The Draft that was | by Pat

First order of business, post-hiatus, is to get out the results of the NFL Draft, complete with rookie mini-camp updates....

John Carlson - 2nd round, 38th overall pick, Seattle Seahawks.

Headed out west, Carlson was the first Domer off the board. From the Seahawks website, there are quotes from Coach Mike Holmgren on drafting the ND tight end.

“John Carlson, to me and to Tim, was the most all around solid guy. He’s really a good football player, who can play inside at the tight end position. He’s a big man, 6’5”, 250 … very good hands, good route runner. We love everything about the intangibles - how he plays the game, how he practices, how he conducts his life. I told Tim this early on, I think that he is one of these guys, Lord willing and everyone stays healthy, that he can come in and be a really good football player for you for a long time.”

With a tip of the cap to Rakes of Mallow, here is a Seahawks blog reaction to the Carlson draft. From the sound of the coaches, Carlson will have every opportunity to start and is even being counted on to make the starting role his. If you click on "Day One Recap", you can catch a quick glimpse of Carlson at the most recent mini-camp. Carlson is the highest drafted Notre Dame tight end since Irv Smith was drafted in the first round in 1993.

Trevor Laws - 2nd Round, 47th overall pick, Philadelphia Eagles

Very few players saw their stock keep rising like Trevor Laws did. When it was all over, the Eagles took the Irish DT halfway through the second round. The Eagles website has draft reaction quotes from Trevor and from Coach Andy Reid. Thanks again to Rakes, here is an Eagles blog take on the pick.

For a different kind of reaction, check out the Laws family draft day party video from Trevor's website. Laws also spoke with a local newscaster, which can be seen here.

There are some videos of Trevor as well with the Eagles. First up is a walkin' and talkin' interview that would make Aaron Sorkin proud. Next is a mini-camp highlight video that offers a quick look at Laws, along with teammate Victor Abiamiri and a glimpse of Rocky Boiman. The early projections on Laws are that he will work in a DT rotation and provide depth to the Eagles defensive line. There should definitely be situations next season where Victor and Trevor are on the field at the same time once again. Trevor is the highest drafted Notre Dame defensive tackle since Bryant Young was taken in the 1st round in 1994.

Tom Zbikowski - 3rd round, 86th overall pick, Baltimore Ravens

Zibby was a true wildcard with his projected draft slot being anywhere from the 2nd round to the 7th. The Ravens took him off the board in the 3rd round.

Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome offered his thoughts on Zibby and a Ravens blog seemed pleased with the pick. Zibby's take on being a Raven was captured by the Chicago Tribune.

The South Bend Tribune included an interesting anecdote about how Zibby might have ended up in Baltimore.

The youngest of the three Zbikowski children will be showing up at Ravens mini-camp soon, where he'll be reunited with former Irish defensive assistant Greg Mattison, the man who recruited him to Notre Dame. Mattison, most recently co-defensive coordinator under Urban Meyer at Florida, was hired as the Ravens linebackers coach by first-year head coach John Harbaugh in mid-February.

"I just talked to coach Mattison on the phone for about 10 minutes, and it was great," said Zbikowski, the third ND player to be selected this weekend -- following tight end John Carlson (Seattle) and defensive tackle Trevor Laws (Philadelphia), both taken in the second round Saturday.

"We've kept in touch since he left Notre Dame. I'm friends with his son (former Penn High standout Bryan). I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with me ending up there."

Zibby is the highest Irish DB taken since Brock Williams was also taken with the 86th pick in 2001. If you stick to safeties, Zibby is the highest drafted safety since Bobby Taylor was taken in the 2nd round in 1995. Taylor also played cornerback though, which helped his value.

John Sullivan - 6th Round, 187th overall pick, Minnesota Vikings

The last Irish player to be drafted, Sullivan was selected in round six by the Vikings.

Here is the text of Sully's conference call with reporters after being picked and the Vikings official site also has the reaction of Head Coach Brad Childress to the Sullivan draft selection. With Pro Bowler Matt Birk manning the center position, Sullivan will have some time to learn the pro game behind a potential Hall of Fame player.

Sully is the highest rated --ok, only -- ND center drafted since first rounder Jeff Faine in 2003.

