Aussies hopeful ahead of NFL draft

Australia's next wave of American football talent will begin a nervous wait with the NFL Draft set to begin in Chicago.

The first round of the three-day, seven-round draft gets underway at 10am Friday AEST.

Australia's top hopes defensive lineman Adam Gotsis, punter Tom Hackett and kicker Brad Craddock will likely have to wait until the final day (Sunday AEST) to hear their names called.

"The feedback from a lot of teams has been really positive," Melbourne's Gotsis, a defensive lineman and co-captain at Georgia Tech, told AAP.

The draft may also shed light on Jarryd Hayne's prospects this year at the San Francisco 49ers, particularly if the team uses any of their 12 draft picks on the running back or punt and kick return positions he plays.

Other Australians who have impressed during stints in the US college system and hope to hear their names called at the draft include punters Alex Kinal (Wake Forest), Lachlan Edwards (Sam Houston State) and Jamie Keehn (Louisiana State) and offensive lineman Blake Muir (Baylor).

Gotsis has been projected as high as a third round pick, while other draft analysts have him pegged going anywhere from the fourth to sixth round.

His prospects were hurt by a left ACL tear in October, but the 195cm tall, 127kg force of nature says he will be 100 per cent by the start of the NFL season in September.

Hackett, also from Melbourne, is the highest rated punter in the draft after four record-breaking seasons at the University of Utah and back-to-back awards for America's best college punter.

NFL teams are usually reluctant to use picks on punters, but some draft analysts have pencilled Hackett in as a fourth to seventh round selection.

Adelaide's Craddock became one of college football's most accurate field goal kickers at the University of Maryland and with his Aussie rules background can also be a back-up NFL punter.

Some analysts have Craddock going as early as the fourth round.