The weather is finally starting to clear up for former UW tight end Owen Daniels.

After recently receiving his degree in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, Daniels will give up weather and enter the NFL Draft, where he is predicted to go in the first round.

"It's good that people are talking about me at least," Daniels commented about the discussion of his name for the first round. "I had a couple of injuries this year and I did not exactly have the year I wanted to have, but I finished strong in the last couple of games we had, and that was good for me to do that. Hopefully, I'll do well at the combine and put up good numbers there."

Daniels finished his final game in cardinal and white in style by scoring a touchdown in the first half at the Capital One Bowl against Auburn. Also during the game, ABC commentators gave Daniels a new moniker, "The Weatherman," that will most likely follow him into the NFL.

"It's funny," Daniels said about his new nickname. "It's good for people who might be interested in a weather guy on TV. They got my name out there, that is for sure."

After Daniels finishes his football career, he plans to fall back on his degree and pursue a career in meteorology. The Weatherman has already had a number of appearances on local Madison TV stations this year.

"These past [few] years, I would do weather reports for stations here in Madison, as well as game day forecasts, and they were putting them on TV and a lot of people were seeing that, so that's good," Daniels said.

A lot of people also saw Daniels' former teammate Brian Calhoun etch his name into the record books this season by accumulating 144 points and 348 rushing attempts, both UW school records.

Like Daniels, Calhoun will also take his talents to the NFL Draft, something Daniels is looking forward too.

"It's exciting," said Daniels, who caught four touchdowns and 22 passes in 2005. "These next four months are going to be pretty crazy, with workouts and the combine, and then being with teams and interviewing them up to Draft Day, but I'm looking forward to it."

According to About Football, Daniels is ranked seventh among tight ends entering the draft. Vernon Davis from Maryland, Marcedes Lewis from UCLA, Leonard Pope from Georgia, Anthony Fasano of Notre Dame, Dominique Byrd of USC and Joe Klopfenstein of Colorado are all ranked ahead of him.

Whatever the case, whether Daniels goes high in the draft or not at all, the future looks sunny for the future Weatherman.