Travis Thomas - Free Agent, Cleveland Browns

The Browns called Travis after the 5th round and told him that if he went undrafted, they wanted to sign him as a free agent. His best chance at early playing time will be on special teams for the Browns.

J.J. Jansen - Free Agent, Green Bay Packers

Signed by Green Bay, Jansen will fight for the starting long-snapping gig against Thomas Gafford, a third year player who has yet to long snap in a game.

Joe Brockington, Free Agent, Buffalo Bills

It was a quick visit to New York for Brockington as the Bills signed Joe to a free agent contract and then cut him two days after rookie mini-camp.

All in all, another solid draft year for the Fighting Irish, especially considering the outcome of the 2007 season. Willingham whiffed on his last two recruiting classes, but he (and Charlie and Mr. Ndukwe) should get credit for his first full recruiting class. The Class of 2007 had 22 players sign letters of intent and 8 went on to be drafted in the NFL. If you count Greg Olsen and Jeff Samardzija, that's 10 out of 22; a an extremely impressive success rate.

A quick glimpse ahead to next year's draft offers possibility that only one Irish player will be drafted. David Bruton has the potential to be a first day pick, but after him, things get murky. Terrail Lambert is probably the next best bet and a solid 2008 will probably earn him a draft spot in the mid to later rounds. A year under Tenuta might pay off for Mo Crum. Other than that, I don't see any likely picks barring a junior like Darrin Walls leaving early. Good news I suppose that most of the talent on the 2008 team will be back for 2009. But not good for the fact that ND will have to go one more year without much NFL caliber talent in the 5th year and senior classes.

You guys playing cards? | by Pat

A break to write for Here Come the Irish turned into an impromptu blog siesta. Apologies for the radio silence, but we're now tanned, rested, and ready. What do you say we talk Fighting Irish football?

There will be a bit of recapping as we flush the pipeline of events that have transpired since the last post, so bear with us. After that, we have some hopefully entertaining post ideas to get us through the arduous off-season. And then before you know it, it will be time to get ready for fall camp. Only 81 days to go!

Pardon the Interruption | by Jay

We're taking a hiatus this week to work on our articles for Here Come the Irish '08. Be back soon.

Digging into the Draft | by Pat

Today's Draft Day and we'll get to find out the new home of guys like Laws, Carlson, Sully, and Zibby. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were following the high school recruitment of Zibby on espn.com and by the end of the weekend he'll move on to the next step of his football career. While waiting to hear those ND names announced, here are some links to help pass the time.

First up, some human interest stories on the major Irish draft prospects. The Chicago Tribune covers the pre-draft jitters of the Irish quartet -- Laws, Carlson, Zibby, and Sullivan -- most likely to be drafted. Trevor's relationship with his brother is covered in one article while his homestate Minnesota paper highlights his strengths as a football player. USA Today has a short draft profile on John Sullivan while his Greenwich hometown paper covers the local angle. Carlson's local paper ran a nice piece on him while the larger Star Tribune did a similar rundown of the Minnesota native. Michael Rothstein documents Zibby's post-Combine workouts and the Chicago Tribune talks Zibby and Da Bears. Joe Brockington talks about his hopes for playing in the NFL for his hometown paper. There's even a story on Ambrose Wooden and his decision to end his football career and start his business one.

Some of the Wonderlic scores are being listed now. Assuming these scores are accurate, the ND players fared very well. John Carlson scored a 40 (out of a possible 50 points) which is the highest score of the listed players. Sully earned a 35 and Laws picked up a 30 while Zibby notched a 26.

ESPN's Todd McShay felt the need to mock draft all seven rounds and, for posterity, here are where he slotted the Irish players. John Carlson: 2nd round, #56 - Packers. Trevor Laws: 2nd round, #59 - Colts. John Sullivan: 4th round #101 - Rams. Tom Zbikowski: #103 - Falcons. Joe Brockington: 7th round, #235 - Cowboys. Feel free to add your guesses in the comment section. You can follow their actual draft post with this draft tracker, set to Irish players only, or the current draft in total.

Finally, here's a great read of Chinedum Ndukwe's roller coaster draft weekend last year as he sweat out the draft for the full seven rounds. Here's a brief excerpt but make sure to read the whole thing.

