Draft Day Detritus | by Jay

Here's the releases from UND.com on all the drafted and (undrafted) destinations:

• Quinn to Cleveland (1st, 22)
• Abiamiri to Philly (2nd, 57)
• Harris to Denver (3rd, 70)
• Landri to Jacksonville (5th, 166)
• Richardson to New England (6th, 202)
• Santucci to Cincy (7th, 230)
• Ndukwe to Cincy (7th, 253)

Four Five Undrafted Free Agents who signed with teams:

• Freeman & Leitko to Baltimore
• McKnight to New Orleans
• Walker & Frome to Chicago

Biggest surprise? Apart from Brady dropping to 22, it's probably Ndukwe getting drafted instead of McKnight or Walker. But if you view Ndukwe as a pretty good special teams guy, and the other two as mere projects at a starting position, it sort of makes sense.

Also: two pretty good reads on how Quinn ended up with the Browns, from USA Today and SI.com.

Update: reader Andrew sends us this link to a Dolphin Fan's draft day timeline. Hysterical.

Update part deux: Rakes has a solid roundup of all the Irish pro hopefuls.

Update, fin: I was curious how 7 picks for ND stacked up against other schools. It turns out the Irish tied for third-most. Here are all the teams that placed 5 or more players in the draft, with their average overall selection spot in the final column:

School	No. Picks	Avg Spot
Florida Ohio State Texas Michigan Notre Dame Tennessee Louisiana State Miami Florida State Penn State Southern Cal Auburn Clemson Hawaii	9 8 7 7 7 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5	144 116 81 101 143 73 55 65 75 75 102 126 127 147

Free Fallin' | by Jay

Brady Quinn, for better or worse, will forever be the story of this draft. From the NYT:

Still, if Quinn was a little heartbroken when the Browns opted for left tackle Joe Thomas with the third overall pick, he concealed it well. He smiled and shrugged. He had said that he would not worry about sliding, because it only meant he would go to a better team with a chance to win sooner. But maybe Thomas had had the right idea. He declined the N.F.L.’s invitation to come to the green room, and went fishing with his father instead.

Then the picks went by quickly. Defensive end Gaines Adams to Tampa Bay. Offensive tackle Levi Brown to Arizona, to protect Leinart, who could have offered Quinn some words of wisdom. Leinart dropped to the 10th spot last year. The Redskins picked safety LaRon Landry, and Minnesota, which many believed might consider Quinn, went with running back Adrian Peterson.

That left Quinn alone in the green room. His number had not come yet. Atlanta picked defensive end Jamaal Anderson, then the Dolphins were on the clock.

The Dolphins’ fans at Radio City started chanting his name and the Quinn highlight reel was cued up on the big screens. But the Dolphins pulled off the first shocker of the draft, selecting receiver and kick returner Ted Ginn Jr.

Quinn’s face, captured at the moment of the announcement, tightened and turned grim. Commissioner Roger Goodell approached him. Perhaps, Goodell said to Quinn, you would like to sit in a private suite, away from the cameras, because you might not be picked for a while. A look at the draft order made that clear. Houston, San Francisco, Buffalo, St. Louis — none of them needed quarterbacks. The stunned Quinn agreed and went off to his exile. In Miami, fans booed the new coach, Cam Cameron.

“At a certain point, when you’re past those teams that you’ve built some sort of relationship with, you’re entering an unknown,” Quinn said later.

He stayed in exile for several excruciating hours. This had happened before to quarterbacks. Leinart’s slide was one of the most compelling stories of last year’s draft. In 2005, Aaron Rodgers sat in the green room until the Packers took him with the 24th pick. But Quinn’s wait was the worst. This ended up being the longest first round in the history of the draft — 6 hours 8 minutes.

While Quinn sat, there was a run on defensive players, with 13 of 16 picks in the middle part of the first round going to defense, including nine in a row. That included the Jets, who traded up to the 14th pick from the 25th to take cornerback Darrelle Revis, and the Giants, who took cornerback Aaron Ross at No. 20. Jacksonville, which had traded with Denver to get the 21st spot, picked safety Reggie Nelson.

