Brown leaves for NFL after bowl win

UConn football concluded its 2008 campaign with a 38-20 International Bowl victory over Buffalo that coach Randy Edsall called "very interesting to say the least."

The Huskies overcame five lost fumbles in the first half behind the play of junior tailback Donald Brown, who amassed 209 yards on the ground in the opening 30 minutes and finished the game with a career-high 261 rushing yards.

Following the game, Brown, who two weeks prior said he would return for his senior season, announced just the opposite when posed with a question about his decision to come back.

"You might as well tell them now, Donny," Edsall said.

"I'm not going to be returning [to UConn] next year," Brown said. "I'm going to pursue the NFL."

Brown, the second player in UConn's history to leave school early for the NFL (the first was reserve running back Cornell Brockington in 2006), rushed for a nation-leading 2,083 yards and 18 touchdowns this past season. His magnificent 2008 season was the No. 11 single-season rushing performance in Division I-A history, trailing the likes of Barry Sanders, LaDainian Tomlinson, Ricky Williams and Larry Johnson, all perennial All-Pros in the NFL.

ESPN draft expert Todd McShay ranks Brown as the No. 4 running back available in the 2008 NFL Draft, behind Georgia's Knowshon Moreno, Ohio State's Chris "Beanie" Wells and Pittsburgh's LeSean McCoy.

NFLDraftscout.com projects that Brown will come off the board between the early second round and late third round.

Wherever Brown lands, Edsall is confident that he'll make an instant impact.

"I told him I'll be his biggest fan as he moves forward," Edsall said. "I love the kid to death, and I know he's going to be very successful. Whoever is the team out there that will draft him, and take him, he's going to make that team better."

While Brown has received all of the headlines, he's not the only UConn player likely to hear his name called in April's NFL Draft.

Offensive tackle William Beatty, projected as the No. 26 overall selection in a mock draft on WalterFootball.com, may be selected ahead of Brown.

The 6-foot-6, 290-pound senior is rated as the No. 5 tackle in the entire draft by NFLDraftScout.com and is projected to go anywhere from the middle of the first round to the middle of the second round.

In addition, senior cornerback Darius Butler and senior defensive end Cody Brown are likely to have NFL futures as well.

Butler was once rated as the No. 12 prospect in the draft by ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. before spraining his left knee on Nov. 2 versus West Virginia. Butler has since dropped on the draft boards, but could increase his stock significantly with a strong NFL Draft combine performance. Butler was personally recruited by former Dallas Cowboys star cornerback Deion Sanders to participate in "Prime U," Deion Sanders' pre-draft training "school" for potential draftees. He is projected as a second- or third-round pick, according to NFLDraftScout.com

Defensive end Cody Brown, who projects as a 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL, is rated as the No. 9 outside linebacker available. NFLDraftScout.com projects Brown, who led the Big East with 10.5 sacks, as a third-round selection.

UConn currently has five players in the NFL (Tyvon Branch, Danny Lansanah, Donald Thomas, Dan Orlovsky and Alfred Fincher), but that number could double after the 2009 draft.