With the impact of Rich Braham's retirement settling in, the Bengals wanted a young player at center behind veterans Eric Ghiaciuc and Alex Stepanovich. Santucci hadn't played much of the position at all, but he was smart, tough, and had the build.

Now the Bengals were down to their last pick, No. 253. There were more crossouts than names left. Video directors Travis Brammer and Kent Stearman were starting to break down the draft room and getting ready for rookie camp.

And the guy the Bengals almost took in the fourth round was, just like in the movies, still there.

"Even though he had the top grade of anybody left, there was still discussion," Coyle said. "Did we already have a guy like that and did we need bodies someplace else?"

But the grade carried the day.

"The last two times I called him, it had been pretty grim. When I called him to tell him we'd picked him," Cioffi said, "it was like a parade."

Theo 101 | by Pat

When it rains, it pours. Just last week Notre Dame was sitting with one publicly committed recruit for the Class of 2009. That number is now up to four with the recent commit by New Jersey running back Theo Riddick. Riddick visited ND the week before the Blue-Gold game and after another college trip, he decided to announce for the Irish at a school press conference.

"It was just a great experience" visiting Notre Dame, said Riddick, who led Immaculata to a 12-0 season and a state Non-Public Group III title in 2006 and a 11-1 season and a berth in the Non-Public Group III title game last season. "I blended straight in. That's when I knew I wanted to go there."

Riddick also credited academics as a big role in his decision making process.

"Academics were really important to me. Football was second. You can’t play football forever but my education will last forever."

At 5'11", 190 pounds, Riddick selected the Irish over 12 other college offers including Penn State, Pittsburgh, Boston College, and Virginia. After his junior season where he rushed for 1, 192 yards and 13 touchdowns while missing three games with an ankle injury, he was named 1st Team All-Conference and 2nd Team All-State. It was his second straight year listed as a 2nd Team All-State selection as he was on the list his sophomore year as well.

Rivals.com has the back listed as a 4-star recruit and the #142 overall recruit in the nation. Scout.com hasn't ranked him yet as they apparently are planning on unveiling a Top 750 list very soon. (Top 750? Yeesh.) BlueandGold.com has a great set of free highlights on Riddick and this Youtube clip of his final game from last year includes a few quick highlights of him taking short passes and turning them into long gains. He's #3 in the white jersey and the plays are back to back starting at the 0:53 mark.

Landing Riddick and Cierre Wood means that ND is likely done with running back recruiting for the year, although, like Wood, Riddick also plays defensive back. He plays free safety for his high school and doesn't appear to have a preference for where he plays in college.

"To be honest, it doesn't really matter to me," he said. "Whatever gets me on the field the fastest."

I'm no recruiting guru, but he looks great with the ball in his hands in those highlight clips and pairing him with Wood on the offensive side of the ball would be a excellent combo. Apparently Theo agrees and looks forward to playing with Cierre.

"I honestly believe I can compete with him. We'll be very, very lethal," said Riddick, who has pondered January enrollment but is leaning toward arriving in the fall with most of his classmates. "I think we should have fun. I'm very, very excited to meet him."

Stockton Locked In | by Pat

New Jersey defensive tackle Tyler Stockton was a heavy Irish lean going into the Blue-Gold weekend and the latest verbal coming out of it. One of the things that helped seal the deal, according to the 6'1" 280 pounder, was the fan support.

"The fans, the fans here are unbelievable," said Stockton, who plays at The Hun School in Princeton, N.J. "That's the kind of fan base I want to play for. I mean, they love their football, so I'm excited."

Stockton's other scholarship offers came from a geographically diverse group including Penn State, Tennessee, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, and California. So far he hasn't been ranked by Scout.com, but Rivals.com has him listed as a 4-star recruit and the 157th ranked recruit overall. ESPN hasn't ranked any recruits yet either, but they already list Stockton on the roster for the ESPN Under Armor All-Star game this coming January. (Nothing goes wrong when our DT recruits go to that game, right? Just kidding, we'd never lose a committed defensive lineman from New Jersey.)

