This and that

News has been sparse the past week, but there are still a few noteworthy nuggets as the team ramps up for the annual Blue-Gold game. The official rosters for the spring game will be released later today, but until then, here is a sampler platter of the past week to catch you up to speed.

O Captain, My Captain

At his most recent press conference, Coach Weis announced the results of the team election for team captains. To the surprise of very few, Brady Quinn was selected as the captain of the offense and Tom Zbikowski was the choice for defensive captain. In a change from last year's rotating special teams captains, Weis decided to go with a permanent special teams captain and the team choice was Travis Thomas. From the scapegoat of the BYU game and permanent member of Ty's doghouse (dawghouse?) in 2004, it's great to see Thomas coming into his own and earning a leadership role on the team.

Weis also mentioned that also unlike last year, he's going to hold off on announcing the team's position specific leadership committee. Weis wants to see which players set up to the role during the player-supervised summer workouts.

Both Quinn and Zibby were named AP 3rd Team All-America players after last season. When is the last time ND returned All-Americans as offensive and defensive captains?

Stary Notre Dame bedzie wygrywac nad calym

I have no idea if that translates properly, but it's probably closer to the actual lyrics than Pete Duranko ever gets.

If you've ever heard the Notre Dame Victory March sung in Polish - you've met Pete Duranko. The problem is, Pete doesn't know Polish - he makes up the words! He's a great guy and a joker, with a tremendous sense of humor. Even more important he has given so much to ALS with his attitude and his strength in the face of the most difficult opponent of his life. We want to rally behind him and give him something to smile about.

The above is an excerpt from the press release for the "For the Love of Pete" tribute dinner being held after the Blue and Gold game this coming Saturday. For those not aware, Pete Duranko, the former Notre Dame All-America defensive lineman and NFL All-Pro, is currently battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or as it is better known Lou Gehrig's Disease. To help support Pete, many members of the 1966 National Championship team have organized together to host a banquet dinner in Pete's honor.

The list of former players coming back reads like a who's who of Irish legends including Johnny Lattner, Jim Lynch, Bob Kuechenberg, Jim Seymour, Kevin Hardy, Larry Conjar, George Goeddeke, and many others.

Coach Weis has already named Duranko an honorary captain for the Blue and Gold game and with the dinner coming after the game (and on the 40th anniversary of the 1966 National Championship), I highly recommend that people give serious thought to attending.

The dinner details are included on the above linked press release but for reservations, dinner tickets, and to make contributions, or for more information, contact Julie at the Notre Dame Monogram Club, 574-631-5450, or Email: Jdeschai@nd.edu.

The Man Who

Good news for estranged football player Travis Leitko as he was officially re-admitted to the University for the coming summer term. After missing the entire 2005 school year caring for his ailing parents while on academic suspension from the University, the first step in Leitko's quest to re-join the football team has been accomplished.

The best news out of all of this is that Leitko's parents both are on the road to recovery from cancer and hopefully will be able to sit in ND Stadium and watch their son run out of the tunnel once again this coming fall. But for now Travis still has to be fully re-admitted to the University for the fall semester and then earn his way back onto the team.

"I am about to send in my application for the fall, and that shouldn't be a problem -- but you never know," Leitko said Tuesday via cell phone from The Woodlands. "I've also talked to coach (Charlie) Weis, but nothing is in concrete. We've worked some things out, and if everything goes well, it'll give me an opportunity to play for the team next year."

Assuming he makes it back on to the team, it might be tough to see much playing time as Chris Frome, Ronald Talley, and Justin Brown all earned valuable experience last year and a year away from the program can't have helped Travis' development. Still, Leitko was a great special teams player as an underclassman and even if he only contributes there, it will be great to see him out there on the field again running around and smacking heads.

"These last few months have been so hard and have been such a blessing all at the same time," he said. "Part of you wishes it had never happened. Part of you knows you're much stronger for it having happened. It's one of those things you take it as it is.

"We'll see how this year turns out and how everything works. I appreciate the time I've had with my parents, and I love then both dearly. But it's time for me to get back and finish what I started, get everything back to the way it should be and finish everything up right."

Send in the Clowns

Internet rumors (and they're never wrong) claim that Kirk Herbstriet announced on his radio show that ESPN Gameday is already scheduled to be down in Atlanta for the Notre Dame/Georgia Tech season opener. If true, this will be the second straight year that the Irish open the season on the road with the Gameday crew on location. And like the Pitt game, the game against the Yellow Jackets will likely be an evening prime time game. Unlike the Pitt game, I don't think there will be any 0-5 predictions for the 2006 Irish.

Not So Fast My Friends

It seems some of our future schedule talk may have been a bit premature.

"The five places we've had the most conversations about and also had people from those sites wanting to talk to us have been Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Dallas and New Orleans." Heisler said. "I think when (athletic director) Kevin White has been talking about sites and years, he was talking philosophically. There are no deals in place yet. We've got some work to do."

Oh well, it was still fun to take guesses on how the Irish will play and I still hope ND is working on lining up some quality competition. Notice that Heisler mentioned Tampa as well. Assuming that Heisler wasn't speaking philosophically as well, a game at Raymond James Stadium would be fun. Of course, the likelhood of ND playing there some time in the future is already very high as Raymond James is the home field of the Big East member South Florida Bulls.

While I'm at It

The SBT article with the Heisler quote also mentions the uncertain future of the location of Blue/Gold game.

Work being done to the facility's infrastructure during the offseason over the next three years might necessitate some creative thinking when it comes to where to hold the annual spring game.

"It's going to be a year-to-year thing," ND senior associate athletic director John Heisler said. "It's certainly not going to be anything that jeopardizes games in the fall, but some of the questions are: where and when the work is going to be done and what's our ability to accommodate fans in the spring?"

During the stadium expansion in the 1990s, the spring games were played at Cartier Field, behind the Joyce Center. That's an option, but satisfying the demand for tickets would be a problem.

"There still may be some way that this can be timed and structured where we could still play at home," Heisler said. "But I guess at this point there's no guarantee. I think one consideration would be if there was work going on at one side of the stadium, would there be a way to seat people on the other side? I'm not sure we have any answers yet."

If a workaround in the stadium isn't feasible, I say go big. Rather than squeeze into Cartier Field again, pack up the team and head to Soldier Field. At least for 2007. It will be the first Blue-Gold game in five years where the starting QB job is up for grabs. Not to mention the other twelve starting spots that will be opened up by graduation. That alone should make it worthy of a trip to Chicago. Practical? Of course not. Worth looking into? Absolutely.

Weighing in

Lou Somogyi over at Blue and Gold has a roster update on the heights and weights of players as they headed into spring practice. The biggest change is that lineman Chris Stewart isn't listed at the 340 pounds written in his recruiting bio but rather 367 pounds. In other words, he's about two Kyle McCarthys. Not only is he the biggest lineman in ND history, he's also the only lineman this year over 300 pounds. And while some may think that he's gained weight since coming to campus, the truth is he's been dropping it. He was closer to 390 when he showed up in January.

Check out the article for the rest of the scoop on which guys got bigger (Victor Abiamiri, Anthony Vernaglia) and which guys got smaller (John Sullivan, Derrell Hand).

Rockne's Ramblers

At last weekend's Rockne Dinner in Chicago, between Charlie saying the only reason he'd leave ND is if he were fired, he died, or he retired, and Aaron Taylor's claim that he's leaving ABC Sports to become an elementary school teacher, the big news was Kevin White's announcement of some of the locations for future "neutral site" Notre Dame games.

There were discussions about adding a neutral site game back in September, but with definite locations being mentioned now, it seems the talks have moved from speculation to fact. Proposing that ND will move to a 7-4-1 type of schedule that consists of 7 home games, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site, Dr. White announced that the Irish will play in the following neutral site games:

2009 - Jacksonville
2010 - Orlando
2011 - New Orleans
2012 - Dallas

I think it's a great idea. Notre Dame will get a chance to play in front of fans and alumni in cities they don't normally visit, and I can't help but notice the games are in the talent rich states of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

On the other hand, I hope that the games are quality matchups, and not just matchups against a proverbial sacrificial lamb; the actual opponents weren't announced.

White said that this scheduling philosophy hearkens back to Rockne's barnstorming days, when the Irish would play neutral site games all over the country. While a reference to Rockne is the quickest way to the heart of any diehard ND fan, I hope Dr. White realizes that Rockne didn't line up many patsies on these trips. Unfortunately, not many top programs are going to want to give up a home field advantage, so the quality opponents might be few and far between. And with lackluster programs like San Diego State (2008) and Nevada (2009) still officially on the docket, I truly hope the future schedules aren't watered down any further.

