Notre Dame's Jansen, Brockington, and Travis Thomas Sign as Undrafted Free Agents

• Snapper JJ Jansen has signed with the Green Bay Packers. A multi-year "starter," JJ definitely got his share of playing time with the punting unit last year, and yet he only had one or two bad snaps. That's definitely worth a look


• Joe Brockington, thought by some to be a potential seventh rounder, signed with the Bills. Good for Brockington. This is a guy who was never a starter coming into the season, but year after year played his way into the starting lineup.


• Travis Thomas signed with the Browns. Thomas will get some looks in the NFL as a special teamer, but perhaps not with the Browns. Safety Nick Sorensen is their special teams ace, returner Joshua Cribbs led the Browns in special teams tackles last year, and Ryan Pontbriand is the long snapper. That's three roster spots for guys who (more or less) only play on special teams and aren't kickers. Cleveland does need some depth at running back, but I don't know if Travis is the answer.


• Geoff Price has yet to sign with anyone, but a guy with a powerful leg like that will surely be in someone's training camp.


• Ambrose Wooden also is yet to join a team. Several ND defensive backs (Vontez Duff, Quentin Burrell to name a few) have found a good home in the Arena Football league and afl2, where they can occasionally play both ways. I wonder if that's something Wooden would consider.


• Finally, I noted yesterday that Trevor Laws joins Victor Abiamiri on the Eagles. Philadelphia also recently picked up Rocky Boiman, now a 7-year NFL veteran.

Trevor Laws' Official Website

I just added a new site to the Notre Dame section of the links sidebar. A site, as Dave says, dedicated to one of the baddest men on the planet - Trevor Laws.

It's a great site, full of all kinds of stuff, including a blog, media links, and even a store for game-worn memorabilia.

Plus, you're reading this post just as the NFL combine is getting started. Laws, John Carlson, John Sullivan, and Tom Zbikowski were all on the invite list for the combine.

Trevor-Laws.com

Notre Dame Senior Bowl Recap

As I mentioned last week, Tom Zbikowski, Trevor Laws, John Sullivan, and John Carlson were selected to play in this year's Senior Bowl. Unfortunately, per Blue Gray Sky, Carlson was unable to play due to illness.

Also unfortunate is the fact that I wasn't able to see the game, so this recap comes completely from the stat sheet (PDF). Zbikowski started for the North, and recorded five tackles, good for fourth best on the team. He also recovered a fumble.

But to Notre Dame followers, the Senior Bowl was finally Trevor Laws' moment in the sun. Coming off the bench, Laws recorded six tackles, good for third on the team behind big names Dan Conner and Xavier Adibi. Laws also had a sack, and ran a fumble recovery back 6 yards. Laws played hard all year during a difficult season, and got little attention for it. But his performance during the Senior Bowl, and during the week of practice leading up to it, should raise his draft stock considerably.

UPDATE: Michael Rothstein of Irish Insights adds that Laws was named Most Outstanding Lineman and Zbikowski had a 38-yard kickoff return which was named Long Distance Play of the Game.

UPDATE #2: NFL.com's highlight video has a clip of Laws' fumble recovery and run.