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!

Football in the offseason

Even though the Irish players are spending more time hitting the books and weights than each other, and even though my media darling Brownies are all on vacation, I've luckily been able to curb some of my football cravings the past few weeks in other ways than putting on my high school helmet while playing Madden.

That's right, I'm talking about the Cleveland Gladiators, a team that moved to the shores of Lake Erie after notching a dismal 2-14 record in Sin City last season. No Cleveland team has won anything since 1964, but this Saturday, the Gladiators will square off in a rematch against Bon Jovi's Philadelphia Soul in the league semi finals. At first glance, one might think that Weis will be rooting for the team of his musical man crush, but Cleveland does have a mascot named Rudi who I guess is a baller, so Notre Dame coaches from Jersey could probably go either way on this one.

So watch the game if you have time this weekend; they're more fun to watch than a failing Indians team.

But enough about Cleveland; news has been pretty good in South Bend these last few days as the Irish have secured two more verbal commitments for the recruiting class of 2009. The combination of Weis and Brown continued their trend of landing talented secondary recruits with the addition of Marlon Pollard on Monday, and also landed the second TE in the '09 class the next day in Fort Wayne product Tyler Eifert.

While such paper numbers as Pollard's 160 lb weight may not make him jump out as an elite prospect, the experts all seem to agree that his small frame is more than compensated for by other attributes. Recruiting guru Tom Lemming ranks Pollard as the 70th best player nationally, and adds that he has "everything needed to be an outstanding cornerback." While the 6'1" corner could use some time in the weight room, it seems that once he gets a little bigger, his style of play indicates that he should be able to add to Notre Dame's quickly growing aggressive secondary:

"I just go after it and I swarm to the ball. I play off my instincts and usually that carries me to the ball."

If Pollard has a nose for the ball, then TE prospect Tyler Eifert has hands for the ball. Eifert's picture may make him look more like the guy that sat next to you in freshman calc than someone that'll be playing ball on Saturdays, but his 6'5" 220 lb frame begs to differ. Ranked as a 3 star recruit by both Rivals and Scout, Eifert played his way to a scholarship offer at one of Notre Dame's camps this summer; Weis reportedly offered him the chance to play TE, WR, or safety for the Irish:"I think I could help out most at tight end,” he responded. “I know they already have some great tight ends, but I’ll play wherever I can contribute. It’s fine with me if that’s working out as a wide receiver first and growing into a tight end.”

You gotta love the way the kid is already talking like he's a team player. Here's ESPN's take on the Indiana native:

"Displays soft hands and the ability to pluck the ball. Eifert's main contribution to a college program likely will be as a pass-catcher, especially initially. He has the frame and hands to be a chains-mover"

Let's hope these two can help ND dominate teams in the future like Rudi dominates ugly chicken (?) mascots now!

Go Irish!

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!

Filer Likes It Smart

For the quote of the week today I found a nice article on incoming linebacker Steven Filer. In the recruiting wars, Weis has been adamant that one of his primary goals in developing young players is to get them a quality education. In his recent post Middle East interview, Charlie mentioned that one out of a hundred college football recruits make it to the NFL and once that one person gets there, the average career of an NFL player is only three years, so Weis appreciates the importance of a good degree. And while Irish fans may assume that the recruits always recognize The University of Notre Dame as the best place to play football and get a great education, it is always comforting to hear it from the recruits themselves.

Filer was being recruited heavily by both Notre Dame and Ohio State, and in the end, academics made the difference:

“When you go to Notre Dame, you’re always Irish. That Notre Dame degree goes far in life,” Mr. Filer says. “Not only that, it’s the biggest stage you can play on for football. But the number one thing for me is that piece of paper.” – Filer's dad

“At Ohio State, I liked the family atmosphere, the facilities, the coaches and the players. It was the same with Notre Dame,” he says. “It was a hard decision, but in the end it came down to which degree would hold more weight.” – Filer himself

Go learning! Go Irish!