With the '08 Navy game being played in Baltimore and the '12 Navy game being played in Ireland, I'm guessing that the 2010 Orlando game might be against the Midshipmen. As for the games in 2009, 2010, and 2011, you can get a look at what the future schedules are supposed to look like here, but obviously the teams and dates will still be shifting around to some degree.

Let me take a stab in the dark: South Florida might be the matchup for the 2009 game in Jacksonville. The Big East agreement goes into effect for 2009, meaning the Irish play three Big East teams that year. A game against USF would cover one of those slots with the other two possibly going to Pittsburgh (away) and West Virginia (home). From a USF standpoint, the attraction is obvious: I'm sure the Bulls would love to make a more serious move on Florida recruits, and the promise of a game in Florida against Notre Dame would be a great selling point. By the way, that game sounds like a cakewalk now, but honestly, I think the Bulls have the chance to be a Top 25 team by the time 2009 rolls around (if they can steal a few Florida high school studs here and there).

If I may make another prediction for a future game -- well, more of a suggestion than a prediction -- Georgia just cancelled a 2011 game with Cincinnati and now is in need of an out of conference opponent. I seriously doubt that the Bulldogs would want to travel up to South Bend to play the Irish, but what would they say to a game in New Orleans, live on NBC? (Not sure on the NBC part, but that was the rumor back in September). The Irish and the Bulldogs have only met once, a 17-10 Irish loss in the 1981 Sugar Bowl, so it would be nice to get a chance to even up the series. Besides, Georgia doesn't play LSU that year so it wouldn't be a repeat trip to the Bayou for the Bulldogs. At least one of the four "neutral site" games ought to be against a traditional power from a BCS conference school, and Georgia sounds good to me.

Finally, the 2012 game, in Dallas. I'm not going to guess a possible opponent, but consider this: the schedule for 2012 already has the Irish matched up with a Rutgers away game, presumably at the Meadowlands per the Big East agreement. Add in the Navy game in Ireland and the proposed game in Dallas, and that leaves only two genuine road games for 2012. One will be in Los Angeles against Southern Cal. The other might be Michigan State, if we continue to play them (which we should). I realize other schools do similar scheduling tricks with extra home games and such, but a 7-home game, 3-neutral site, and only 2-road game schedule sounds like a bit too much gerrymandering to me. Ideally, ND will be in the middle of a nice run of seasons at that point and shouldn't really need the home cooking.

Lightnin' Hoskins

Ever since his impressive hurdle of a Washington Husky on a kickoff return, we've been waiting for Justin Hoskins to make an even bigger impact somewhere in the starting lineup for the Irish. But it seems that won't be happening now, as the former Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year has decided to transfer from Notre Dame.

"It just wasn't a good fit for me here," Hoskins said. "I didn't get a whole lot of playing time here and I had an option of leaving so that's what I'm doing."

Many fans expected Hoskins -- a terrific athlete -- to contribute as a speed back for the Irish or possibly as a split end or cornerback. However, the emergence of Darius Walker and various other setbacks kept Hoskins on the bench. He actually did start the Insight.com bowl his freshman year, but Bill Diedrick put him in to throw a trick-play, halfback pass and then pulled him. During the crucial spring practice session with new coach Charlie Weis, Hoskins was suspended for a violation of team rules. Honestly, I don't think he ever fully got out of Weis' doghouse after that. And on top of that, he injured his shoulder in the fall which required surgery from which he is still recovering.

With Hoskins missing a second straight spring practice, I'm sure James Aldridge had already passed him on the running backs depth chart. Meanwhile, George West, Terrail Lambert, and David Grimes continued to make headway as the early leaders for kickoff return, pushing Hoskins further down the ladder. In fact, Weis seemed to confirm this to Hoskins.

"He just wants to play," Brenda Hoskins said. "He's a very gifted, talented athlete. They told him his playing time was not going to be very good."

We wish Hoskins well wherever he ends up, but at the same time, I respect the honesty from the coaching staff. It's easy to try and placate guys who will end up sitting on the bench, making veiled promises of possible playing time, but at least our coaches were up-front with Justin. Now Hoskins will be able to find a situation where he can be a featured back, and ND will have another scholarship to use next year.

A few weeks ago I speculated that both Hoskins and Munir Prince wouldn't finish their ND career at tailback. But with Hoskins leaving, I think that's the deathblow to the fledgling "Prince to cornerback" theory seen floating around various message boards. Obviously a lot can change, but you have to think that Prince now assumes the speed back, change-of-pace mantle for the forseeable future.

Justin Hoskins is seventh player from this junior class to leave the football program. Out of an original seventeen only ten remain, including only three players on the offensive side of the ball (backup QB David Wolke, Darius Walker, and QB turned WR Darrin Bragg). Put another way, next season there will be 25 juniors and sophomores (combined) on the team, and 28 freshman. This lack of upperclass depth is really going to hit ND hard in the next couple of years -- unless the incoming freshmen (both this year's and next's) can step in and play right away. At some positions, they're going to have to.

A Man Named Easter

Last week was the 75th anniversary of Rockne's plane crash and death, and a group of domers and fans congregated on the plains of Kansas to pay tribute to the greatest coach in the history of college football. Ivan Maisel did a nice piece on the day's events, and our friend Chuck, who had visited the crash site several times in the past, was also there last week for the memorial. Here's what he sent us.

Amid a cloudless and windy Spring morning in Kansas’ Flint Hills, an additional purpose to the gathering was captured aptly by Bernie Kish. The former Director of the College Football Hall of Fame reminded us that, although eight people -- including football’s greatest coach -- died in the 1931 crash of a TransWestern Continental Fokker, another man needed to be honored. This ninth man happened to be alive and among those in the pasture that day.

Easter Heathman is the only surviving witness to the event which was commemorated by nearly 200 people near Bazaar, Kansas on Friday. For the past 75 years Heathman has taken hundreds of alumni and interested passersby to the site. As a 13-year old boy, he was not a Notre Dame fan, nor did he know who Rockne was when he came upon the wreckage in the fields. However, since witnessing the event, Heathman has respectfully accepted the role of chief tour guide to this tiny shrine. No one from the University asked him to do so; no one appointed him keeper of these hallowed grounds. Heathman merely assumed the responsibility he felt “needed doing”.

Through the years Heathman has grown to understand the attachment Notre Dame has for its cherished football tradition and its chief figure. In turn, many ND fans have come to know a decent and kind man who tirelessly welcomes people by giving them a first-hand account of a major event which rocked the nation.

It is not hard to imagine that, had it not been for Easter, the monument might have been overgrown with high grass and forgotten. It has endured, however, and the number of people coming to visit has grown over the years. The site, situated on a rancher’s property, has come to represent both a standing memorial to a sad and historic event and a respectful connection between a local man and a national fanbase.

It was my personal honor to have been among the first of the pilgrims whom Heathman hosted when I made my first trip to Bazaar in 1990. He personally drove two of us across the pasture to the monument, gave a lengthy account of the event, and even tossed some passes back and forth to us. After answering every question we could imagine asking, Easter also saw us off us hours later. Upon returning for my fourth visit on Friday -- accompanied by my 15 year-old son -- Easter welcomed me back, remembering me by name and recalling all our previous meetings.

“Well, folks, it's sure good to see you all here,” Heathman offered in a softened tone to those gathered on Friday.

Likewise...to say the very least, Easter.

Easter is 89 years young today. Happy Birthday, Easter.

We also received a couple of photos from the statue dedication that was held in Voss, Norway, Rockne's birthplace. Check them out here and here.

Finally, here's an older piece from ESPN Classic on the Rockne memorial that you'll enjoy.

Thanks again to Chuck for his report. More importantly, thanks Chuck for making the trip, and representing all of us at the memorial of the man who not only was an immense public figure and a giant in the world of college football, but also who probably had more of an impact in shaping Notre Dame than anyone since Father Sorin.

Caption Contest

The roundhouse karate kick is most effective when surrounded by enemies.

Roster rumblings

Spring practice is nearing the halfway point so let's take a minute and do a quick recap. As you can expect from mostly closed practices, information isn't exactly flowing out but from the online spring prospectus and the various media stories there are still some items worth noting.

Moving On

The big news every spring is attrition and this year the program has lost two players, in addition to tight end Joey Hiben. Defensive back Labrose Hedgemon has transfered from Notre Dame and will be playing football next fall at Jackson State. Former defensive back turned running back Junior Jabbie has also left the team, but at last official announcement is still enrolled at Notre Dame. Both players seemed buried a bit on the depth chart at positions seeing an influx of numbers and talent in the fall.

