Brown Says He’ll Be Picked in Early Rounds of Draft : NFL: Former Servite standout, who is giving up his senior year at Nebraska, predicts he will go higher than expected.

Former Servite High running back Derek Brown, who decided to forgo his senior year at Nebraska to make himself available for the April 25-26 NFL draft, predicted he would go as high as the second or third round.

Brown returned to Lincoln, Neb., Friday morning after meeting with two agents in Phoenix on Thursday. He was one of 37 undergraduates, including nine running backs, declared eligible for the draft.

Draft analysts have predicted Brown, 5 feet 9 and 185 pounds, will go somewhere between the fifth and seventh rounds. The draft includes several good running backs, among them Heisman finalist Garrison Hearst of Georgia, Ohio State’s Robert Smith and Notre Dame’s Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks.

But Brown, who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons, said he will go much higher than the fifth or seventh round.

“It was a big decision and I’m happy with it,” Brown said. “I did the right thing.

“It just came down to me deciding to go to the next level and do something for my family.”

Brown, who is single, has two children, Brennan, 2, and Kierra, eight months.

Brown filed for the draft just before the midnight Wednesday deadline, a move that Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said surprised him. Attempts to reach the running back on Thursday failed.

“I wasn’t in hiding on Thursday, and the decision wasn’t supposed to be a big shock to anybody,” Brown said. “I told (Nebraska assistant coach) Frank Solich I might turn pro when I talked to him earlier in the week.”

Brown said he made the decision during Christmas break, just after playing in the Cornhuskers’ 27-14 loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

“Coach Osborne and my teammates asked me at the Orange Bowl if I was thinking about turning pro and I said I thought I would be back at Nebraska next year,” he said. “But between the end of the bowl and getting home to California, during the time I had to myself, I decided to turn pro.”