Powlus to Prepare Pocket Passers

Perhaps overlooked in the news of the hiring of Corwin Brown is the return of Ron Powlus to the Notre Dame sideline. Powlus served as the Director of Personnel Development the past two years, but this promotion gets him out from behind a desk and back on to the field.

Powlus joins offensive coordinator Michael Haywood as a former ND-player turned-coach, a situation that hasn't been all that common at ND lately, but has been pretty successful in the past. (I originally had a paragraph here wondering who the last player-turned-coach was, completely overlooking the obvious and easy answer in Haywood. Sorry about that Mike.) For the complete list of former ND assistants, check this out. How many former ND players can you find?

If you watched the press conference (the video is no longer available, but you can read the transcript here) you saw that Ron really seems eager to sell Notre Dame to future recruits. And what better person to do it than a guy who probably went through the ND hype and publicity ringer more than any other player in school history? If anyone can identify with recruits and give them a straight answer on the highs and lows of playing for ND, it's Powlus. He's already saying the right things about playing under the media spotlight.

People call it pressure. I call it attention. That's part of the game. That's part of what you buy into, and all the guys that come here expect to play and expect to be the starting quarterback of Notre Dame. If you don't, we don't want you on the team.

So every guy that walks in this door that plays the position of quarterback, I hope he expects to play. And that's the mentality that they should have coming in and that's the mentality of every one of the guys competing for that job, and we'll help breed a competitive environment and let the best guy get on the field.

Powlus reportedly did a bang-up job with the administrative aspects of recruiting last year and now will be in a position to hit the road and really test his abilities as a recruiter. However, despite having the background as a former ND student-athlete, once he's making in-home visits alongside head coaches from the SEC and Big Ten, it will take more than just stories about hanging out in Flanner Hall. Recruiting quarterbacks to Notre Dame likely won't be that difficult in the near future, so how Powlus fares with other recruits will be a sign of just how effective he can be.

As for the coaching aspect, it appears that at least initially, Powlus will take a backseat and serve more as an assistant QB coach to Charlie's lead.

Of course there's plenty to learn. I fortunately played the position for many years. Had a lot of experience. But bottom line I'll learn what it's like to teach the quarterbacks from one of the best quarterbacks coaches ever in Coach Weis. He's proven himself to be an outstanding head coach and outstanding quarterback coach. I'm going to be learning with the rest of these guys.

The change from Vaas to Powlus makes the Irish offensive staff a lot younger -- and a lot less experienced. With a wide-open quarterback derby looming large this spring, Powlus will certainly have his hands full. He got a taste of on-field coaching two Springs ago when QB coach Dave Cutcliffe left the program for health reasons. Weis petitioned the NCAA to allow Powlus to step in and serve as a temporary QB coach in Cutcliffe's stead. It will be very interesting to see how he adapts to the coaching and full-time recruiting and how the players respond to him. Ron became somewhat of a punching bag while under center at ND due to all the unfulfilled expectations; who knows, maybe he'll help bring those two Heismans to Notre Dame after all.

Senioritis

One of the more important NFL Draft prep weeks ended Saturday with the playing of the Senior Bowl down in Mobile, Alabama. The North defeated the South 27-0 in the game, but the outcome of the game is largely irrelevant when compared to the week long practice sessions in front of over 700 scouts that can help to make or break a college senior's draft hopes.

The Irish originally had five prospects in the game, but Brady Quinn sat out the week with a knee injury and Jeff Samardzija ended his football career when he signed a long term contract with the Chicago Cubs. Quinn still showed up to meet with various team reps, but didn't participate in any drills or practices. That left Ryan Harris, Rhema McKnight, and Victor Abiamiri as the lone ND players in the game.

The interesting thing about Senior Bowl week is that it just goes to show you that NFL draft scouting is very similar to the type of scouting that goes on with the recruiting websites. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and different sites will give you different takes on a player and his performance. Coming away with a clear consensus on how the Irish players fared is tough to do, although there seem to be a few common takes on the Irish trio.

Ryan Harris had perhaps the worst week of the Notre Dame players and his draft stock has likely dropped as a result. Technique-wise he impressed the scouts in attendance, but he struggled in the one-on-one drills with the speed rushers. One named mentioned as giving him trouble was Purdue's Anthony Spencer, and that makes sense as Spencer gave Harris fits during the regular season as well. Here's some video of the North team practice here where the NFL Network analysts discuss Harris' performance. NFL scouts surely do their homework before the Senior Bowl and already have a pretty good handle on what players can and can't do, but this week certainly won't help Harris and the former left tackle might find himself playing right tackle or even guard in the NFL. How he performs at the Combine in February might determine if he's a first day or second day draft pick.

McKnight struggled a bit early in the practice sessions with some drops on relatively easy passes before making it for it later with some great catches on the final practice day. Comments routinely mention his lack of top speed, but compliment him on his effort and willingness to fight for the ball. How McKnight runs at the combine will probably determine if he lands in the 3rd round or falls to the second day of the draft.

Victor Abiamiri had a strong week that didn't really help or hurt him too much. Physically he was mentioned as one of the most impressive athletes at the event and there certainly are NFL teams that draft based on "measurables". I have to think Victor had some fun in the one-on-one drills after facing nothing but a steady stream of double teams all regular season. There is still plenty of time left before the draft, but Abiamiri is looking like someone will grab him up in the 2nd round. I think it's safe to say that he'll be the highest drafted Irish player after Brady Quinn, but probably won't crack the first round.

There are some decent summaries of the week on scout.com and espn.com, but most of the interesting items on both sites are restricted to subscribers. NFLDraftCountdown has some free info, but keep in mind that it's just one amateur draftnik's opinion. If you want to make up your own mind, you can watch the game and video of the open practices here. It's a bit silly to realize you're watching a practice of a meaningless post-season bowl, but at the same time it's an interesting insider look for fans that don't really know what exactly goes on at a stereotypical collegiate/NFL football practice.