Number Games

Perhaps only interesting to me, there didn't seem to be any number changes this spring. Usually the younger players will grab the numbers once held by graduating seniors but for whatever reason, that didn't happen this year. Maybe no one wanted to change, but I also think that Weis held back certain numbers for incoming recruits (e.g. #21 for Barry Gallup) Again, not something that's terribly important, just something I noticed.

Picture This

The South Bend Tribune has a online photo gallery from the past few practices. Plenty of excellent pictures and, while I'm at it, kudos to the Trib for deciding to put out photo galleries from various Irish athletic events and keep them up for longer than a week.

Open practice

Weis opened up an entire practice to the media last weekend and some hints about the up-for-grabs right tackle and linebacker spots came out. Irish Eyes has a great free rundown on the practice and the first and second teams shown at practice, but we'll just focus on the aforementioned key position battles.

At right tackle, Paul Duncan got the starting nod with Brian Mattes on the first team at right guard. I wouldn't read too much into that as this battle won't likely be won until August. Mattes has the experience advantage while Duncan and Turkovich seem to offer a bit more size. Should be an interesting battle, especially once Sam Young gets thrown into the mix.

Linebacker seems to be shaping up a bit, but injuries are limiting some of the likely starters to only spot duty right now. For the media open practice, Maurice Crum and Joe Brockington sat out so the first team of linebackers was Steve Quinn at outside linebacker, Mitchell Thomas in the middle, and Anthony Vernaglia at Apache. The second team was outside backer Scott Smith Nick Borseti manning the middle, and Kevin Washington at Apache.

From the sounds of things, it sounds like Crum on the inside with Brockington and Vernaglia on the outside is the likely starting lineup in the fall. That's a really fast linebacking corp, but not much size. Then again, I'd rather have experience in the middle of the defense helping communication than the size that someone like incoming freshman Toryan Smith provides. (Feel free to clip, save, and throw this back in my face at some point in the season.)

Random bits

• It seems nearly everyone is getting a shot to try returning kicks. Terrail Lambert and George West seem to be getting plenty of reps, but I think the kick return positions are far from being filled. I imagine once the rest of the freshman show up they will all get a look too.

• Evan Sharpley just might be emerging as the backup to Quinn at QB. Practice reports have him getting the bulk of the snaps between the backups.

• Weis said in his most recent press conference that for last year's coaching clinic, over 600 high school coaches showed up for the weekend. This year's clinic, which will take place this weekend, has over 1000 coaches showing up. That can't hurt future recruiting.

Boxing Day

Tom Zbikowski beat his roommate Jeff Samardzija to the professional athlete punch last week by officially turning pro as a boxer. At a press conference in Madison Square Garden, Zbikowski was introduced to the press as the future undercard fighter for the June 10th Cotto/Malignaggi fight at the Garden. His opponent hasn't been announced yet, but it might be one of these guys.

To end any Irish fan worry, the fight has been cleared by the NCAA as long as Zbikowski doesn't endorse any products and Weis has added his support for the venture.

"I think with any of our kids here, when you're looking at each situation as its own separate entity, I think that you always have to make sure that you take care of Notre Dame first," Weis said. "But you've got to be realistic. And in this situation, which was a very unusual situation, to take this opportunity away from him would have been the wrong thing to do."

Once spring practice has ended, Zbikowski will begin training for his pro debut, as well as a charity boxing event at the Aragon Ballroom on May 20th. In addition to working out at Cris Carter's Fast Program in Florida, Tommy will spend two weeks in New York working with Muhammed Ali's former trainer, Angelo Dundee.

Another one of Zbikowski's trainers, Sam Colonna, thinks that if football doesn't work out, that TZ has a future in the ring.

He's got all the tools,'' Colonna said. ''He's got very fast hands, but I think he would have to fight cruiserweight instead of heavyweight. His body structure is not that big, and heavyweights now are going 6-5 and 240 pounds.

''As a cruiserweight, he would do well. He's quick and has power in each hand. And he's well-balanced. He's got what it takes to do something. He's built like Evander Holyfield, and he has a lot of experience despite the fact he hasn't been doing this full time.''

Still, football is the most likely career in the immediate future and Zbikowski has a message for those fans fretting about a boxing injury impacting his play on the football field.

"I'm not going to get hurt," Zbikowski said. "Just tell them to look at the size of my head. They can check my X-rays to see how thick my skull is. Nothing's going to happen."

As for that future football career, more quotes that came out of the boxing press conference further speculation that Zbikowski most likely won't be around South Bend after this season.

'If I'm going to be a first- or second-rounder [in the 2007 NFL draft], I'm definitely going to go towards football,'' said Zbikowski, who was introduced at the news conference while the ND fight song played in the background. ''But boxing has always been a part of me. If I can't play football, I'm going to do boxing.

According to Weis, TZ is on track to graduate with the rest of his senior class so it's looking like Zbikowski will put his name in the draft next year assuming he feels he will be drafted in the first few rounds. Obviously a lot can happen in a year's time, but right now the current thought is that the first few rounds are exactly where he will get drafted.

Two NFL scouts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, are optimistic about Zbikowski's future in the NFL.

''I've seen [Notre Dame] a lot, and I love that kid,'' one scout said. ''He's definitely in the first two rounds, because we'd never let him get by us in the second.''

Irish fans will get to watch Tommy in the ring on Pay-Per-View in June but I can't really imagine him boxing much more in the near future due to his potential NFL career. He'll probably try to find his way back into the ring after his pro football days are over, but years in the NFL take a toll on an athlete so I can't blame Zibby at all for taking the shot to fight professionally now. You can't pass up an opportunity like this. His dad said it best.

"For Tommy to be a crotchety old man sitting in the corner of the bar someday and be able to say he fought in the Garden is something special."

Recruit Update

Last year we told you about a new recruit from across the Atlantic, Finbar Tunney O'Hanlon, a Gaelic football player who was discovered and recruited by Rob Ianello. Since then, O'Hanlon has accepted an offer to play football at Notre Dame and was an early admit this semester along with Chris Stewart, James Aldridge and George West.

Scout.com finally updated their database; check out their page on this authentic Irish commit.

Passing of a legend

Seventy-five years ago today, eight people lost their lives when TWA Flight 599 crashed into the fields of Bazaar, Kansas. Notable among the group was college football's greatest coach, Knute Rockne.

This somber anniversary is being marked with services both in Bazaar and back in his childhood hometown of Voss, Norway. In Voss, a statue of him, made in part with the metal from a carriage built in Voss by Knute's dad in 1888 (the year Knute was born), a gold leaf from the Golden Dome at Notre Dame, and metal scraps from the plane that ultimately took his life, is being dedicated at the exact time of the crash.

The full story of that fateful day is described in detail by Irish Legends and in this excerpt of a Rockne biography. Irish Legends also has a reprint of the eulogy at Rockne's funeral, as given by the President of the University, Rev. Charles L. O'Donnell, C.S.C.

Last year I ended the Rockne anniversary post with a quote from one of Rockne's contemporaries, Will Rogers. This year, I think it's fitting to use a quote from Charlie Weis, the current holder of the job made famous by Knute just over 75 years ago.

"It's a time for us to reflect on true greatness, which is what he was."

Grab Bag

Clearing out the pipeline with a number of recent ND-related stories...

In the corner stands a safety

Zbikowski finally managed to get back into the ring in the form of a charity event in Chicago's south side. Many Irish fans were on hand to watch him dispatch his opponent in a 2nd round TKO. Check out a few clips of the fight here and a few pictures here. With rumors that Zibby is going to turn pro as a boxer for a June undercard fight at Madison Square Garden, it might not be your last time to check him out. But next year could be the final year to see him in a Notre Dame uniform. A highly recommended read in the South Bend Tribune details the fight night and Zbikowski's plans for next year.

"Coach Weis is the best in the business," Zbikowski said, "so whatever he suggests, I'll follow. It's smarter to plan for an early departure and have the option to stay than plan to stay and then change your mind and somehow miss out on getting your degree. I'm still not sure if I'll use my fifth year. I'm going to graduate in December and take it from there.

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Cotton Bowl Bonzana

The Cotton Bowl was added to a Irish non-BCS bowl possibilites list that already includes the Gator, Sun, and Houston Bowl. Each non-BCS option only gets to choose the Irish once every four years. The Houston Bowl doesn't look too appealing, but keep in mind that for ND to end up there, the Irish would have to miss out on the BCS for four straight years. And as Eric Hansen details in the South Bend Tribune, the path to the BCS won't be quite as hard as in year's past.

