ND Recruiting Strikes Again

Soon after Notre Dame scored a commit from hard nosed linebacker Carlo Calabrese, the Irish capitalized on their recent success with St. Ignatius in Cleveland, OH (Alma Mater of John Ryan and Robby Parris) to add another talented linebacker in four star recruit Dan Fox. In addition to bringing a Zbikowski-like skill set to the LB unit, Fox also comes to Notre Dame with one of the more nostalgic background stories (from Section 29):

70 years ago, a young Irishman named Richard Power had just arrived in Chicago from his homeland. At the height of the Depression, acting on a tip that one could find work at a small Catholic university in northwest Indiana, Power journeyed to South Bend and worked as a janitor on the Notre Dame campus from 1932-34. The money and contacts made by that job eventually led him back home to Ireland, where he married before returning to the United States for good in 1953.One of Power's seven daughters now has a son heading back to South Bend, this time to join a deep corps of hard-hitting Irish linebackers.
Given that Irish history, it would probably be more surprising if Fox didn't choose Notre Dame, but it is always good news when Weis and his staff can reach down south and steal a prominent recruit from a dominant in-state school. Offensive guard Alex Bullard plays his high school ball at the Brentwood Academy in Tennessee, and Irish fans everywhere blew a sigh of relief when the big man verballed to Notre Dame over the backyard Vols. In this rivals interview, Bullard cited former Tenn recruit Golden Tate and future teammate Tyler Stockton as some of the factors in his decision:

"[Tyler] was talking about the school and why he committed. He was very happy to come in and he wanted me to become his teammate."

"Golden went to the same type of high school I did. He said the transition to college was a little easier for him than some of the other guys."

Weis continues to make his presence felt on the recruiting path, with Bullard also citing his respect for Charlie and his respect for the University as other positives of playing for Notre Dame:

"I wanted to make sure I was playing for a good coach with great character."

"It's a unique school. Their education is one in a million; a degree from Notre Dame will carry me far in my career"

Also, there is some maintenance related stuff that I've been meaning to post. Readers would make well to direct themselves to Chinedum Ndukwe's blog (recently added in the Nasties player blog list). Right now there is only one post, but it is a very interesting read documenting the 7th round draft pick's summer at a Harvard program for players interested in enhancing their business skills.

In Irish blogroll news, I've also added The Rock Report to the list of should-reads. The Rock Report has a great and talented writing staff that has come up with some very interesting articles in the last few months and is worthy of checking from time to time.

Thanks for reading, Go Irish!