Blogging in the Big Leagues | by Pat

Set to battle Ruth Riley for bragging rights of ND's top pro athlete/blogger, Jeff Samardzija has been jotting some notes about life in the minors on his new official webpage. Most of the updates are just quick notes on his life, music, and how pitching for the Daytona Cubs is going. There are a few mentions of ND football though, and I thought these two excerpts about Travis Thomas and Tommy Zbikowski were pretty interesting...

A little story about Travis, I remember when our class was new to the block back in 2003. At that point the starting RB was Julius Jones who was sharing time with Ryan Grant. When Travis came in, he honestly looked just as good JJ. When we would scrimmage the starters, Travis would run wild. No joke, so look for him to have a big year if he stays full time at RB. ...

Over the weekend there were a lot of questions regarding Tommy and how this 07' ND team will be. First things first, Tommy is on a mission this year. No distractions, he's living by himself, and making himself the best possible football player is his number one priority. To be honest he's going to scare a ton of WR's this year. He's cut a little back on his weight, been in speed camp all offseason so you know he can flat out fly, and he's as strong as ever. Might see some helmets flying off if there's any crossing routes infront of him this season. Bottom line is Tommy is back and he's looking to prove something.

It's not a surprise that Jeff would speak highly of his old classmates, but a breakout Travis Thomas and rejuvenated Zibby would be two giant first steps for an inexperienced 2007 team that faces a gauntlet of tough teams right out of the gate.