The BCS bowls have first dibs on the Irish, and with a fifth bowl being added to that lucrative lineup, ND's path got a little easier. The Irish automatically qualify with a top 8 finish in the BCS standings, where a top 6 standing was the old standard.

While we're monitoring the bowl picture landscape, Jason Kelly's skewering of the Kevin White's reaction to the revised bowl alliance is also worth a read. Can't say I remember such a upfront and direct article on ND's AD.

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Red Tag Sale

Much to the glee of NFL owners and the chagrin of Notre Dame fans, the Bob Davie era at Notre Dame turned the once proud program into a veritable Filene's Basement for NFL teams looking for top quality talent on the cheap. But the days of the low, low prices and draft day steals are now officially over. Recently, a troika of Davie era players were able to cash in on the production that in at least one case far outweighed their original draft positions.

Leading the charge was David Givens who signed with the Tennessee Titans to a tune of $24 million over five years and a $8 million signing bonus. Also picking up a hefty chunk of change was defensive end Anthony Weaver who signed with the Houston Texans for $26.5 million dollars over five years and a $12 million signing bonus spread over two years. Last but not least was Rocky Boiman who moved on to the Dallas Cowboys and signed a very respectable three year deal that can reach as high as $5 million including incentives and includes a $1 million signing bonus.

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ND Pro Day

As the NFL draft looms closer, ND held its own Pro Day earlier in March. Here are the results according to nfl.com.

The players ran indoors on FieldTurf. Twenty-five teams were represented, and a number of position coaches were there. Charlie Weis addressed all the NFL people before the activities began, and as one would expect from Weis, the day was well-organized.

Anthony Fasano: TE Fasano (6-4 3/8, 250) ran his 40s in 4.74 and 4.71 seconds. He looked very good in the position drills.
Maurice Stovall: WR Stovall (6-4 3/8, 218) ran his 40s in 4.54 and 4.57 seconds. He also had a 32½-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-4 broad jump.
Matt Shelton : WR Shelton (5-11 3/8, 180) ran his 40s in 4.54 and 4.41. They tried to get him to run a third time due to the discrepancy, but he didn't want to. Shelton added a 30½-inch vertical jump, 9-foot-7 broad jump, 4.20 short shuttle, 6.77 three-cone drill and had 16 lifts.
Dan Stevenson: OL Stevenson (6-5¼, 300) worked out at Combine and worked out again. He ran 5.34 twice in the 40-yard dash, had a 4.55 short shuttle and a 7.33 three-cone drill.
Mark LeVoir : OL LeVoir (6-6 5/8, 316) had a 30-inch vertical jump, 8-foot-7 broad jump and 20 lifts. (ed. note. message board posts suggest LeVoir did 29 reps, not 20)
Rashon Powers-Neal: FB Powers-Neal (6-2¼, 240) ran his 40s in 4.61 and 4.65. He had a 4.25 short shuttle, 6.96 three-cone drill, 31½-inch vertical jump, 9-foot-8 broad jump and 19 lifts on the bench press.

Freshman Focus

Blueandgold.com put out a page of photos from the first spring practice. Get your first look at early enrollees James Aldridge (#34), George West (#19), and Mr. Plow himself, Chris Stewart, (#59) in an Irish uniform.

Hoosier daddy

With all the talk of veteran tight end Marcus Freeman impressing, incoming tight end Will Yeatman getting a scholarship, and Weis raising the talent and expectation levels of the program, this clip came to mind. We're on our way back to the top, and a good sign to let us know we're officially back is when our 2nd-string players can do this.

In motion

ESPN Motion has a quick interview up with Weis right after ND's first spring practice. Charlie talks about the Fiesta Bowl and plans for the upcoming season. If you don't blink, you'll see Walker, Quinn, and a few other Irish players going through practice drills.

They don't make anything easy on their website, so the link isn't directly to the video. You have to click the "Launch Motion Player Now" button at the bottom. Another route is to go here and look for the ESPN Motion link under the Headlines.

Talking Irish

Plenty of stuff coming out of Media Day after Charlie and the rest of the coaches sat down to give their thoughts on the current state of the program heading into spring practice. Here are the links to get you started.

Weis Presser. Pretty much a mandatory read for any Notre Dame fan. Here are some selected highlights:

On expectations. "I think out of all of the objectives that we have for the spring, the number one objective of this football team is to raise their own expectations." "I know that I am not satisfied with the season that we had last year. And I am hoping this time around that raising the expectations should be a rather simple task."

On 5th Year Players. "Fifth-year guys, we have eight scholarship guys that are going to be coming back for a fifth year: three on defense and five on offense. Derek Landri, Chris Frome and Mike Richardson are coming back on defense. And on offense, Dan Santucci, Bobby Morton, Brian Mattes, Rhema McKnight and Marcus Freeman. So they are the eight guys that have applied and will be returning for a fifth year."

On Injuries. Weis listed Chris Frome, Abdel Banda, and D.J. Hord as doubtful for spring practice. He also mentioned that the following list of players will be entering the spring a bit banged up and will be limited on a varying basis: Maurice Crum, Joe Brockington, Kyle McCarthy, Victor Abiamiri, John Sullivan, Brian Mattes, and Justin Hoskins.

On Blue-Gold Captains. "We do have honorary coaches like we did last year; quite an eclectic group on defense with two guys named Golic, both Mike and Bob, they are going to be our two defensive coaches for the game. On offense we got two guys that you guys might not have heard of, but one is named Rocket Ismael and the other one's name is Jerome Bettis. We also are going to have two honorary captains for the game. One team will have Pete Duranko, the member of the '66 National Championship team. I think that he will be one of our honorary captains and the other honorary captain will be somebody that wins the auction from the Center for the Homeless because they are auctioning off an honorary captain and that will be the other one."

On Will Yeatman. "Now, we will have 25 scholarship players coming in this summer; not 24. What I did was after Joey Hiben decided to leave the team to concentrate on academics, I then flipped Will Yeatman's scholarship from lacrosse to football. I didn't want to short change myself and leave myself a man shy at the tight end position. I had this resource that I want to try to protect for a year, but what I didn't want to do is short change myself and leave myself a man shy at the position. So Yeatman is on a football scholarship; not a lacrosse scholarship."

On the off-season star. "...Marcus Freeman definitely going through this offseason was easily, by far, the most improved player we had going through the spring. It was a night and day difference. I think if you asked any guy on the coaching staff, anyone would have said that the most encouraging thing coming out of the last couple of months was the looks of Marcus Freeman."

On recruiting. "Every time we look at a player, I try to look at these guys: Can this guy help us win a National Championship. Not can this guy play at Notre Dame. Can this guy help us win a National Championship? Because, to me, that should be the goal. If you are the head coach at Notre Dame, that should ultimately be your goal."

On Brady winning the Heisman. "Here's my feeling: If he wins the Heisman Trophy, that probably means we win the National Championship. So sign me up."

Assistant Coach Quotes. Also a good read. Every coach offers up his ideas and though the theme is similar throughout, it's a good chance to read what each coach has planned for the spring. My favorite quote came from Coach Haywood on how the team defines success and team goals.

"What some people may call success, we don't necessarily believe is the best football we could have played. We're setting our goals a little bit higher and expectations a little bit higher. During the off-season, it started with ourselves. We go through and do a self-evaluation of each individual coach on offense -- the things we did well, the things we didn't do well -- and how can we improve. From there, you do an evaluation of the players. What runs did certain running backs do well and what runs didn't they do well? This is where you have to improve. And then, you go through schemes and that's where we're going to work on each individual player and each individual scheme to get better as a team.

---

A few thoughts on the whole media day blitz.

• Love seeing more Irish legends coming back and helping out with the Blue-Gold game. Coming off the big Super Bowl win, Bettis will be a big draw although the Rocket and the Golic brothers are certainly no slouches given their rich history on the playing field and in the media (ESPN Gameday/ESPN Radio/Saved by the Bell: The College Years).

• It's fun to bring up the whole Saved by the Bell thing with Bob Golic, but for those who didn't realize just how good Bob Golic was, consider this. In 1978, Golic finished the year with 152 tackles from his linebacker spot. This year Brandon Hoyte and Maurice Crum combined for 149 tackles.

• It's also a great touch that Weis included Pete Duranko as an honorary captain for the game. The presence of Duranko, currently battling ALS, will mean that vital players from the national championship teams of '66 (Duranko), '77 (Golic), and '88 (Rocket) will all be on hand to help out.

