In a couple of days Gator fans find out where a handful of former players will be starting their NFL careers. As is usually the case with each year’s NFL Draft, the days leading up to the selection process are far more tense for the athletes than the hours of picks that span Saturday and Sunday.

Projections show that as many as four Gators will be picked in the seven-round event, which starts Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN. While one notable player is trying to stop his slide out of the first round, a few others are finding their way up in number.

Weeks of rumors were confirmed Wednesday when Fox Sports reported that wide receiver Percy Harvin failed a drug test at the league’s scouting combine in Indianapolis.

Failed drug tests (usually for marijuana) are not uncommon. In recent years, Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson failed a test and was still taken in the top five by the Detroit Lions.

It isn’t the test that troubles teams as much as the decision-making of the player tested. Every player is tested at the combine. Their itineraries tell them the exact hour they will be tested.

That’s part of why Harvin’s stock has been sliding.

ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay projects Harvin, once a top-15 lock, to be selected at No. 27 to Indianapolis, but admits that the Colts are unlikely to take a player with a possible character problem. If not Indy, Harvin could fall a few more spots to Tennessee. If the Titans pass, he could be waiting well into the second round – possibly to Miami at 44 – to hear his name called. While it would make Dolphins fans pretty happy to have Ted Ginn and Harvin, it certainly won’t please Harvin’s accountants.

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At last month’s pro day held at The Swamp, agent Drew Rosenhaus said his goal was to have his client, former Gator tight end Cornelius Ingram, drafted during the first day (first two rounds). That goal may have to be slightly modified.

No longer hoping to just be taken in the first two rounds, Ingram is now gunning for the top-half of the second round.

Coming off of a knee injury that cost him his entire senior year, Ingram has seen his draft stock go from a third-round prospect, to a top-45 athlete.

McShay has Ingram currently projected to the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 53, one slot behind North Carolina receiver Brandon Tate, who, like Harvin, also tested positive for marijuana at the combine.

Scouts, Inc., a branch of ESPN, has Ingram as the No. 2 tight end in the draft, behind Oklahoma State’s Brandon Pettigrew.

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After Harvin and Ingram find new homes, it will likely take another 24 hours before another Gator is called.

The third UF player to go should be wide receiver Louis Murphy, who is teetering between the third and fourth rounds.

While McShay currently has Murphy as the top pick in the fourth round, No. 101 to Dallas, he could be an enticing prospect several slots earlier as receiver-starved teams like Chicago (No. 99 overall), Indianapolis (No. 92) and Philadelphia (No. 85) make their choices. Looming nearby is Miami at No. 87. Murphy recently had a private workout with the Dolphins.

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Tackle Jason Watkins is slated as the next to go and could be nabbed in the fifth round.

McShay has him No. 151 to the New York Giants, but others have predicted that he could ride several solid recent workouts to a higher slot.

Watkins measured in at the combine at 6-foot-5 5/8 inches and 318 pounds, which is solid for a tackle. Where he was hurt is during film sessions when several scouts said that he lacks great top-end speed and can be beat by faster ends.

Scouts, Inc., lists Watkins as the No. 13 available tackle.

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That’s where McShay’s mock draft ends, as far as former Gators. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be an orange-and-blue hue to the back end of the draft.

Eighteen slots down the list of available tackles after Watkins is former teammate Phil Trautwein.

While not as talked-about as other tackles or teammates, Trautwein made a name for himself with scouts watching film of available players. Two prior NFL first-round picks at defensive end (Jarvis Moss and Derrick Harvey) went up against him regularly in practice and each time he was able to hold his own. If not for a history of injuries, Trautwein might find himself taken ahead of Watkins.

One Web site, NFLDraftPost.com, said that Trautwein is “clearly a better tackle prospect” than Watkins. Don’t be too surprised if a team takes a late-round flier on Trautwein.

Some players that aren’t draft get signed quickly by teams looking for free-agent bargains. If Trautwein isn’t taken by the end of the seventh round, he will likely have a tryout contract inked before the end of Sunday night.

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Other former Gators who could get free-agent looks include running back Kestahn Moore, tight end Tate Casey and long-snapper James Smith.