Then Quinn’s phone rang. It was the Baltimore Ravens. They were working on a trade to get him. The Ravens’ interest perhaps indicated that the wait for Kyle Boller to become their quarterback of the future was nearing its end. During the day, Quinn had already begun to think that once he finally landed with a team, he would work to show the Browns what they missed. Perhaps he would do that for Baltimore. He hung up, and his cellphone rang again. This time it was the Browns. Dallas was on the clock with the 22nd pick.

“We made a trade, we are going to come get you right now,” Quinn said the Browns told him.

If it sounded a bit like a rescue, perhaps it was. As soon as Quinn started falling, the Browns began working the phones, calling teams as high as No. 12, hoping to find a trading partner. When Goodell finally called his name, Quinn looked to the heavens and exhaled heavily.

“I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders,” he said.

General Manager Phil Savage is banking on Quinn to improve the Browns’ record immediately. He traded the team’s first-round pick next year to Dallas to get Quinn. “We didn’t expect Brady Quinn to fall as far as he did,” Savage said. “We had Brady rated very high on our board, just not top three.”

Weis had already called Quinn. Quinn told him that things had a funny way of working out.

“Well, it ended up working out how we wanted it to, not exactly, but how we wanted it to,” Quinn said Weis told him. “Go out and prove everyone wrong.”

I sat down at 11am yesterday to watch the draft, fully expecting to be out of there in about 45 minutes. Four hours and twenty-one picks later I was finally able to turn off the tube.

Some bleary-eyed, pre-coffee thoughts at 6:40am...

• First off, here's the Why (as in, "Why the hell did he fall so far?"):

1. Only a few teams really needed a first-round quarterback this year badly enough to spend first-round cash: Oakland, Cleveland, a couple others.
   
2. Oakland satisfied their need with Russell.
   
3. Cleveland picked the best tackle in the draft. Understandable.
   
4. Miami screwed up by not picking Quinn.
5. Once Miami passed, Quinn dropped twelve more slots because none of those teams had a QB as a #1 priority.
6. Cleveland made their deal where they could, moving up ahead of Kansas City, who also might have taken Quinn.

Hence, Brady Quinn was the twenty-second player taken overall.

• Regardless of your fan affiliation, how could you not feel for Quinn yesterday? After Cleveland passed on him, ESPN had him on the split-screen for a reaction during damn near every pick, regardless of whether that team needed a quarterback or not. It was like a bizarro Academy Awards, when they have a camera on everyone and show the losers' reactions -- but with Brady as the lone, jilted nominee in every single category. Painful.

• When he was finally selected, there was a shot of Brady emerging from behind the screen, shaking his head, and exclaiming a long, audible, "Whew." When interviewed, he seemed miffed at the Dolphins (as miffed as Brady Quinn could seem), but he tried to put a good face on it. At one point Sanders asked him about "losing all that money", and Quinn pointed out the obvious: "Hey, I never had that money in the first place, so how could I lose it?"

• The Browns got lucky, and anybody who tries to say that this was part of their "master plan" is kidding themselves. I realize Cleveland is now claiming that they were trying to get back in ahead of Miami to select Quinn, but that doesn't pass the smell test. When Miami goofed, that opened the door. Lucky for Cleveland.

• That the Browns traded two picks, including their 1st rounder next year, could be significant. Brady, if he starts for the Browns, is controlling his own value -- but inversely so. The better the Browns do with Brady at the helm, the lower their first round pick next year, and the cheaper the cost of acquiring Brady in the first place. Weird.

• It was a perfect storm for Jamarcus. What other team in this draft would have taken him #1 overall? If the Raiders hadn't been picking first, Russell could have been the one "green-roomed" yesterday instead of Quinn.

[Update, 4/30: I stand corrected on this point. Based on a USA Today article today, Phil Savage, GM of the Browns, confirmed they would have taken Jamarcus #1 overall as well.]

• The reaction in Miami to the Teddy Ginn pick was hilarious. The knives are out for Cam Cameron and the Dolphins brain trust. You have to check out this video, a live reaction of Cameron trying to calm the masses while they gather the torches and pitchforks.

