Deadline Moved For Underclassmen

[liebo84]

February 7
(12:01 AM): New draft deadline set; appeals in works...In the wake of a fedetal judge's ruling earlier this week which granted Ohio State sophomore RB maurice Clarett to enter the 2004 draft upon deciding that the NFL's rule mandating that players must be out of high school three years before being eligible to apply for entry to the draft, the NFL has set a deadline of March 1st for other first and second-year university underclassmen, as well as high school players to apply for the 2004 draft if they want to be considered this year. As well, any of these players who want to be participate in the combines In Indianapolis that begin on February 18th must apply by February 15th to receive consideration for a special invitation to the combines. Underclassmen who were previously eligible to apply for this year's draft by the January deadline, however, are excluded this time around. Meanwhile its still not written in stone that Clarett, or any other player previously ineligible to enter this year's draft will ultimately get their shot at pro football this year. The NFL has reportedly notified the federal judge that ruled in Clarett's case that the league will be filing papers on Tuesday to request a stay of the decision. The judge has already scheduled a hearing on Wednesday to review the case and the request for the stay could be duiscussed at that point. Failing that, the NFL is also expected to ask for a stay at the appelate level, altough a full appeal will likely be resolved too late to impact this year's draft.