• It will be interesting to see if Will Yeatman will see the field as a freshman now that he is on a football scholarship. The 6'6" 255-pound athlete was one of the top lacrosse recruits in the entire country so he should bring a lot of size and athelticism to the team. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get in during mop up duty in three or four games.

• It's incredible to think of just how thin the depth chart is at offensive line. With John Sullivan being held out due to shoulder surgery, that leaves just seven scholarship offensive lineman ready to line up and play this spring. If any of those guys go down with injury, Weis might have to have Coach Mendoza suit up.

• Not sure why Coach Parmalee and Coach Oliver felt the need to wear nametags to Media Day. I would certainly hope the media have figured out who they are by now.

• Weis' response to how he plans to upgrade the pass rush ("I'm not telling") was great. Then again, with all new linebackers, I doubt the answer is a mix of exotic blitz packages. Could Abiamiri be headed to weakside defensive end? Developing....

• Production has its privledges I guess. Number of football practices that Samardzija gets to skip in order to play baseball. Nine. Number of football practices that Evan Sharpley gets to skip in order to play basketball. Zero. I think Weis' quote sums it up.

"Well, if Sharpley were going to start at first base hitting 25 home runs, I think he might be over there with the baseball team. But he's not."

• With Samardzija splitting time with baseball and DJ Hord more or less out for the spring, there should be golden opportunities for Chase Anastacio, Darrin Bragg, David Grimes, and George West to battle for that 3rd receiver spot. Aside from Rhema McKnight, those are the only four healthy wide receivers practicing full-time this spring.

• Likewise, with Brian Mattes reportedly battling through a foot injury, Paul Duncan and Mike Turkovich have a great opportunity to snag that starting right tackle spot.

• Lastly, an interesting shift in coaching duties. Coach Polian has moved from assistant defensive backs coach to assistant linebackers coach. Considering Polian was a three year letterman at linebacker in college, he should have some idea how to coach it. With all the turnover in the linebacker position and the wide-open battles for the starting spots, I like the idea that there will be another pair of experienced eyes watching closely and giving advice during the spring. Grad assistant Jeff Burrow, who played defensive back under Minter at Cincinnati, is expected to help out Coach Lewis even more with the defensive backs now and that just makes sense as well.

A Special Trip

Saw this on the Rivals recruiting wire this morning, an update on Irish commit Kerry Neal:

Neal ready for Notre Dame visit

Notre Dame commit Kerry Neal of Bunn, N.C., will take his first trip to South Bend, Ind., this weekend as he and several members of the Bunn High staff will be visiting. A local church sold chicken plate dinners to raise the money for Neal and the Bunn coaches to travel to Notre Dame this weekend. Neal also added two offers from Alabama and Nebraska this week.

I know it probably shouldn't have, but that bolded line really jumped out at me. Given the economic profile of a "typical" Notre Dame student, a trip to ND doesn't seem like a prohibitive expense; certainly not so pricey that you'd have to convene a Church fundraiser to cover the cost. And yet, amid the scores of kids at ND who got keys to a car on their 16th birthday and fly to exotic spring break destinations each year, it's easy to overlook fellow classmates (or potential classmates) who don't have the same means. We shouldn't, of course, but sometimes we do. Bunn, North Carolina, is a town of 357, half a square mile in land, where the median income for a family is $45,000 a year and 16% of the population is below the poverty line. For Neal and the parishoners at that church in Bunn (whether the church was Catholic or not), making a trip to Notre Dame is not a run-of-the-mill thing, as it is for so many other prospective freshmen.

So, thanks to those church members who made this trip for Kerry and his coaches possible.

Spring has sprung

It's a great day for Irish football fans as spring football season officially kicks off today with Media Day. We'll get to the quotes, pictures, and other assorted details later, but for now let's start with what we see as the top five questions about the team. As spring is a time more for player development and less for scheme we're going to stick to personnel type questions and leave the "will the DB's stop biting on the play action" type questions for the fall. Let's get started.

1. Who will fill Corey Mays and Brandon Hoyte's shoes at linebacker?

No position loses more than linebacker. Two of last year's starters, Brandon Hoyte and Corey Mays, are gone and need to be replaced. Not only that, but the sole returning starter, Maurice Crum, is rumored to be out for the spring due to back surgery. That means that there are three starting spots up for grabs this spring and no clear favorite. With lots of opportunities for the young (and not so young) linebackers on the team to stake their claim on the starting positions, it should be an exciting spring. Not only are there no clear favorites to move into the starting lineup, it's also unclear exactly where the current crop of replacements will end up once the dust settles. For example, how the other linebackers perform this spring might determine where Crum ends up when he returns in the spring. Will he have to stay at Apache, replace Hoyte at Will, or, as some rumors suggest, see a move to the middle?

Here's a sampling of some of the linebacker related questions that coaches and fans alike will be focusing on this spring. Will Anthony Vernaglia finally have his breakout that fans have been waiting for? Can the rising senior linebackers (Mitchell Thomas, Joe Brockington, Nick Borseti) find a spot on the field? Will Abdel Banda come back from an injury-filled 2005 and stake a claim for playing time? Who will be the first freshman (Scott Smith, Kevin Washington, Steve Quinn) to earn PT? Will any of these linebackers ultimately be good enough to adequately replace Hoyte and Mays? Questions abound at the linebacker position. Expect some of the best battles of the spring here.

2. Will a definite #3 wide receiver emerge?

Jeff Samardzija and Rhema McKnight have a total of 198 career receptions between them. The rest of the wide receivers on the roster only have 3. When Brady Quinn tires of throwing completions to Jeff and Rhema, who will he target? With ND's thin depth chart at tight end -- only two scholarship tight ends this spring -- having a third receiver ready to go for the fall will certainly be a staff priority. The question is, who will it be?

Senior-to-be Chase Anastacio only has one reception in his first three years although he has made a name for himself as a special teams ace. This spring might be his last chance to crack the lineup. The junior class of wide recievers actually consists of a pair of position transfers in the form of former QB Darrin Bragg and former safety/running back Junior Jabbie. Both should have plenty of opportunites to impress, but it will probably be an uphill climb for both. The most likely candidates are actually the two sophomores. David Grimes probably has the upper hand out of all the options as he has started to see some time on the field at receiver towards the end of the 2005 season. His classmate, DJ Hord, is the player that most fans hope step up. Hord's calling card is speed and ideally he would be able to provide the speedy deep threat to compliment the strengths of Samardzija and McKnight. The darkhorse in this race is early entry freshman George West, although it's likely he'll make an impact on special teams before getting playing time at receiver. Three more wideouts show up in the fall and while it's hard for freshman WR to make an impact, due mainly to poor blocking skills and unrefined route running, any player hoping to see passes thrown his way in the fall will have to take advantage of the lack of receivers on the roster this spring and make a move up the depth chart.

3. Who's the fifth lineman?

The only true missing link on offense this spring will be at right tackle. Either Dan Santucci or Bob Morton will slide over to right guard to replace Dan Stevenson. That leaves the question of which inexperienced player will be able to grab the starting right tackle job left open by departing Mark LeVoir. 5th year senior Brian Mattes probably will get first crack at it, but it will be interesting to see what a year in a college weight program does for the sophomore duo of Paul Duncan and Mike Turkovich. Both impressed early last year but still had a ways to go in terms of adding strength. Getting a quick start will be key in this race as one of these three will probably end up as the backup to Ryan Harris at left tackle. Eventually that backup will have to take reps with the 2nd team at left tackle which will make it harder to earn the starting spot on the right. With highly regarded tackle Sam Young showing up in the summer, getting quality reps in with the first team during the spring will be a huge advantage for the guys already on the roster.

4. Which defensive end will start opposite Victor Abiamiri?

After watching opposing teams pick our the secondary, a pass rush is near the top of any Irish fan's wish list. But for that to come true, the defensive end opposite Victor Abiamiri is going to need to really produce next season. The good news is that Chris Frome, Ronald Talley, and Justin Brown all saw time as starters last season and return this spring with a year of experience under their belt. The bad news is that they only combined for 3 sacks. Frome will be coming back from season ending knee injury so obviously getting healthy and building confidence in his knee will be the goal for him this spring. Talley and Brown plenty of both showed flashes of potential last year, but still weren't quite there from a strength standpoint. Hopefully an off-season under Coach Mendoza will have them ready to go this spring. Going into their junior year they will need to push each other since the thin depth chart behind them won't provide much challenge from other players. It would be great of one of the three stepped up to the point where the coaches felt comfortable moving Victor Abiamiri to the weak side where he could really focus on rushing the QB. Time will tell if that happens.

