Where will Brace start his NFL career?

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Ron Brace isn't one to sit around. He'd rather be smacking helmets with an opposing offensive lineman and then hammering a running back trying to break through the line.

But not even the 6-foot-3, 330-pound defensive tackle from Boston College and former Burncoat High (Worcester, Mass.) star can do anything but sit and wait for his phone to ring on Saturday when he'll hopefully find out what team has selected him in either the first or second round of the NFL Draft.

"I'm a little bit antsy," said Brace to Fan Fanatic Sports via telephone on Monday morning. "This is a life-changing act. Someone is going to make a decision that's going to change my life."

Brace doesn't have any extravagant plans on draft day, however. He'll be sitting at his house in Springfield, Mass., waiting to be drafted by an NFL team.

"It's going to be a very small gathering," Brace said. "I don't even want a balloon on the house. That's too much."

Projections have Brace -- a high-character player and a disruptive lineman that's quick off the ball, can collapse the pocket and who is one of the best, if not the best, run-stuffing machines available in the draft -- being selected anywhere in the first two rounds.

"I'm hoping first round, but it's a blessing either way," Brace said. "I hope it's late first or early second."

Brace is confident in his abilities and still feels he should be a first-round pick.

"I feel as though I am," he said. 

In his senior season, Brace teamed up with fellow defensive line partner, B.J. Raji -- projected as a top-15 first-round pick -- to form a destructive line that not many teams could run against. Brace had 26 tackles (18 solo) and two sacks as a senior. 

"I feel I got my recognition during the season when we got our wins," Brace said.

In 2007, he had 26 tackles (18 solo) and two sacks.

So what type of player will a team that drafts Brace be getting?

"I'm a strong, physical, tough player whose dedicated to his job," he said. "I'm a real reliable person."

When Brace worked out at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in February, he thought the Colts took to him quite well after his sit-down interview with the team.

That hasn't changed during this whole draft process, either.

"I think Indy," said Brace when asked what teams seem to be interested in drafting him. "Some more than others. You have to accept that not every team is going to like you."

Brace took a physical for the Colts last Thursday and also did the same thing for the Patriots last Tuesday.

The Patriots didn't speak to him, however. But it could be a sign that Bill Belichick and the Patriots brass are VERY interested in Brace's services and don't want to tip their hand.

"(The Patriots) haven't said anything to me," Brace confirmed. "You can't get your heart set on a certain place."

Some athletes change when they become professional athletes, but don't expect Brace to be that type of guy.

"I'm going to be the same guy, only have more money in my bank account," Brace said. "I don't see myself changing, at all."

What might change is his mailing address, however.

(PHOTO / Boston College Athletics)