Which Schools Got Love or Left Behind by 2010 NFL Prospects?

When a school has a prized junior scooping up headlines and airtime talk and ink, then each coach and fan-base start the inevitable dreading in December that they could lose them to the NFL draft.

Most coaches do what they can to hang on to players that are projected to go lower than a sure first round pick, but most have no trouble with a consensus first round pick leaving early.

By the time a young man has gotten to his junior year of college, it usually represents a minimum of nine to ten years of work. That's a lot of dues that have been paid, and who can blame them for saying enough is enough.

So who was shown the love?

Penn State tailback Evan Royster showed JoePa the love as he bypassed this year's NFL draft to return.

Also the University of Washington's QB was projected as a sure first round choice, but Jake Locker has decided to return for his senior year as well.

Ohio State was really shown the love as Ross Homan, Chimdi Chekwa  and fellow junior Cameron Heyward all decided to return after much NFL interest. They cited that the desire to put Ohio State back on top and return an absolute killer defense was their main reason for staying.

North Carolina brings back a total of six junior starters and Arkansas also made news when Ryan Mallet decided to forgo the draft along with fellow junior, tight end D.J. Williams.

Sure there are lots of others, but each must fret what could happen. Look at the case of Sam Bradford who would have been a first round draft choice last year and now is heavily questioned after being injured his senior season.

As for the ones that were left, Florida led the list, and can only cause speculation over Urban Meyer's announcements.  Florida has a total of five players who left early including Carlos Dunlap and Joe Haden.

Georgia Tech also loses a few quality players such as 1000-plus rusher Jonathan Dwyer, defensive back Derrick Morgan and pass catcher Demaryus Thomas.

The USC Trojans had several that bailed out along with their coach Pete Carroll to the NFL. Running backs Joe McKnight and Stafon Johnson ran toward the cash along with defensive end Everson Griffen and top receiver Damien Williams.

Other schools with key hits were Georgia, Oklahoma and the University of South Florida.

The official list from the NFL of early departing seniors to be is:

2010 NFL Draft early entrants
Player	Position	College
Kevin Basped	DE	Nevada
Arrelious Benn	WR	Illinois
Eric Berry	DB	Tennessee
Jahvid Best	RB	California
Navorro Bowman	LB	Penn State
Sam Bradford	QB	Oklahoma
Dezmon Briscoe	WR	Kansas
Antonio Brown	WR	Central Michigan
Dez Bryant	WR	Oklahoma State
Bryan Bulaga	OT	Iowa
Morgan Burnett	DB	Georgia Tech
Bruce Campbell	OT	Maryland
Jimmy Clausen	QB	Notre Dame
Rennie Curran	LB	Georgia
Anthony Davis	T	Rutgers
Carlos Dunlap	DE	Florida
Jonathan Dwyer	RB	Georgia Tech
Dominique Franks	DB	Oklahoma
Clifton Geathers	DE	South Carolina
Thaddeus Gibson	DE	Ohio State
Jermaine Gresham	TE	Oklahoma
Everson Griffen	DE	Southern California
Rob Gronkowski	TE	Arizona
Joe Haden	DB	Florida
Aaron Hernandez	TE	Florida
Kareem Jackson	DB	Alabama
Chad Jones	DB	Louisiana State
Reshad Jones	DB	Georgia
Linval Joseph	DT	East Carolina
Darius Marshall	RB	Marshall
Ryan Mathews	RB	Fresno State
Rolando McClain	LB	Alabama
Gerald McCoy	DT	Oklahoma
Joe McKnight	RB	Southern California
Shawnbrey McNeal	RB	Southern Methodist
Carlton Mitchell	WR	South Florida
Joshua Moore	DB	Kansas State
Derrick Morgan	DE	Georgia Tech
Jerell Norton	DB	Arkansas
Jason Pierre-Paul	DE	South Florida
Maurkice Pouncey	C	Florida
Brian Price	DT	UCLA
Dennis Rogan	DB	Tennessee
Jevan Snead	QB	Mississippi
Amari Spievey	DB	Iowa
Golden Tate	WR	Notre Dame
Demaryius Thomas	WR	Georgia Tech
Earl Thomas	DB	Texas
Donovan Warren	DB	Michigan
Damian Williams	WR	Southern California
Mike Williams	WR	Syracuse
Jason Worilds	DE	Virginia Tech
Major Wright	DB	Florida