5. Who will have the breakout spring?

Irish fans are always on the lookout for the next great player. And what better time to find them than in the spring? Whether he's the underclassmen who walked in the the weight room in January and emerged a different person in March or the player who makes the leap in his final year in an Irish uniform (can we just call it "pulling a Stovall" from now on?) the annual "breakout" search is always a fun one. Rather than just list any of the possible candidates, I'll list out the players that would most help the team with a breakout spring.

Since question #1 on our list is about linebackers, it's safe to say that many Irish fans are hoping for one of the linebackers to make his inclusion in the starting lineup a no-brainer. Notably, Mitchell Thomas and Anthony Vernaglia seem to have both the size and speed that fans would love to see flying all over the field. Thomas may be running out of chances to crack the starting lineup while Vernaglia's debut in the starting lineup has been eagerly anticipated ever since he turned down Pete Carroll and headed to South Bend.

Another fan favorite recruit, Justin Hoskins, also has fans nervously wondering if he will ever make an impact. I can't see Hoskins and incoming recruit Munir Prince both finishing their careers at running back so if Hoskins doesn't want to be the one shifted to wide receiver or cornerback, he's going to need to show his stuff this spring. Missing nearly the entire spring session last year really hurt him and he can't really afford another setback like that if he wants to enter the running back rotation that adds early entry James Aldridge this spring. Hoskins can add a real speed threat to the running backs so obviously it would be great if this spring he can prove he deserves to get a few carries a game.

David Bruton appears to have an Nduwke-sized obstacle between him and the starting lineup, but it was hard to watch him blazing down the field on special teams last year and not imagine him as the ball-hawking free safety ND fans crave. It has been reported a few different places that Nduke won't be moving to linebacker, so Bruton isn't going to be handed the starting job, he's going to have to earn it. Even if he can't knock Nduwke out, Bruton's development will be key to a safety position that might lose both starters at the end of next year.

Other possible "breakout" names to keep an eye on this spring include Terrail Lambert, Dwight Stephenson, Jr., Darrin Bragg, D.J. Hord, Scott Smith, Darrell Hand, George West, and Chris Stewart. Truthfully, every player on the roster should be included here and that is one of the fun things about spring practice. You never know when the next Fighting Irish football star is about to debut.

Spring Depth Chart

So I figured I'd offer up my guesses for the final spring depth chart. Keep in mind that last year I pegged Freddie Parish as our starting free safety so all predictions are dubious at best. Feel free to remind me of my mistakes later in the year. Note that I didn't include Crum since it doesn't sound like he's practicing and this is a spring roster. It's safe to say he'll be starting (somewhere) next fall.

QB	Brady Quinn David Wolke	SDE	Victor Abiamiri Justin Brown
RB	Darius Walker Travis Thomas	DT	Derek Landri Pat Kuntz
FB	Asaph Schwapp Ashley McConnell	DT	Trevor Laws Darrell Hand
Z	Rhema McKnight David Grimes	WDE	Chris Frome Ronald Talley
X	Jeff Samardzija D.J. Hord	WILL	Joe Brockington Abdel Banda
TE	John Carlson Marcus Freeman	MIKE	Scott Smith Mitchell Thomas
LT	Ryan Harris Paul Duncan	Apache	Anthony Vernaglia Steve Quinn
LG	Dan Santucci Bob Morton	CB	Mike Richardson Terrail Lambert
C	John Sullivan Bob Morton	CB	Ambrose Wooden Leo Ferrine
RG	Bob Morton Chris Stewart	SS	Tom Zbikowski Ray Herring
RT	Brian Mattes Mike Turkovich	FS	Chinedum Ndukwe David Bruton

that'd be grand!

Happy St. Pat's. You know the tune...did you know the lyrics?

Beauing, belling, dancing, drinking,
Breaking windows, cursing, sinking
Every raking, never thinking,
Live the Rakes of Mallow

Spending faster than it comes,
Beating waiter's bailiffs, duns,
Bacchus' true begotten sons,
Live the Rakes of Mallow.

One time naught but claret drinking,
Then like politicians, thinking
To raise the sinking funds when sinking.
Live the Rakes of Mallow.

When at home, with da-da dying,
Still for mellow water crying,
But, where there's good claret plying
Live the Rakes of Mallow.

When at home with dadda dying,
Still for Mallow-water crying,
But where there is good claret plying
Live the rakes of Mallow.

Living short but merry lives,
Going where the devil drives,
Having sweethearts, but no wives,
Live the rakes of Mallow.

Racking tenants stewards teasing,
Swiftly spending, slowly raising,
Wishing to spend all their days in
Raking as at Mallow.

Then to end this raking life,
They get sober, take a wife,
Ever after live in strife,
And wish again for Mallow.

Tick-Tock

There is still one excruciatingly long week ahead of us until the start of spring practice. To help pass the time, everyone gather round the old cyber armchair here and listen to a tale about the crazy recruiting wars back in the 60's. If you think that incessant text-messanging, Tom Lemming, and non-stop recruiting website updates are proof that recruiting has hit rock bottom, you might reconsider after reading this.

The story comes from Lannie Julias, a current contributor to uscfootball.com and a former college coach and recruiter for a number of D-1 schools. Julias' blog is a good read that dishes out both talent evaluations and ancedotes about his days as a coach. A few weeks ago he shared a story about the lengths he went to in order to secure a talented running back prospect out of SoCal for his team, San Jose State. Highly recommended reading.

The story is split into two parts. Part one sets up the recruiting climate that existed back in the day.

Again, no letter of intents. Also, there were no 'dead' periods in recruiting. It was an era when 'kidnapping' (with the player's consent) was a common practice. That was a term used for when a week or a few days before the opening of fall practice, a coaching staff would hide a player somewhere so that they could get him on the field for the first day of fall practice. Then he was part of the program and couldn't go anywhere else.

Part Two details Julias' efforts to keep the recruit hidden in various motels from competing college coaches who were tracking the recruit down during a 22 day period leading up to the first day of fall practice.

I gave the bell hop 10 more dollars (a lot of money in those days). Lucky for me, it was only 5:50 a.m. and even though we were near the San Jose airport, a lot of business travelers had not begun to check in yet. So there were only about 40 cars at most in the hotel parking lot. I woke Walter up. He showered and dressed and I informed him that I would pick him up at the back door of the hotel in about five minutes. I walked around the hotel to the parking lot and from afar could see the assistant coach through the window eating his breakfast and reading the newspaper. It was a few minutes after 6 a.m. I checked the license plates from car to car and finally came upon that coach's car. It was just waiting there for me and I slit all four tires of his rent-a-car (I'm a city guy, but like a lot of travelers of that day, always carried a pocket knife for protection purposes only).

Hiding recruits, spying on other coaches, slitting car tires... It's the kind of full-contact recruiting that must bring a tear to the eye of Ed Orgeron. Reading this good yarn not only highlights some of the down and dirty tatics used to get recruits to a certain school, but makes me wonder just what current coaches are doing, more specifically the young assistants striving to make a name for themselves, to make sure the guy they are recruiting signs that all important letter of intent. Anyway, enjoy the story. Only one week until the gold helmets return to the practice fields.

Who's Better Who's Best

As we creep closer to the start of spring practice, the various online sports sites are gearing up with the pre-pre-season predictions. Over at CNNSI.com they listed out the Top 20 returning players in the country. The photo essay lists two Domers in the Top 20 in the form of Jeff Samardzija at #9 and Brady Quinn at #2. The number one spot goes to Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson, who will probably be Quinn's main competition for the Heisman.

Re-checking the list for Irish opponents in 2006 reveals Michigan running back Mike Hart at #16, Penn State left tackle Levi Brown at #12, Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson at #7, Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny at #4, and Southern Cal wideout Dwayne Jarrett at #3.

We can quibble about the exact rankings (Jarrett at 3?), but all on the list are very good players. So that got us thinking -- after all, it's the offseason and what better way to pass the time than more glazomania -- who are the Top 20 returning players that the Irish will face next year? This question proved to be quite the topic in the BGS Lounge with many names tossed out and rejected before we ultimately arrived at this list of Top 20. To avoid silly nit-picking, the list is in no paticular order. Oh, and to avoid just listing the Trojan depth chart we decided to cap each team's contribution to 5 players. So here we go.