• The NFL Network's coverage was far superior to ESPN's. Just straight picks and commentary, as opposed to ESPN's cheese-packed circus with Boomer sputtering nonsense, Kiper's beady eyes, Suzy Kolber whispering sweet nothings to Brady Quinn whilst reclining on a lounge sofa, and those silly war room "reenactments". (I won't even mention Mark May.) Every time I flipped back over to ESPN, I caught that lame actor in the black and white "footage" exhorting his staff to "LISTEN UP! We're ON THE CLOCK!" I suppose it was better than last year's fashion show theme, but not by much. Listen up, ESPN: everything you touch turns to gouda. For unfiltered, underproduced, and just plain smart commentary (including some surprising prescience by our old friend Adam Schefter, who had nearly every pick confirmed by sources long before Goodell stepped up to the podium each time), NFL Network was the place to be yesterday.

• For Charlie's part, he's not exactly backing off his comparisons of Quinn to Manning and Brady:

"I don't think this is a guy who has to go to a program and be groomed for a year," said Weis in a conference call. "I think if ever there was a quarterback that was ready to go walking in the door - he got hammered for the last two years by me and can take it from just about anybody - he certainly would fit that description."

Weis, the former Patriots offensive coordinator who won three Super Bowls with Tom Brady, said Quinn already has two head starts on Brady, who was a thin, 185-pounder when the Patriots drafted him in the sixth-round.

"No. 1, physically, [Quinn] is a man amongst boys at the quarterback position," said Weis. "No. 2, he's already gone through those first two years of mental preparation. Not too many guys are going to be as good as Tommy Brady, but Brady Quinn has a big head start both physically and mentally."

Weis, who spent most of his career coaching with Browns coach Romeo Crennel, told his good friend that he lucked out by landing Quinn with the No. 22 pick.

"I told him, 'You got a starting left tackle [Joe Thomas] and a quarterback that can come in and challenge as a rookie,' " said Weis. " 'It doesn't get any better than that. You just brought in two dynamic football players. I don't know how many teams are as happy as the Browns right now.' "

Weis reiterated his bold pre-draft statement that Quinn is a combination of Brady and Peyton Manning.

"I look at the two top-line QBs in the league, Tommy and Peyton," said Weis. "In the not too distant future, you're going to be talking about [Quinn] in that pack of guys pushing up to that No. 3 spot."

He said he's confident Quinn will be able to handle the strong personalities of Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow Jr. - something Charlie Frye was unable to do last season but vowed to improve on.

"[Quinn's] been weathered by the head coach at Notre Dame," said Weis. "As a rookie you have to earn the respect of the players, but when those guys see that the ball is being delivered in their hands, the kid knows how to read coverages and he has a presence about him in the huddle, they'll naturally attract to him."

Weis scoffed at reports that Quinn is inaccurate. He completed about 63 percent of his passes over his final two seasons, with 69 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

"I've said to [critics], 'I didn't realize you're the ones calling the plays and you know where the receivers are supposed to be,' " Weis said. "Almost anybody in the NFL would say, 'Please sign me up for those numbers right now.' "

Quinn, a four-year starter, agrees he can start right away.

"I'm very confident of that, and I think that's why a team would draft me in the first round and do what the Browns did," said Quinn. "It's my desire to step in and start."

Neither Browns General Manager Phil Savage nor Crennel made any promises about Quinn starting right away. He'll compete in camp with Frye and Derek Anderson, neither of whom could be reached for comment.

"The addition of [offensive coordinator] Rob Chudzinski and with Rip Scherer being the quarterbacks coach, I think we'll handle him the correct way," said Savage. "If Brady Quinn is the third-stringer this year, so be it. If he's our starter this year, so be it."

Weis gave Brady a little pep talk after he tumbled to No. 22.

"I said, 'You can be disappointed at the number you went, but you should be delighted that you're going to the Browns,' " said Weis. " 'This is a dream come true. You grew up a Browns fans, you love Ohio, and this is the place you wanted to be all along. Even though it didn't go according to script, you're where you wanted to be. So go into Cleveland with a little chip on your shoulder -- and prove to all the people in the Browns' organization and the team and to the fans that they're going to be extremely happy to have [you].' "

• Charlie's right. All Brady has to do to wash this day away is to strap it on and kick some ass. Time to walk the walk.