Included in the story about the All-Star game is the ESPN/Scouts, Inc. film review of Stockton which starts out like this:

He possesses one of the most explosive get-offs in this class. He is extremely quick off the ball and consistent. Opponents lined up against him better be prepared to get hit and jarred backwards. In addition to being quick, he will also stay low, quickly shoot his hands and on contact generate power from his lower body. He will physically hit a blocker so hard and so quickly he will snap his head back and put him on his heels.

Sounds good to me. You can check out his highlights here and judge for yourself. The third member of the recruiting Class of 2009, Stockton is being considered as a future nose guard and certainly will be more than just a space eater in the middle. While playing the same position in his high school's 3-4 defense, he was disruptive enough to be named MAPL Defensive Player of the year, First Team All-State Prep and First Team All-Area as a junior. From the sounds of things, Stockton is quick enough that he might be able to slide out to the end like Trevor Laws did this past season, depending on how much more he grows. He also plays golf for his high school, which isn't something you see from a 280 pound nose tackle very often. This is probably a good spot for a snarky Willingham reference, but I'll pass.

The Irish are still going to be thin along the defensive line in 2008, but depth is slowly being established, especially on the interior of the line. With a young starter in Ian Williams, Brandon Newman and Hafis Williams showing up in the fall, and now Stockton for 2009, the Irish are finally starting to build depth at the one position that has given Charlie some trouble recruiting-wise his first few years.

Snapshot Irish | by Pat

Many thanks to those who sent in their pictures from this past weekend's Blue-Gold game. Irish photogs ND Eddie, Laura, Subway Alumni, John M. and Terry W. were all kind enough to send in their shots and there are some great ones included. Here is a direct link to the slideshow. Enjoy and thanks again to all those who contributed photos.

Frontal Assault | by Jay

A screenshot from the Blue-Gold game showing one of the base fronts of our defense:



Might this be the starting 7 come the Fall?

CW lands CW | by Pat

Really, we're starting to get spoiled here. For the third straight year, a 5-star recruit from California publicly committed to the Irish during the Blue-Gold Game weekend. (Ok, technically Dayne Crist went public the day before he flew out, but I'm counting it). Following in the footsteps of Clausen and Crist, Oxnard running back Cierre Wood ended the suspense and announced his choice for the Fighting Irish on Saturday. Wood is the second recruit in the Class of 2009 and a huge get for any program, let alone an Irish one coming off a 3-9 season.

As one might expect, Wood's high school coach is effusive in his praise of his star player.

"He's a special player," said the Saints' fourth-year coach. "He not only is a great talent, he has the heart of a champion. He's willing to work hard and he's a good person, too."

With offers from schools like Southern Cal, Florida, Nebraska, Auburn, and UCLA, Wood narrowed his choice down to the Bruins and the Irish before his trip. His mom accompanied him on the trip out for the Blue-Gold game weekend -- getting the mom on campus is always one of ND's main recruiting goals -- and Wood liked what he saw enough to make things official.

"I just feel comfortable," said Wood, who on Saturday picked the Irish over UCLA, "and felt like I needed to be there."

This is just fantastic news as the 6'0" 195 pound Wood is the highest ranked running back recruit to pick ND since the rivals and scout started their databases in 2002. On rivals.com, Wood is the #1 running back and #3 player overall in the nation. On scout.com he's the #3 RB and #19 recruit overall. If you want to get a glimpse of him in action, here are a few options. His highlights on rivals are long, but only of his sophomore year, when he was named California Sophomore Player of the Year. The Southern Cal recruiting site on ESPN has some new film on him as well that is worth checking out. Youtube has a few quick highlights from one of his junior year games.

One common trait mentioned in the various write-ups on Wood is that he's an athlete first and running back second. In fact, when StudentSports named him a 1st Team Nike Underclass All-American, they put him in the "athlete" slot rather than as the running back. Some reviews even mention that he could be equally adept at playing safety in college as running back, ala Tony Driver. For his high school, Wood plays just about anywhere he's needed.

The Santa Clara High standout lines up at running back, of course. But he also regularly plays wide receiver on offense and cornerback and free safety on defense. When the special teams are on the field, Wood is the punter, punt returner and kick returner.

I realize it's a fools errand to look at high school stats and try to extrapolate out any type of college production. Still, it's hard to read things like the following and not look forward to what he might do while wearing an ND uniform.

