Project See-Ya.  Aaron Maybin is, in fact, leaving for the NFL.

Aaron Maybin, a graduate of Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City, Md., will return to his high school on Tuesday afternoon to give a motivational speech and declare for the NFL at that time, his father told The Patriot-News on Monday.

Because first he was, and then he maybe-might not, but now he is.  We are obviously in full "good luck and godspeed" mode for Aaron and all the departing players, but I can't help but second guess his projection as a top five pick.  I hope he is, of course, and will be looking forward to the draft.

This Sleeping Lion Is In The NFL Draft.  Derrick Williams had a solid senior season and will look attractive in the draft because of his versatility.

"What's going to help Derrick is the invention of the wildcat formation in the NFL," Steuber said [NFL draft analyst for scout.com].

Steuber slots DWheels as a second to third rounder.

We Are Not Normal, We Are All-Stars.  Everyone's favorite motivational speaker Deon Butler is also dreaming big, going from walk on to what Steuber (link above) projects as a "late-round pick or priority free agent".

He will have a chance to make one last impression before the draft:

Penn State wide receiver Deon Butler [is]...on the 50-man East roster for the 84th East-West Shrine Game, to be played at 4 p.m. Saturday in Houston.

The game will be televised on ESPN2.

A.Q. Shipley was also invited, but passed in favor of attending the Rimington Trophy dinner, also on Saturday, to receive his award as the nation's top center.  Steuber projects A.Q. as a third to fifth round pick.

Ru-Ro.  One thing that seemed grossly under-reported after the Rose Bowl were the injuries to Penn State's top two running backs.  The early reports for both Green and Royster were apparently nothing to lose sleep over.  Well, now there is this:

The initial diagnosis appeared to be a good one for the redshirt freshman -- a sprained right ankle.

Upon further review, however, the damage reportedly turned out to be much more serious. According to a program source, tests conducted when Green returned to the East Coast revealed he sustained broken bones in his right ankle and lower right leg.

He is scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday morning to assist in the healing of the breaks and is expected to be out of action for up to three months.

So this probably rules him out for spring ball, which is a major disappointment.

In scores of other games.  The Rose Bowl rating were up 5% compared to last year, the Granddaddy was (by far) the second highest rated game of the bowl season, behind only the championship game.

[photo credit: daylife]