Everything is Illuminated | by Jay

The alpha. From the SBT, September 28, 2003. Remember when...?

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Grass-stained but not as green as when he arrived, Brady Quinn walked off the field at Ross-Ade Stadium wiser for the experience. What exactly he learned in a 23-10 loss to Purdue will emerge over time.

"A lot of things," Quinn said. "Probably too many to even pinpoint right now."

Notre Dame learned a lot about Quinn too, most notably that he belongs in the position he assumed Saturday under forbidding circumstances. A freshman starting his first game at quarterback for Notre Dame, he acted his age at times and played beyond his years at others. Against a Boilermaker defense committed to denying the run and a hostile crowd feeding on every Irish failure, Quinn persevered...

He passed, and passed, and passed. Fifty-nine attempts, to be exact, the second most in Irish history to Terry Hanratty's 63 in 1967. Completing 29 passes for 297 yards and a touchdown, Quinn proved he reads defenses above grade-level.

Four interceptions served as a reminder that he's not immune to an aggressive pass rush and the inevitable head rush a freshman feels. Everything still happens too fast to process it all.

"I feel like it's progressively getting slower," Quinn said, "but obviously it's not at the pace I'd like it to be."

How quickly Quinn learns will determine Notre Dame's offensive direction. Any forward progress evident against Purdue can be credited to him because the redundant problems of a poor offensive line and a running game still learning to walk continued.

Quinn finished as Notre Dame's leading rusher with 25 yards on eight carries, a statistic that maligns the line and the backs more than it extols the quarterback. It's more evidence of how much responsibility he accepted.

Through freshman mistakes that threatened his confidence, through errors beyond his control that tested his composure, he displayed characteristics of leadership the offense otherwise lacks. It's in his demeanor, in the way he interacts with older teammates and in the way they respond to him. As much as his strong arm and proficient football mind, that prompted his promotion over Carlyle Holiday...

Even when he failed Saturday, that feeling never faded. Quinn contributed to the loss as much as anyone else with turnovers and errant throws that prevented potential gains, but he also provided more reason for optimism, if only in his resilience...

Barring injury, Quinn should be playing from first snap to last for the foreseeable future.

A brief apprenticeship was the prudent course for a freshman, but after three losses, it's next season at Notre Dame for all intents and purposes. In his development, Quinn's already well on his way there.

"He just really knows the game, physically and mentally," offensive tackle Dan Stevenson said. "He's got a great arm and he's got great awareness. That's huge as a quarterback."

Those attributes meant nothing to Quinn in the aftermath of a loss. Only the errors replayed in his mind, plenty of them to occupy his time for two long weeks before Notre Dame's next game. Interceptions. Inconsistency. His objective, like 30 of his passes, incomplete.

"I'm disappointed in myself," Quinn said, "because I really feel like I let the team down today."

In truth, he provided a lift that lightened the letdown of another loss.

For a freshman quarterback, it's a start.

---

And the omega. Two years of spectacular highlights in seven minutes:



And today, the cycle begins again: not just for Brady Quinn, who ascends to the next level, but also for Notre Dame football, and the fledgling signal caller who will be starting his very first game come this Fall...

Predicting a Draft | by Jay

You might remember we held a contest a few months ago calling for BGS readers to submit an original post. We posted the first winning entry, by Stephen Kelley, a heartfelt tribute to Notre Dame fandom. The other winner was Michael Bangert, but we decided to hold his entry until now, especially since Mike's post deals with college football awards and how they relate to the NFL Draft. Enjoy!

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Hardware Hopefuls

by Michael Bangert, '99

So as I was sitting at a bar watching the National College Football Awards show, waiting to watch the Notre Dame hoops team upset #5 ranked Alabama, and I thought to myself, “Do these awards predict where a guy will go in the NFL draft?” Then I remembered the Blue-Gray Sky’s posting contest and decided to do some work to figure it out in the hopes of winning the box set. Would Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith be the number one draft pick? Will it be Brady Quinn, winner of Maxwell Award? Or will someone else go first?

There are plenty of mock drafts floating around the internet attempting to predict what will happen at the end of April, but instead of just reading those, I decided that it might be fun to go back about 25 years to wade through NFL draft history and college football award winners, and to see how those awards relate to the NFL draft.

