Presence Made Nelson and McGlinchey Top 10 Picks

Notre Dame has made a habit of turning out 1st round NFL Draft picks on the offensive line as Zack Martin, and Ronnie Stanley are a few recent names to hear their name called on the first night of the draft. 

On Thursday night, Quenton Nelson went to the Indianapolis Colts with the No. 6 pick, and three picks later, Mike McGlinchey was selected by the San Francisco 49ers at No. 9. 

“You win games up front,” said Colts GM Chris Ballard. “We felt Quenton Nelson was the best offensive lineman in the draft. He has everything we want in terms of character, work ethic, toughness, passion for the game and he’s going to be great for this team and the city of Indianapolis.” 

49ers GM John Lynch echoed some of the statements about McGlinchey, but it was also some of the traits some might bypass that stuck out to the San Francisco staff. 

“We talk a lot about kids having what it takes to win games and championships,” stated Lynch. “He has a lot of that in him both on and off the field in terms of the way he plays. He’s a guy where you keep the film running after the play, he’s running 30 yards downfield to pick up his running back. Those are things that speak to us. 

“He consistently does his job over and over. It’s not easy playing tackle in this league, so it’s not going to be perfect, but we found a guy that can do it well for a long time.” 

When it came to the 49ers selection, Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan had known McGlinchey was the guy for a few weeks. 

“Mike McGlinchey is a guy we have been excited about for some time,” explained Lynch. “We’ve scouted Mike McGlinchey a long time and kept gaining steam. The more we watched him, the more we liked him.

“We decided if he was there at 9, he was the guy we were taking.” 

Ballard had a relationship with Chicago Bears offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, who coached both players at Notre Dame, and a Hiestand’s words were all the Colts organization needed to hear. 

“I’m close friends with Harry Hiestand,” Ballard said. “We were together, and he spoke glowingly about him a year ago. He thought this kid had pro potential. He’s great as a run blocker and in pass pro. He’s nasty and tough. He’s everything we want to stand for as a team.

“His character is off the charts. That’s something we want to keep adding. He’s demanding. He’ll come in and earn it like every rookie has to. He has unique size, bend and power.” 

Ballard came away impressed with the presence of Nelson as Notre Dame’s Pro Day was the only one he attended this spring. 

“I went to one,” Ballard said of how many Pro Day’s he checked out. “I went to Nelson’s. Usually, I will get out to more, but it was an unusual year. I get every workout on tape. Sometimes there is just something about seeing a guy live. 

“I saw Quenton play and workout live.” 

The 6-foot-8, 309-pounder impressed Lynch at the NFL Combine in a 15-minute interview. Lynch even admitted it’s hard to take away too much from short interviews, but that’s how much McGlinchey impressed them. 

“You go into the makeup of the kid, and he’s one of the smartest kids in the draft,” stated Lynch. “In our Combine interview, he was one of the top interviews in terms of presence. He was a two-time captain at Notre Dame and started 39 straight games.” 

“He’s got a special presence to him. He’s real, authentic and he’s a bad ass. We like him.”