Ventura County Star
Stardom came calling for the junior running back in 2007. Wood scored 42 touchdowns, rushed for 2,612 yards on a mere 178 carries [BGS ed note: that's 14.7 yards per carry], caught seven passes for 191 yards, excelled at cornerback with 50 tackles and three interceptions and, oh yes, led his program to its first CIF-Southern Section championship in 42 years.

L.A. Times Varsity Insider Blog
This guy's a player: Another amazing performance by all-everything Cierre Wood of Santa Clara. Wood rushed for 151 yards (giving him 408 in the last two games), scored three TDs, intercepted two passes and blocked a punt in the Saints’ 33-7 victory over Flintridge Prep.

Ventura County Star, again
Wood had a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 63-yard TD run in the first quarter, and a 12-yard TD run in the second. The sensation junior would have three more touchdowns, but they were called back because of penalties.

The accolades and gaudy stats will likely continue to pour in for Wood next year and he should keep his 5-star status as the ever turbulent recruiting rankings do their usual reshuffling over the next few months. In the meantime, Wood's name and shiny 5-star status under the"Notre Dame commit" list will be a big boon to the Irish recruiting effort. Jake Golic kicked off the class but Wood will lend the star power that will make it easier for the coaches to sell ND as they cross the country during the spring evaluation period now underway.

Irish O top Irish D | by Pat

Another successful Blue and Gold game weekend is in the books. The big news from the weekend was the public commitment of 5-star running back Cierre Wood and 4-star defensive tackle Tyler Stockton. We'll have more on the latest talented duo to join the Irish shortly, but for now let's recap the latest installment of ND's final spring scrimmage.

As far as spring games go, this one actually had a bit of suspense as the offense needed a 4th down TD pass and subsequent extra point to pull out a 47-46 "win" over the defense. With the winner getting a steak and shrimp dinner while the loser gets franks and beans, no doubt that final pass from Clausen to Kamara made their fellow offensive teammates happy.

If you weren't one of the announced 30,286 people at the game, the next best thing is the video recap on und.com. They have highlights up on the main page as well as every play from the scrimmage and the post-game presser with the coaches and the players. The South Bend Tribune is also getting into the video act with a bit of a video journal that includes fan opinion and game highlights. Picture-wise, we're getting some very good shots from fans who attended that will be up in a day or so. In the meantime, the SBT has an excellent photo album from the weekend with some great action shots, including the banner pic at the top of this post.

The MVP awards went to Robert Hughes for the offense and Harrison Smith for the defense. (I wonder when the last time two freshmen won the MVP awards.) Hughes was the pick for the offense after picking up 100 yards and a TD on 22 carries while Smith's interception return for a TD was the high point for the defense. Jimmy Clausen put up a so-so 183 yards on 10 of 27 passing with a TD and an interception, but wasn't helped out by a handful of drops from the receiving corp. The leading tackler was Morrice Richardson with seven. Here's the official box score for the game if you want to see how other players did and figure out exactly how the defense scored 46 points. John Walters has a comprehensive review of the game while scrolling through Michael Rothstein's live blog of the game adds a bit more detail.

As with any glorified scrimmage, it's not the best idea to read too much into what happened. Individual effort, as in the case of Hughes, Smith, and others is pretty easy to gauge, but we really didn't learn much about what we're going to see in the fall. Was the OL solid in run blocking due to renewed emphasis on technique and fundamentals or because our defensive line will be a trouble spot. Or both? Are our receivers going to have trouble getting separation all year or will we have a tough secondary? Or both? A more detailed spring practice recap is probably in order, but for now the big takeaways from the spring are that Clausen is looking like the real deal at QB, Hughes just might be the best of a talented trio of running backs, the OL seem to play with more passion at the very least, the defense seems to be responding to the Corwin Brown-Jon Tenuta coaching, and we're likely to see a lot more blitzing from them in the fall.

If you were at the game, feel free to add your own scouting report in the comment section.

Come on up for the rising | by Pat

The annual Shirt tradition may not be everyone's cup of tea, but my first impression is that the 2008 version is pretty good. Bonus points for the Grantland Rice "blue, gray October sky" reference of course.