1. Dwayne Jarrett - USC WR 2. Paul Posluszny - PSU LB 3. Mike Hart - UM RB 4. Calvin Johnson - GT WR 5. Drew Stanton - MSU QB 6. Levi Brown - PSU LT 7. Mario Manningham - UM WR 8. Dorien Bryant - PU WR 9. Sam Baker - USC LT 10. Tony Hunt - PSU RB

11. Chad Henne - UM QB 12. Lawrence Jackson - USC DE 13. Keith Rivers - USC LB 14. Lamarr Woodley - UM DE 15. Derrick Williams - PSU WR 16. Kory Sheets - PU RB 17. Ryan Kalil - USC C 18. Evan Moore - SU WR 19. Trent Edwards - SU QB 20. Rob Caldwell - Navy LB

Obviously pre-spring practice lists don't always reflect what shows up in the fall. Due to injury or some off-the-field incident there's a good chance that at least one of the names on the list won't be suiting up when it comes time for kickoff against the Irish. But we're all pretty confident that the Top 20 we listed are some of the best players that will face the Irish. It's possible that some of the more hyped, but unproven players, like UCLA's Ben Olsen, could find their way onto this list come game time, but for now we're going on more on proven production than potential. So who did we miss?

"Nails"

The stealth recruiting continued with ND's second verbal commitment in the form of Illinois running back/safety/linebacker Aaron Nagel (#20, right). Nagel came to Notre Dame as part of a small invite-only Junior Day and picked up an unexpected scholarship offer. And just like Kerry Neal, Nagel jumped on the chance to join the Fighting Irish.

"My dream school is Notre Dame,'' he said. "I always wanted to go there. I always liked their program. I always liked their academics and tradition."

As a star for Lemont High School, the 6'2" 215-pound Nagel plays safety and running back. As his team's main ground threat, Nagel piled up 1265 yards rushing and 17 TD's on 168 carries. Despite the impressive rushing totals though, it sounds like his future position with the Irish might lie at linebacker. Nagel mentioned that Weis is hoping to have him put on a few pounds and suit up at outside linebacker instead of his current spot at strong safety. Whether he ends up at safety or linebacker though, Nagel brings a lot of speed and a penchant for the big hit. He also seems to enjoy it.

"Defense is my passion,'' he said. "I like to hit people. I'm used to carrying the ball 17 to 18 times a game and catching passes, but I like defense more than offense. I like to be the one hitting people, not the one who is taking a hit and getting hurt."

Nagel's commitment to ND caught many Irish fans off-guard, but he wasn't nearly the sleeper candidate that Kerry Neal was. Before Nagel jumped on the ND offer, nearly all of the Big Ten (save the traditional heavyweights) had offered him a scholarship in addition to schools like Oklahoma State, Boston College, and Stanford. Some might worry that a lack of offer from a Michigan or Ohio State means something, but we need to keep in mind it's still March. It's true that recruiting has really picked up the pace the past few years, but many schools still like to get kids to a summer camp before handing out an offer. Weis apparently though didn't need that with Aaron.

Nagel picked up his scholarship offer after a 40 minute personal interview with Charlie. Ranked 3rd in his class with a GPA over 4.0, Nagel certainly fits Weis' ideal of "football players who can also read and write." No doubt he impressed Weis with whatever it is they talked about. According to Nagel, Weis excused himself from the interview at the end and said he'd be back in a minute.

"He came back," Aaron Nagel recalled Monday via cell phone, "and he said, 'All right Aaron, I think we're going to pull the trigger now.'"

From there it was a short race back home to confer with his parents before calling Weis back and accepting the offer. Living close to Chicago made for a quick car ride and also probably helped Nagel's cause as I really think that Weis is trying to really lock down the best talent in and around the city. It seems that Weis is trying to re-establish ND's presence in the midwest with kids that love ND, but I really think that the greater Chicago area is where Weis wants to make the Irish destination #1 for the best players. ND will always go after the best talent regardless of location, but building a solid base of midwestern kids, especially those that grew up dreaming about ND, is a smart move to me.

With two defensive players on board now, the common trait is their abundance of speed. I don't think it should be overlooked that both Nagel and Neal started high school in the defensive backfield, corner and safety respectively, before growing into their current position at safety and linebacker. Now, it seems that Weis sees them shifting yet again to linebacker and defensive end. It has long been a tradition that the best way to add speed is to make safeties into linebackers and linebackers into lineman. It seems that Weis is doing the same thing here with Neal and now Aaron Nagel.

And really now, what's not to like about a future linebacker who's last name is German for "nail"?

Off we go

Only a short twenty-four days after the 2006 Signing Day, Coach Weis landed his first verbal commit for the 2007 recruiting class. North Carolina linebacker/defensive end Kerry Neal jumped on a scholarship offer and quickly made his choice to play for the Irish.

"I love Notre Dame," Neal said. "That's where I want to go to school. It really hasn't hit me yet that I get to go."

The under-the-radar committment caught just about everyone outside of the Gug by surprise; most of that is due to the whirlwind nature of Neal's annoucement.

Weis watched a tape of Neal at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday and immediately called Bunn coach David Howle, leaving a message that the Irish were offering Neal a scholarship.

Later in the morning, Weis called back and Neal left his U.S. History class to talk to the Notre Dame coach.

"I was speechless," Neal said. "It was Notre Dame. I watch them all the time on television."

Neal said he first remembers watching Notre Dame play football when he was in the fourth grade and his love for Irish football deepened when he watched the movie "Rudy," which is about a walk-on at Notre Dame.

Neal said Weis, the former offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots, told him that he knew what kind of player he needed to win at Notre Dame.

Then he repeated his offer of a scholarship, which Neal accepted.

If only all recruiting were that easy.

While it was most likely completely unintentional, I do like the fact that the first verbal of the latest recruiting class is a defensive prospect and a potential speed rusher at that. Only ten of the incoming 27 freshman are coming in as defensive players, so landing some quality defensive prospects -- especially at linebacker and defensive line -- is a big need for this current recruiting class. Neal plays outside linebacker for his high school but as he keeps growing might find himself with his hands on the ground at defensive end. The North Carolina native has drawn a few Julius Peppers comparisons from locals, and while that may be just a tad bit premature, it's still nice to hear.

When he selected the Irish, the 6'3", 220 pound Neal had offers from East Carolina and Wake Forest, with North Carolina and Virginia just about ready to pull the trigger as well. As a junior, Neal amassed 327 yards and 7 TDs on only 16 receptions at tight end, and chalked up 111 tackles and 14 sacks from his linebacker position. Here's an excerpt from a local paper detailing his sophomore year efforts.

Real deal Neal oughta transform into a “monster,” Coach Stewart added. “He has athleticism and smarts. He can drop back and cover receivers. He’ll line up on the strong side. Any adjustments we make, we’ll make with him.” The man manufactured 75 stops (5.8 per performance) and picked pockets apart for eight sacks along his 2004 terrorizing tirade. He vandalized Warren County for a career-best 14 carrier cagings, then hammered Northern Vance for seven socks and an interception, then saddled Southern Vance with eight lassoings and two slinger bringdowns, then pulverized Pender County inflicting seven tackles and three rifler bashings during the first round of the playoffs.

(To be honest, the main reason I included the previous paragraph is the writing style. Stuart Scott himself couldn't come up with so many synonyms for sacking a quarterback. Then again, I can't be too critical as I once did use "hogskin wrangler" to describe MSU's Jerramy Scott.)

Neal also plays forward for his high school basketball team, which is always a good sign that a player is more than just a large lumbering mass. Basketball is one sport that really does help to develop a player's quickness and ability to efficiently change direction. While I'm reluctant to bring out any Justin Tuck comparisons on Neal, I will note that Tuck was also a hoops player in high school, twice being named MVP of his Alabama state champion team. Neal doesn't seem to be up to that level of hardwood production, but nevertheless it's a good sign for ND's speed rushing hopes that Neal also plays a sport that relies more on speed than strength.

Furthermore, an article on Irish Illustrated about Neal notes that he started at cornerback as a freshman. That reminds me of incoming freshman defensive end Kallen Wade who started out his high school career as a safety before moving to linebacker and then defensive end. While I don't expect either of them to be lining up in man coverage against any receivers in college, it is nice to know that on certain blitz packages when they drop back into coverage that it won't be a completely foreign experience for them.

With over 300 days between now and Signing Day 2007, it almost seems too early to be concerned with recruiting, but as recruits seem to be voicing their choices earlier and earlier, it's a great sign to see one of the early announcements fall Notre Dame's way.

