Random early-afternoon notes:

… Offensive linemen took the stage in the last hour: Notre Dame’s Ryan Harris, Texas’ Justin Blalock, Auburn’s Ben Grubbs and USC’s Ryan Kalil, among others …

… Former Cowboys scouting director Gil Brandt — the crown prince of the Combine’s rise as a media event — introduced Kalil as “the next Tom Nalen.” Sounds good, but let’s just say I’d like to see Kalil play a decade at a Pro Bowl level as the common thread among 11 1,000-yard individual rushing seasons before I proclaim him on the same level as Denver’s No. 66 …

… UC-Davis’ Elliot Vallejo has arguably the most fascinating story among those with whom we’ve talked so far today; he spends time putting together trucks, dreams of working on a racing crew that runs in Baja circuits and he transferred from UCLA to UC-Davis for reasons that had nothing to do with football, but because he wanted to pursue a material engineering degree …

… Former Broncos assistant general manager Rick Smith, now with the Texans, could not answer any questions about Denver quarterback Jake Plummer, saying only that he was the quarterback of the Broncos …

… The largest crowd of the day so far was for Ohio State wide receiver Ted Ginn, Jr., who will not work out here in Indianapolis but has mostly recovered from the injury he suffered just after scoring on the opening kickoff of the national-championship game on Jan. 8 …

… Another large crowd surrounds Central Michigan offensive tackle Joe Staley, who became one of the standouts of Senior Bowl week last month after a rough opening practice.

More to come later as players continue to stream into the room.

Tags: 2007 Draft, 2007 Scouting Combine

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