the 2012 draft. This has the Justin Tuck feeling. Fuck.
UPDATE: According to this report head coach Brian Kelly will get one last chance to convince Floyd to stay another season with a face-to-face meeting. Sounds like a Hail Mary that ND Nation hopes Kelly nails.
