Quote of the Week

Before I get everyone rarin to go with some quality quotes, there are a few maintenance messages:

1. I hope everyone enjoyed the first post by our new writer, JY. It's taken me weeks of hard work competing on I Love Money to drum up enough payroll to hire a new writer, so if you don't like him, tough luck; I'm getting all of the writing I can out of him.

2. I've made some updates in the blogroll. Nothing against the Irish Roundup or the House Rock Built; they are great blogs that can really crank out some good stuff, but months without any posts have forced them out of the rotation for now. Check out Her Loyal Sons, which will fill their void for now.

3. JY's post pretty much took care of it, but I would like to welcome the new NCAA football game. Nothing passes time in the slow offseason like some pixelated greatness.

4. Speaking of slow news, sorry for missing last week's quote; I was lounging around a hotel in Scottsdale sans wireless access, which made it difficult to post anything.

Congrats to the Weis recruiting train for picking up some huge (as in 550 lbs) recruits over the past two weeks. Last Sunday, Notre Dame picked up a five star guard in Chris Watt. Ranked as the second best guard in the country by Rivals and Scout, Watt is an excellent grab for the Irish, and you have to love getting a lineman who says stuff like this:

“I think offensive line is the best position on the field,” Watt said. “You get to come off the ball. You’re already in the stance. You have power coming out of it. You get to knock somebody as hard as you can without getting in trouble for it.”

Days ago, Zach Martin, a 6'5" 275 Indiana prospect, gave Notre Dame a much needed commit at the offensive tackle position, and it seems that he will be fighting in the Irish trenches with the same intensity as Watt:

"I go after people," said Martin who, in addition to playing offensive line at Chatard, also plays defensive end. "I'm a vicious player."

I can't overstate how great it is that both of these players have so much love for the game, and specifically, for their position. It may sound cliche (especially on this blog), but it would be nice to see ND grow a little nasty over the next few seasons. Of course it never hurts to bring in some talent to match the intensity:

"(Martin is) really almost, I think, the equal of Chris Watt," CSTV recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. "He's the No. 1 player in Indiana."
Joining elite prospect Alex Bullard, this class is firmly establishing itself in the trenches, and in completely unrelated news, Ty Willingham secured his first recruit of the year in Washington.

Go Irish!