INDIANAPOLIS — For many National Football League hopefuls, getting the chance to hear your name announced, walking out on the stage, shaking the commissioner's hand and throwing on your new team's hat is the beginning of the fulfillment of the wildest of childhood dreams.
This scenario becomes a reality for the lucky few who become first-round picks in the NFL Draft each year.
And on Thursday, with the draft in Philadelphia for the first time since 1961, we now know which of college football's top prospects will be at the event.
Will one of them be selected by the Indianapolis Colts at No. 15 overall?
Here's the list of the 22 top prospects confirmed to be attending this week's NFL Draft (sorted in alphabetical order by last name):
- Jamal Adams, S, Louisiana State
- Jonathan Allen, DT, Alabama
- Chidobe Awuzie, CB, Colorado
- Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee
- Garett Bolles, T, Utah
- Gareon Conley, CB, Ohio State
- Corey Davis, WR, Western Michigan
- Leonard Fournette, RB, Louisiana State
- Adoree' Jackson, CB, Southern California
- Kevin King, CB, Washington
- DeShone Kizer, QB, Notre Dame
- Marshon Lattimore, CB, Ohio State
- Malik McDowell, DT, Michigan State
- Takkarist McKinley, LB, UCLA
- Ryan Ramczyk, T, Wisconsin
- Haason Reddick, LB, Temple
- Cam Robinson, T, Alabama
- John Ross, WR, Washington
- Solomon Thomas, DE, Stanford
- Mitchell Trubisky, QB, North Carolina
- Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson
- Tre'Davious White, CB, Louisiana State
Last year, if you'll remember, the Colts' first-round pick — center Ryan Kelly — was not present in Chicago when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced him as the 18th-overall pick.
In fact, you have to go back to 2013 to get the last Colts first-round pick to be present when he was selected in the NFL Draft — pass rusher Bjoern Werner.
Also in attendance on Thursday night will be 13 NCAA head coaches, who will join their players in the green room as they await their selections. They include North Carolina's Larry Fedora, Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, Tennessee's Butch Jones, Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, Ohio State's Urban Meyer, UCLA's Jim Mora, Louisiana State's Ed Orgeron, Washington's Chris Petersen, Baylor's Matt Rhule, Alabama's Nick Saban, Stanford's David Shaw, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and Utah's Kyle Whittingham.
Some other interesting facts/info about this week's NFL Draft:
- The 82nd NFL Draft begins at 8 p.m. (ET) Thursday with the first round, continues at 7 p.m. Friday with rounds two and three and then concludes at noon on Saturday with rounds four through seven.
- Philadelphia's Ritz-Carlton Hotel was the location of the NFL's first draft in 1936. The city also hosted the event in 1949-50, 1953-54, 1956 (rounds 1-3) and 1957-61. The draft had been held in Chicago for the past two years, and then New York City for 50 years prior to that.
- Last year, the first round lasted three hours and 29 minutes, the second and third rounds took four hours and one minute, while rounds four through seven took six hours and 35 minutes.
- Teams are limited to 10 minutes per selection in the first round, seven minutes per selection in the second round, five minutes per pick in rounds three through six and four minutes per pick in round seven.
- There will be 253 total selections — including 32 compensatory choices awarded to 16 teams, one of which is going to the Colts — in this year's NFL Draft. For the first time ever, teams may trade compensatory picks this year.
- The second round will feature 32 former players, members of the NFL Legends Community, to announce the selections for each team.
- In 2015, the first round of the NFL Draft was viewed by 8.3 million fans on ESPN and the NFL Network.
- More than 1,700 media members were credentialed to cover the 2016 NFL Draft in Chicago and its related events.
- Other than Philadelphia, Chicago and New York City, the NFL Draft has also been held in Milwaukee (1940), Washington, D.C. (1941), Pittsburgh (1948) and Los Angeles (1956; rounds 4-30).
The analysis from those producing content on Colts.com does not necessarily represent the thoughts of the Indianapolis Colts organization. Any conjecture, analysis or opinions formed by Colts.com content creators is not based on inside knowledge gained from team officials, players or staff.
