The NFL Draft begins Thursday and, as always, hundreds of college football players will embark on their journey to professional football.

For Eastern, success in the National Football League has been a big deal. When former wide receiver Micah Rucker received a chance with the Pittsburgh Steelers two years ago, it was a big deal. When former defensive end Pierre Walters signed and made the Kansas City Chiefs last season, it was a very big deal.

Then, of course, there’s Tony Romo. Enough said.

This year, the chance for Eastern to have a player selected in the seven-round draft appears as good as any time in recent memory. The only difference is that the guys who are being coveted by NFL scouts aren’t the guys a lot of people have heard about before. There’s no quarterback with a laser, rocket arm. No flashy wide receiver. No quarterback-crushing end.

The Eastern player who has the best shot at having his name called this weekend is none other than offensive tackle Chris Campbell. But it doesn’t end there. Senior offensive tackle Otis Hudson, Campbell’s high school teammate, serves a chance as well.

But it’s Campbell who has generated the hype. The 6-foot-5, 326-lb. lineman out of Chicago Marshall was selected to play in the Texas vs. The Nation All Star Game in February (the same game Walters played in last year). Additionally, former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah, who has worked for both the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, recently Tweeted “Campbell is a big time sleeper. Lots of buzz around the league.”

Likewise, Russ Lande of The Sporting News came out with an article on NFL Draft sleepers April 13. In the article, Lande highlighted both Campbell and Hudson. Saying about Campbell: “Campbell has the talent to become a good starting left tackle, but he has a lot of work to do first,” and of Hudson: “Not only does Hudson have good size and athletic ability, but he has adjusted well to a position change. He is a very competitive blocker who is able to control his man if he can lock up on him.”

So needless to say, things are looking up for the pair, who weigh in at a combined weight of nearly 700 lbs.

The prospect of them landing in the NFL is monumental. It was huge when Walters caught on with the Chiefs last year. But the case with Walters, just as the case with Rucker and even Romo, is that they were undrafted free agent signings. Eastern hasn’t had a player selected in the draft since cornerback Chris Watson was selected in the third round in 1999.

Campbell and Hudson aren’t the most well-known names on campus. They’re no Walters and they’re definitely no Romo.

But after Friday, for them, that could begin to change quickly.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.