Former ND safety trying to be noticed at combine

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Notre Dame's David Bruton

Notre Dame safety David Bruton celebrates a Notre Dame interception during first-quarter action with Stanford in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Feb 22, 2009 at 11:16 PM EST

Story Updated: Feb 22, 2009 at 11:16 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Unlike some departing Notre Dame football players in recent years, David Bruton feels he's leaving the program in good hands.

The former Irish safety, who's competing at the annual NFL Scouting Combine, said it won't be long before Notre Dame is once again a perennial college football powerhouse.

After suffering through a number of disappointing seasons this decade, the Irish return most of their players from last year's team that finished 7-6 and won the program's first bowl game in 15 years, a 49-21 victory over Hawaii in December.

Notre Dame also has one of the nation's top recruiting classes coming in.

"Things look like they're pointing up," Bruton said at the combine. "A lot of the guys are younger classmen and they've gotten a year under their belt. There's a lot of talent there."

Bruton doesn't believe some of the criticism surrounding Irish coach Charlie Weis has been fair. There was talk that Weis should be fired after last season.

"Sooner or later, everything is going to mesh well and work out," Bruton said. "It's going to depend on the team chemistry, the team buying into what he has to say."

Now that his college career is over, Bruton is focused on his own future. The 6-foot-2, 219-pounder is projected to be a middle-round pick in April's NFL draft.

But he's hoping a strong performance at the combine can elevate his stock.

"I've heard fourth (round), but I feel like I can go higher," he said. "I'm not going to say where I deserve to be, it's up to the decision-makers of each team. I could either go up or down, and I'm going to do everything I can to go up."

Bruton, who played free safety at Notre Dame last year and finished with 97 tackles and four interceptions, is willing to do whatever is necessary to make an NFL roster.

"Free safety, strong safety, I'll go down and play nickel if I have to," he said. "If special teams is the route I have to take, it's the route I'm willing to take. ... I feel like I'm an intelligent enough player to be able to play multiple positions."

While Bruton is a likely draft selection, the same can't be said for Indianapolis native Donald Washington, a cornerback from Ohio State. Washington left college after his junior season and declared for the NFL draft, despite being projected as a middle or late-round pick.

The former Franklin Central High School standout, who also is participating at the combine, defended his decision to leave Ohio State.

"Really, I just wanted to take my game to the next level and compete against the best," he said. "In the end, I made the best decision for me and my family."

Washington said NFL teams haven't been making a big deal about his two-game suspension last season for violating an Ohio State team rule.

"I made a bad decision, it cost me playing time," he said. "I learned from it, turned it into a positive and moved on."

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