Methodology. To determine if winning an award accurately predicts becoming a top draft choice, I looked at how well each year’s award recipient did in the following year’s NFL draft.

• I analyzed the following awards: the Heisman Memorial Trophy, the Maxwell Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Player of the Year, the Dick Butkus Outstanding Linebacker, the Outland Interior Lineman, the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback, the Johnny Unites Senior Quarterback, the Fred Biletnikoff Outstanding Receiver, the Jim Thorpe Outstanding Defensive Back, the John Mackey Tight End, the Rimmington Trophy for Outstanding Center, the Hendix Defensive End, the Vince Lombardi Lineman and the Walker Running Back awards.

• For the player of the year awards (Heisman, Maxwell and Walter Camp), I looked to see if the winner became the overall #1 draft pick.

• For the position awards, I looked to see if the winner became the top draft choice at his position or related positions. For example, the Jim Thorpe award goes to the most outstanding defensive back, which includes cornerbacks, strong safeties, and free safeties. So, if a strong safety won the award, but a free safety was drafted ahead of him, I concluded that the award winner was not the top draft choice.

• Of course a couple a couple of other things could happen to an award winner, the most obvious being that he returns to play another year of college football (like Heisman winner Matt Leinart did two years ago). In this case and in other cases when a player did not appear in the NFL draft (like Charlie Ward, a Heisman winner who opted for basketball instead) I recorded that the player did not go to the draft, and I just ignored that year in the analysis. In addition, in the early 1980s, three Heisman Trophy winners -- Hershal Walker, Mike Rozier, and Doug Flutie -- opted to play in the USFL instead of the NFL; and in 1991 Raghib Ismail, who won the 1990 Camp Award, chose to play in the CFL. I ignored those years in the analysis as well.

• To determine how often winning an award accurately predicts becoming a top draft choice, I divided the number of times the award winner went first by the total number of players considered (ignoring the times that something else happened).

• I took my data primarily from three sources: NFL draft information from 1982-2006 is available at NFL.com, College Football award information is available at ESPN.com, and in the cases where what ultimately happened to an award winner was not obvious I relied heavily on Wikipedia and other internet sources.

• Some of the awards, like the Heisman, are long-standing, and thus have the full 25 years of winners to support the analysis. Others, like the Hendricks Award for Best Defensive End (first given in 2002), have a very small sample size.

Here are the numbers.

Heisman Trophy	25 yrs		Walker RB	16 yrs		Biletnikoff Receiver	12 yrs
Drafted #1 Overall	3		Drafted First at Position	3		Drafted First at Position	3
Drafted	15		Drafted	12		Drafted	6
Undrafted/Didn't Enter	7		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	1		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	3
Correct Predictions %	17%		Correct Predictions %	20%		Correct Predictions %	33%
Maxwell Player of Year	25 yrs		Outland Interior Line	25 yrs		Lombardi Lineman	25 yrs
Drafted #1 Overall	3		Drafted First at Position	9		Drafted First at Position	8
Drafted	16		Drafted	13		Drafted	16
Undrafted/Didn't Enter	6		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	3		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	1
Correct Predictions %	16%		Correct Predictions %	41%		Correct Predictions %	33%
Camp Player of Year	25 yrs		Mackey Tight End	6 yrs		Rimington Center	6 yrs
Drafted #1 Overall	2		Drafted First at Position	3		Drafted First at Position	2
Drafted	17		Drafted	2		Drafted	4
Undrafted/Didn't Enter	6		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	1		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	0
Correct Predictions %	11%		Correct Predictions %	60%		Correct Predictions %	33%
O'Brien Quarterback	25 yrs		Butkus Linebacker	21 yrs		Thorpe DB	20 yrs
Drafted First at Position	4		Drafted First at Position	5		Drafted First at Position	8
Drafted	14		Drafted	13		Drafted	12
Undrafted/Didn't Enter	7		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	3		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	0
Correct Predictions %	22%		Correct Predictions %	28%		Correct Predictions %	40%
Unitas Senior QB	19 yrs		Hendricks DE	4 yrs
Drafted First at Position	4		Drafted First at Position	1
Drafted	13		Drafted	2
Undrafted/Didn't Enter	2		Undrafted/Didn't Enter	1
Correct Predictions %	24%		Correct Predictions %	33%

