Februtosis

Hello to all the nasties fans out there that have been craving for a post to keep them moving until spring break and (hopefully) warmer weather reaches us in a few weeks. There's no real theme to this post, but here are a few Notre Dame happenings:

Bengal Bouts is in full swing right now; the semi finals were held last night at the JACC, although due to a lack of 200+ pound bodies to fill the heavyweight division, students were also treated to the big bruiser finals Tuesday, where Will "The Stimulus Package" Burroughs beat his good friend Kevin "I Left My 6-Pack in my Gym-Bag" Crepeau to win it. If you want a piece of the bouts in your own home, you can check out plenty of fights on the GooTube and can watch a preview for the upcoming Bengal Bouts documentary here.

In campus news, students are still getting shot around Club 23. Undergrads can at least take comfort that the South Bend Police force wasn't occupied trying to raid every student bar during the incident.
2010 DE commit Chris Martin eats children at the USC Rising Stars Camp. And you thought you were done looking at pictures of high schoolers...
If this recruiting cycle for football left you craving for more, the guys at the UHND blog put up a preliminary top 10 list of prospects that the Irish hope to land in the 2010 class, and there is also a post breaking down Notre Dame's biggest position needs in the upcoming recruiting cycle.
David Bruton was the only graduating member of the 2008 squad invited to the NFL combine, and he is doing his best not to disappoint. Bruton placed second among all safeties with his 4.46 40 and placed (or tied) for first in the vertical jump (41.5"), broad jump (11'0"), 3 cone drill (6.60), and 60 yard shuttle (10.96). Projected as a 4th round draft pick before the combine, these impressive numbers will hopefully boost his stock. Former teammate Chinedum Ndukwe's performance for the Bengals should also give teams another reason to draft an ND safety. I've also seen Mike Turkovich and Mo Crum predicted to go as early as the 4th with DE Justin Brown going in the 7th, but these are all probably optimistic. Best of luck to all Domers in the draft.
Lastly, the #8 Notre Dame Lax team off to a good start, notching a 13-8 win over Penn State this week behind a 4 goal, 4 assist performance from Neal Hicks. More impressive though, was their exciting finish against the 17th ranked Loyola Greyhounds in Atlanta, Georgia to start off the season. Senior Ryan Hoff put in the game winner off of a Grant Krebs feed to put the Irish up 10-9 with 5:29 left in the 4th quarter. Notre Dame takes on Dartmouth this Saturday at Loftus.

That's it for now. Go Irish! Beat Knights!

More on Recruiting... QotW

I had a chance to watch Charlie's press conference about signing day. For those of you that didn't have a free hour, here are a few of the highlights:

Zeke Motta: Weis said Motta reminds him a lot of Harrison Smith in terms of his athleticism and tackling. When watching Motta's tapes, the thing I like most is his aggressive downhill pursuit to the ball carrier; this guy doesn't mess around. He should be perfect for a Notre Dame safety that has (perhaps unfortunately) been asked to help a lot in run support.E.J. Banks: While Banks will be playing DB for the Irish, he did run and throw for over 1,000 yards playing quarterback his senior year. I was a little surprised with how Weis addressed the possibility of Banks playing QB in his press conference because he didn't rule out the possibility. With Clausen and Christ preventing a QB from really being recruited this year, Charlie alluded to the fact that some players like Banks might work their way under center in special packages. After watching Banks' highlight reels, I say it's worth a shot to put him in 'Wild Leprechaun' a few times a year.

Theo Riddick: With a premier back the caliber of Cierre Wood in this signing class, Riddick has been overlooked by some. Weis even said that this class didn't need two RBs, but when you get the opportunity to pick up someone of Riddick's talent, you can't say no. As such, be sure of the fact that Riddick should see some touches in the next few years despite the immense depth at the position. Possible roles mentioned during the presser include being used as a speed back or working from the slot.
Special Teams: It seems odd to some for ND to offer 3 special teams scholarships in one class, but Weis defended his offers very well. He expects Cowert to be competing for a starting spot at long snapper this September. Having snapped over 370 balls in four years of high school without any errors, Cowert could bring stability to a position that, as Weis put it, "could have been the difference between wins and losses" last season. If that weren't enough, Cowert played for the same high school and punter Ben Turk, who in addition to being labeled as one of the country's premier punters, won two state titles in Florida. At the very least, these two shouldn't crack under pressure.
Kicker Nick Tausch will be a welcomed addition to this team as well - half of his kickoffs in high school went for touchbacks (an area where ND has greatly struggled). As a funny bonus story, Tausch's dad won a ring in the NFL as an offensive linemen, and Nick's brother (280 lbs) signed to play line for TCU yesterday. How one family produces two excellent linemen and a kicker, I have no idea.
Manti Te'o: I was floored that Te'o picked ND. In addition to the fact that he attended an awful Syracuse game (where it was snowing) for his official visit, I heard that teammates took the devote Mormon out to some crazy parties later that night, and on top of it all, I heard he told someone "There is no way I will play here." Just goes to show you what rumors are worth I guess. Weis apparently spent a lot of time introducing Te'o to all of the Mormon faculty and students, and in the end, Charlie said that the values of the Notre Dame family closely aligned with the values he had been brought up with, and that was a major factor in his decision.
The hype of his commitment hasn't only been limited to fans though, as Weis said that the majority of the team sent him congratulatory text messages on signing day.

That's it for now. Go Irish!

Happy Signing Day!

After the success of last year's signing day photoshop, I thought it would only be appropriate to welcome the recruiting class of 2009 in similar fashion.
This year's image shows the commits in front of the War Memorial. With defensive hard hitters like Ty Stockton, Zeke Motta, and Carlo Calabrese, this class should be rock solid (...) in the front seven. Oh, yeah, we got this guy today named Manti Te'o this morning that is a pretty good defensive player, too. One of our commentors has already pointed out my poor prediction skills relating to Manti's commitment, so all I can do is apologize and be happy. Check UHND for the video of Te'o putting on the Irish hat this morning.

The offensive side addressed some important needs on the line with Zach Martin, Chris Watt, and Alex Bullard, and also drew in some sexy recruits in RB Cierre Wood and Shaq Evans.

Welcome to ND guys!

Hold your breath

Normally, when I write something for this blog, I like to at least think that its not too close to the content of any of the other ND sites out there, but I couldn't help thinking that what OC Domer wrote today would fit equally well on my site:
"Look, I'll admit that new Irish O-line coach Frank Verducci is sort of handsome in a New Jersey way (if not in a SoCal way), but I'm tired of seeing his mug at the top of my blog, so I have to throw something up here."
Amen. Now lets move away from jokes about my lack of recent posting and move on to some football stuff.
While those iron city mutts were able to walk away with a 6th ring, I was at least able to take solace in the fact that Leinart won't get a ring before Quinn. One thing I disagree with OC Domer, however, was the best commercial. How can you beat this?

Signing day is tomorrow, and while that day always harbors a bit of anxiety for college football fans, I can't say I know enough about the recruiting situation to write much about it now (my one guess is that we don't get Teo), but I'll put something up in the next few days about duds and snubs or something. Have a good week - and for God's sake, Go Irish! Beat Bearcats!