Ohio State’s Pace and Springs, Northwestern’s Autry Leaving for NFL

Ohio State junior tackle Orlando Pace and defensive back teammate Shawn Springs said Monday they are making themselves eligible for the draft.

Pace, a 6-foot-6, 330-pound left tackle, is a two-time first-team All-American. He was selected by Big Ten coaches as the league’s offensive player of the year and is being regarded as a potential No. 1 draft pick.

He had said after finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting that he liked the idea of coming back to Columbus for his senior season, but the Buckeyes’ winning the Rose Bowl, 20-17, over Arizona State helped sway him to leave.

“What better way to go out than with a win?” Pace said. “I did everything I wanted to do. It’s time for me to move on.”

Springs, a 6-0, 190-pound cornerback, is the son of former Ohio State and Dallas Cowboy running back Ron Springs.

“Obviously, I think I’ll go in the top 10 picks,” he said. “If not, I wouldn’t be coming out.”

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His coach said he is making a mistake and has offered evidence in support of that appraisal, but Gary Barnett could not talk running back Darnell Autry into staying at Northwestern for his senior season.

“I’m ready to proceed with my dream,” Autry said upon announcing that he would make himself eligible for the NFL draft after rushing for more than 3,000 yards in the past two seasons to help lift the Wildcats out of decades-long doldrums.

“It’s based on what I thought was best for me.”

It might not be best for him, said Barnett, who also added that reports that he is a candidate for the vacant coaching job with the Detroit Lions are inaccurate.

“I recommended to Darnell that he stay in school, based on the information which the NFL has supplied to me,” said Barnett, who indicated that Autry has been projected as anything from a low first round to a fifth-round draft choice.

Autry, who also wants to pursue an acting career, said he would have preferred to have Barnett’s blessing but did what he felt he had to do.

At 5 feet 11, 209 pounds, he is known for a powerful and bruising running style and his ability to take hits and not fumble.

Autry said the uncertainty after his status with the NFL didn’t bother him because “no one knows what teams are thinking until you are drafted.”

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All-America defensive end Peter Boulware of Florida State will pass up his senior year and instead enter the NFL draft.

Boulware was the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year and led the nation with 19 sacks.

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Chris Canty, a two-time All-American cornerback, will skip his senior season at Kansas State and make himself eligible for the NFL draft.

Canty was a two-way player who caught five passes for 78 yards, returned kickoffs for an average of 30 yards, averaged more than 10 yards per punt return and intercepted five passes.

On Dec. 9, he was arrested on campus for suspicion of driving under the influence. He immediately removed himself for all postseason individual honors.

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Doug Williams, MVP of the 1988 Super Bowl, was named coach at Morehouse College, a Division II school in Atlanta. . . . Kentucky starting quarterback Billy Jack Haskins will transfer to Rhode Island after he said the Wildcats’ new coach, Hal Mumme, won’t allow him to compete for the job again next season.