Analysis. The first thing that jumped out at me was how poorly the three national player of the year awards did at predicting the #1 draft pick – 17% for the Heisman, 16% for the Maxwell, and 11% for the Camp. Since the 1982 draft (25 years ago), only three players who have won the Heisman Trophy have gone on to become the #1 draft choice – Bo Jackson*, Vinny Testaverde, and Carson Palmer. Winning the Heisman Trophy correctly predicts becoming the #1 draft choice only about 17% of the time. Sadly for Brady Quinn, the Maxwell Award does a slightly worse job of predicting the #1 draft choice – correctly predicting it about 16% of the time. Why do these Player of the Year awards do such a poor job at determining the top pick in the draft?

For starters, there is an obvious degree of misalignment between the objectives of the College Football awards and the NFL general managers. The voters for the College Football awards are trying to reward the most outstanding players of they year, while each NFL team is trying to select the best player for that team in the draft. This certainly explains some of the effect, but the fact that a disproportionate number Heisman Trophy winners have either lackluster or nonexistent NFL careers is certainly odd.

Another statistic that offers little encouragement to hardware winners is that over the past twenty five years, 52% of first round draft picks did not win any national award at all, let alone the Heisman or Maxwell awards. It almost makes one wonder what the fuss about the Heisman is all about.

On the position awards, the voters tend to do a better job predicting the top draft choice at a particular position, although the range varies significantly:



The Mackey tight end award, which predicts the top tight end chosen in the draft 60% of the time, is the only award to actually give the winner a greater than 50% chance of being the top player drafted. Most of the other awards predict the top draft choice at their position about a third of the time. Some of this variance could result from strong collegiate tight ends having a higher tendency to become strong professional tight ends while strong collegiate quarterbacks and running backs have a lower tendency to become strong in the professional game. Or it could be simply that the small sample size has given us a very skewed look at tight ends.

Interestingly, over the past 25 years the winner of the Vince Lombardi Lineman award has gone on to become the overall number one draft pick four times -- as compared to just three times for the Heisman and Maxwell awards and twice for the Camp award. The Lombardi winners who went on to become number one draft picks are Kenneth Sims, Tony Casillas, and Steve Emtman, and Orlando Pace. Do the Lombardi voters see something in their winners that the Heisman and Maxwell voters do not see in theirs? Or are good lineman simply easier to identify (or perhaps less subject to individual bias)?

The two Quarterback Awards provide an interesting comparison. On the surface, they seem nearly identical in their predictive qualities, with each of them placing the #1 quarterback in the draft four times apiece. But among those four, only top quarterback Peyton Manning in 1997 was selected for both awards in the same year.

Year	O'Brien Award	Unitas Award
2005	Vince Young, Texas	Matt Leinart, USC
2004	Jason White, Oklahoma	Jason White, Oklahoma
2003	Jason White, Oklahoma	Eli Manning, Ole Miss
2002	Brad Banks, Iowa	Carson Palmer, USC
2001	Eric Crouch, Nebraska	David Carr, Fresno State
2000	Chris Weinke, Florida State	Chris Weinke, Florida State
1999	Joe Hamilton, Georgia Tech	Chris Redman, Louisville
1998	Michael Bishop, Kansas State	Cade McNown, UCLA
1997	Peyton Manning, Tennessee	Peyton Manning, Tennessee
1996	Danny Wuerffel, Florida	Danny Wuerffel, Florida
1995	Danny Wuerffel, Florida	Tommie Frazier, Nebraska
1994	Kerry Collins, Penn State	Jay Barker, Alabama
1993	Charlie Ward, Florida State	Charlie Ward, Florida State
1992	Gino Torretta, Miami	Gino Torretta, Miami
1991	Ty Detmer, BYU	Casey Weldon, Florida State
1990	Ty Detmer, BYU	Craig Erickson, Miami
1989	Andre Ware, Houston	Tony Rice, Notre Dame
1988	Troy Aikman, UCLA	Rodney Peete, USC
1987	Don McPherson, Syracuse	Don McPherson, Syracuse
1986	Vinny Testaverde, Miami
1985	Chuck Long, Iowa
1984	Doug Flutie, Boston College
1983	Steve Young, BYU
1982	Todd Blackledge, Penn State
1981	Jim McMahon, BYU

(Highlight indicates top quarterback taken in draft that year)

The Unitas Award is constrained by having to pick a Senior quarterback, but the only case I see where that would have made a difference was last year.

