NFL Draft: Juniors Make Running Back a Strong Position

Need a running back? There will be plenty to go around in this year's draft.

After Oregon's Jonathan Smith and West Virginia's Steve Slaton announced in the past few days that they are giving up their final season of eligibility to enter the NFL, the list of draft-eligible rushers includes as many as seven guys who could be picked in the first two rounds.

And that doesn't include Arkansas' Darren McFadden, whose draft eligibility is in question after his father denied submitting the required paperwork to the NFL. The deadline is Tuesday, so McFadden's status will be known by then.

If McFadden has decided to forgo his final year at Arkansas, he would immediately become the top back in the draft. He is considered a top-five pick, if not the No. 1 player.

Overall, it is a talented group of runners, with Stewart and seniors Rashard Mendenhall (Illinois) and Chris Johnson (East Carolina) also considered potential first-round picks. Also in the group are Slaton, Texas junior Jamaal Charles, Michigan senior Mike Hart and Rutgers junior Ray Rice.

McFadden was the Heisman Trophy runner-up the past two years after rushing for more than 1,600 yards each season. He ran for 1,830 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2007 and had a school-record 4,590 rushing yards in 30 games over three seasons.

Stewart set Oregon records with rushing 1,722 yards, 2,481 all-purpose yards and nine 100-yard games in 2007. He had a school-record 14 100-yard rushing games in his career.

Slaton set a West Virginia record with 1,733 rushing yards in 2006, then ran for 1,051 yards in 2007 and tied his career best with 17 touchdowns.

Slaton said the NFL draft advisory committee projected him as a second-round pick.

"Some guys think I'm a step slow," Slaton told reporters. "So I have to show at the combine that I'm not. It's a good decision for me now because I'm a versatile back. As versatile as any back. I can play running back, wide receiver, kick returner. This was hard for me, but it's my time now to go."

That's what eight backs (if the McFadden report is true) decided, which pumps up a position that otherwise would have been pretty weak. In addition to McFadden, Stewart, Mendenhall, Charles, the other junior backs to declare are Clemson's James Davis and Central Florida's Kevin Smith.

Those six juniors make RB one of the deepest positions in the upcoming draft, so any team in need of a rusher now knows there will be plenty of options.