Re-writing the record books

UND.com recently updated all of the online documents that list out all of historical records and awards for the Notre Dame football program. Now names like Stovall, Samardzija, Walker, and Quinn are scattered throughout alongside the great names from the past. In fact, Quinn's name now appears probably more times than any other in the book.

However, Lou Somogyi of BGI makes a great point in a recent article about the NCAA's decision to include bowl games in season and career statistical records.

In 2002, the NCAA suddenly decided to include bowl games as part of a player’s statistics. Inflating the stats of today’s players isn’t the problem. What’s at issue is not making the stats from the past retroactive.

Until 1974, Notre Dame played only 10 regular season games. Now, 12 regular season games will be the norm – with bowl game stats added into the data base as well. Those extra two or three games make a dramatic difference.

Somogyi goes on to point out that if bowl games stats had counted for pre-2002 players, that players like Darius Walker and Jeff Samardzija wouldn't have broken some of the records that they did.

Obviously, extra games mean more chances to break records, but Somogyi does a good job digging up situations that were affected by the recent rule change. Check it out.

Let's Go to the Tape

Did you see this release from the NCAA last week? They standardized instant replay rules across all conferences. Booth officials will still have the power to review any close play, but they also added the ability for each team to challenge a call once per game.

After allowing instant replay to review a game official's call on the field for two seasons on an experimental basis, the committee approved one procedure for all institutions and conferences that choose to use it. The procedure, which was used by the majority of Division I-A conferences last season, calls for the replay official in the press box to review all plays on the field and stop the game. The official may only stop play if the play is in the list of reviewable plays and has a direct, competitive impact on the game...

The committee also decided to allow each team one challenge during the course of the game. The head coach may request a review by signaling for a timeout. If the challenge overturns the call on the field, the coach retains the right to challenge later in the game and is not charged a timeout. If the call on the field is not reversed in the challenge, the team is charged a timeout and the coach does not have the ability to challenge again in the game.

I like it. Seems to straddle the divide between the system we used in most of our games last year, where coaches were powerless to call for a replay (except by calling a timeout so the booth official could, you know, think it over for a while), and the NFL's system, where the entire onus is on the coaches to throw the red flag and make a challenge. This way, the booth will still be calling the majority of the challenges, but there will be a recourse in case they miss something. (And we know Charlie is a big proponent of the replay challenge.)

For consistency, a script the referee will use when reporting the results of a replay stoppage was included as part of the rule. Additionally, a visiting non-conference institution is not able to opt out of using replay if the host institution chooses to implement the system (that means you, Poodle).

With all this standardizing of referee activity going on among the conferences, you kind of wish the NCAA would just bite the bullet and do away with conference-affiliated referees altogether. There's a pretty interesting thumbtacked post over on NDN from a former college ref on some of the inside dirt of officiating a game; item #1 on his to-do list is the elimination of conference ties:

For obvious reasons, these men work in conferences that are located near where they live. In other words, there aren't any guys living in Los Angeles that work football games for the SEC. Does this create bias? Hell yes it does, especially in a non-conference game. It's a simple case of not biting the hand that feeds you.

(Speaking of eliminating bias, here's a proactive move that ND and Kevin White could accomplish all on their own. Next time we play say, USC at home, don't hire Pac 10 refs to work the game. This habit of getting home-conference refs to work games for their own conference teams at ND Stadium is absolutely infuriating. Even if the refs were 100% unbiased in their calls, at the very least you still have the appearance of impropriety, especially on close calls that go in the other team's favor. I don't think the Bush Push would have been called by any conference crew, but just the fact that it was Pac-10 refs on the field makes the moment all that more bitter and tainted. Eliminate the conference affiliation by hiring neutral-party refs. But I digress.)

The rules committee also agreed on a few more changes this year in an effort to shorten games:

• Shortening halftime from 20 minutes to 15 minutes (both teams can still agree to keep it at 20 minutes if they choose, to account for band shows and such). While this won't affect the Jim Collettos of the world (who once famously said, "Halftime adjustments are overrated"), for guys like Charlie it's closer to the rush-rush break of the NFL than 20 minutes of luxury he's gotten over the past year.

• Starting the clock on kickoffs when the foot of the kicker touches the ball, not when the returning team touches the ball.

• Shortening the length of the kicking tee by one inch, which hopefully will result in fewer touchbacks.

• Starting the clock when the ball is ready (instead of the snap) on change of possession.

Still, they missed the easiest way to keep the clock running: after first downs and out-of-bounds, start the clock when the ball is set (as opposed to the snap), as they do in the NFL. This would entail adopting the 40-second play clock that the NFL uses (which starts at the end of the previous play), and probably some rule about stopping the clock in the final two minutes of the game (currently the NFL stops the clock on out-of-bounds with two minutes in the half and five minutes in the game).

In any case, the average NFL game has about 20 fewer plays and runs about 3:06; college games go 3:26, with some going over the four-hour mark. The bowls are interminable: with extended TV timeouts and halftime, the Fiesta Bowl was the shortest at 3:41...but if the NCAA were really serious about shortening the games, they'd reduce the number and length of TV timeouts. And you didn't see any mention of that in the NCAA release, did you?

Hiben thinkin'

Freshman tight end Joey Hiben quit the team a couple days ago, preferring to focus on his architecture major rather than play football. It's good for Joey that he's zeroing in on what he wants to do with his life -- after all, what's college for if not discerning your future direction. Architecture, with its heavy workload, third year abroad, and five-year commitment, is a difficult route for an athlete at Notre Dame, and not too many football players have ever pursued the major. (BGI documents a few cases here.) So good on Joey for figuring out his priorities.

That said, his absence will hurt the depth at tight end. Hiben was slated #3 after John Carlson and Marcus Freeman, but knowing how often this team likes its tight ends, Joey was going to see the field a bunch this year. Konrad Reuland, tighten your chinstrap. (Will Yeatman, line two.)

But go back and re-read the first linked article above, and tell me if you understand this response from Charlie in the SBT this morning:

"Here's the problem I have,'' Weis said. "When a kid wants to leave the football program, I have no problem with that if that's what they so choose. But when the implication is that Notre Dame football would not allow him to pursue his academic dreams, I think that sends a very bad message.

"Just basically, this kid is saying he's choosing architecture over football because he had to make a choice, and that's not the case. He wanted to make that choice. He didn't have to make that choice. There's a big difference between the two.''

"I think it's very important for anyone, for the next architecture major out there that I'm talking to in recruiting, to understand that this kid leaving the program had nothing to do with him not being able to get a degree in architecture and play football. It had absolutely nothing to do with it," Weis said.

"It had to do with the fact that he didn't want to play football anymore. And there's a big difference between what he said to you and what the truth really is. I'm not putting the kid under the bus because I wish him well. He's a good kid. This is not an adversarial relationship. It was a very cordial relationship. I just think it came down to he just didn't want to play football anymore...

"What I basically was saying to him was that I'd be totally supportive of his academic interests and make the architecture major go for him no matter what, by allowing him his third year to go to Rome, which I thought was above and beyond the call of duty for me to do that," Weis said. "It was addressed both before he came here and it was addressed after he brought it up again, and with academic support people in hand. It wasn't like a closed door, me just saying it to him. I made sure that he heard it reiterated that this would go. That's what really has us all bothered. We're so pro-academics."

I scoured the earlier article, and all I could find in the way of inflammtory rhetoric that would touch off Charlie's litany was this one line:

"What it really comes down to," Hiben said, "is architecture is more important than football to me."

Seems pretty innocuous. Is that a kid being forced to choose by his football coach? Or a kid simply weighing his time commitments and making a choice? Nowhere was Joey pointing the finger at Charlie. (For his part, Hiben has a clarification in today's article: "I don't blame coach Weis. I don't blame anyone," said Hiben. "I hope it's clear it was my choice.")

Charlie's response puzzles me, and seems a little overkill. Perhaps it's just Charlie zealously guarding against any inference that he put an ultimatum to Hiben. The clear message in the response is that academics + football works at ND, and since that's one of our chief appeals to young recruits, you have to protect that. I get it.

But let's be frank: architecture is a bitch of a major for anyone, let alone for someone putting in 30+ hours in on the football field every week. It takes a little more than a football coach saying "we'll make it work" to actually make it work -- ultimately, the student himself has to bear the burden and keep everything in balance. It's a tall order. Charlie's response is somewhat dismissive of that burden, painting Joey as the culprit who "couldn't make it work."

So I understand Joey's decision. And I understand Charlie's position...I just wish they could have worked out a unified response instead of having to do a contentious back-and-forth in the SBT.