A CLOSER LOOK

With the NFL Draft set for 9 a.m. today, here are a few things to look for:

Quarterback trend continues

If the San Francisco 49ers select Utah’s Alex Smith or California’s Aaron Rodgers, they will become the fifth consecutive quarterback taken No. 1 overall.

But while many experts say the two quarterbacks are extremely close in ability, they do have a few things that set them apart.

Rodgers grew up a 49ers fan and even wears a Joe Montana T-shirt under his game jersey. He wore size 14 shoes … in the ninth grade. His friends called him “Feet.”

Cal coach Jeff Tedford found Rodgers playing at Butte Junior College while acting on a tip from former pupil Trent Dilfer. Thing was, Dilfer’s tip was about a tight end, not Rodgers.

Smith is the son of a high school principal in San Diego who once thought so much of his football ability that he suggested he run track and field. Smith also was a high school teammate of USC running back Reggie Bush. Wouldn’t you like to defend that team?

While Smith may be smart enough to graduate from Utah in two years with a bachelor’s degree in economics, he’s forgetful enough to have lost at least five cell phones.

Strict diet

Thomas Davis has been projected to play either safety or linebacker in the NFL. He’s also a potential first-round pick.

While we don’t know how the University of Georgia player plans to spend his draft day, we do know one thing about what will not be on the dinner menu:

“I don’t eat anything that comes out of the water,” he said.

Don’t mess with Mom

As a young boy, Virginia guard Elton Brand came home from his first football practice and told his mother he had been cut. But after further questioning, Elton revealed he had quit the team because the hitting was so hard.

“I said to him, ‘You go back there and hit them, or I’m going to hit you harder,’ ” Robin Brown told her son. “He went back out and he’s been there ever since.”

While Elton grew into a 6-foot-5, 330-pound draft prospect, Robin Brown has earned three college degrees and is working on a fourth. She’s due to graduate in May with a B.A. in anthropology.

He’ll be in charge of locker room music

When C.J. Brooks wasn’t opening holes for Maryland running backs, the Terps’ guard was working the tunes as a disc jockey on the school’s radio station.

A four-year starter who played the most games in Maryland history, Brooks will play anything from hip-hop to country and a little jazz. He’s been interested in music since he was 13 and even has a moniker because of it.

“The nickname is something that I’ve had for a while, back to when I first started doing music stuff,” Brooks said. “I just felt like I was alone in my style and in the way I did things, so – D.J. Solitude.”

They can coach, but could they play?

Don Shula and Tom Landry are two of the NFL’s most successful head coaches of all time, but they weren’t exactly high draft choices.

Shula, who had 347 victories, was a ninth-round pick as a defensive back by Cleveland in 1951. Landry, who is No. 3 on the all-time wins list (270), was an 18th-round pick by the New York Giants as a halfback out of Texas.

George Halas, the No. 2 man on the list, was a founder of the NFL in 1920 – before the draft was introduced.

ESPN ready to go

The draft can be seen on ESPN from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today, with the broadcast switching over to ESPN2 from 2:30 to 7 p.m. The network plans 17 hours of coverage over the next two days.

In addition to the regulars – Chris Berman, Chris Mortensen and Mel Kiper Jr. – the panel will be joined by Torry Holt. The St. Louis Rams wide receiver will be the first active player to serve as a draft-day commentator.

The network also will have a 10-hour show that will run concurrently with its draft coverage on its new channel, ESPNU, which will be dedicated to analyzing the picks from the view of the colleges. That broadcast will have cut-ins to the network’s regular draft coverage.

By The Numbers

1 – The number of NFL draft picks who did not attend college (Eric Swann).

6 – Times in which a quarterback has not been drafted in the first round since 1946. The years are 1947, ‘74, ‘84, ‘85, ‘88 and ‘96.

13 – How many No. 1 overall picks are in the NFL Hall of Fame.

61 – USC players who have been chosen in the first round. Notre Dame is next with 60 and Ohio State is third with 59. Miami has had 56 players taken in the first round, Florida 40 and Florida State 27.

76 – The pick number the Washington Redskins used to take Chris Chandler in 1988. It’s the longest we’ve had to wait for the first quarterback to be taken.

251 – Times a player with the surname Brown has been drafted. Next in line are Williams (242), Johnson (229) and Jones (198).

21,575 – How many selections have been made since the first NFL Draft on Feb. 8, 1936. University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger was the first pick by Philadelphia. Colorado State linebacker Andre Sommersell was the final pick of the 2004 draft by Oakland.

Florida Today