Another interesting effect that may be skewing these numbers is that in the first few years of an award’s existence, the recipients tended to be less heralded players. For example the first two recipients of the Doak Walker running back award, Greg Lewis and Trevor Cobb, were not drafted highly and did not have particularly strong NFL careers. Both of these players did not have Wikipedia pages so I have no idea what eventually happened to them.

I am sure other conclusions could be drawn from the data. One obvious one that comes to mind: how many of these award winners end up as successful players in the NFL ("successes" perhaps measured by length of career, or Pro Bowl appearances, or another measuring stick)? But that is a project for another day.

* Tampa Bay drafted Bo Jackson first in the 1986 draft, but he never signed with the team due to his desire to play baseball. The next year, Jackson returned to the draft where the Raiders drafted him in the seventh round. The NFL archives actually leave the top draft choice off their official records for the 1986 season, but I deemed Jackson one of the three cases where the Heisman predicted the number one draft choice because Tampa Bay did draft Jackson first.

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Ed. note: with Mike's post in mind, keep an eye on these 2006 award winners and see when (or in some cases, if) they are selected:

Heisman	Troy Smith, Ohio State
Maxwell	Brady Quinn, Notre Dame
Walter Camp	Troy Smith, Ohio State
O'Brien Quarterback	Troy Smith, Ohio State
Unitas Senior Quarterback	Brady Quinn, Notre Dame
Butkus Linebacker	Patrick Willis, Ole Miss
Outland Interior Lineman	Joe Thomas, Wisconsin
Walker Running Back	Darren McFadden, Arkansas
Biletnikoff Wide Receiver	Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech
Thorpe Defensive Back	Aaron Ross, Texas
Mackey Tight End	Matt Spaeth, Minnesota
Hendricks Defensive End	LaMarr Woodley, Michigan
Rimington Center	Dan Mozes, West Virginia
Lombardi Lineman	LaMarr Woodley, Michigan

Besides Brady... | by Jay

Overlooked among TV appearances and EAS endorsements and throwing footballs in the streets are the other guys who might get called up to the podium this weekend. In fact, along with Brady, ND's got an outside chance to place more guys in the NFL draft since the '94 draft. We had 10 in '94, and the most since then has been 7 in '99 and '03.

(A little trivia. Since '94, we've had two years where we had just one guy drafted. What were the years, and who were the players? Answers, and a complete rundown of Notre Dame players in the NFL draft are here.)

As for this year's Irish hopefuls, Blue & Gold has some nice capsules, with some handicapping from Scott Wright of NFL Countdown. Hansen in the SBT has got some quotes from Frank Coyle of Draft Insiders. And UHND put out a good rundown of draft prospects for this year (way back in Spring of '06! Fun to read.)

Right now this seems to be the consensus:

sure-fire draftees:
Quinn - 1st round
Abiamiri - late 1st, early 2nd
Harris - 3rd or 4th
Walker - 3rd or 4th
McKnight - 4th or 5th
Santucci - 4th or 5th
Landri - 6th or 7th

on the bubble:
Ndukwe
Richardson
Frome

As for the Brady Quinn odds, here's what the BGS Sports Book & Casino is showing:

BRADY QUINN IN THE 2007 NFL DRAFT
---------------------------------
Cleveland        3/2
Oakland          6/1
Tampa Bay       12/1
Miami           12/1
Detroit         15/1
Minnesota       25/1
Carolina        50/1
Chicago        100/1

Routes About | by Jay

Came across this diagram on a literature site called, appropriately, Diagram.



From How to Watch Pro Football on TV, by Y.A. Tittle, 1966, The Benjamin Co., New York.

BGS Blue & Gold Gallery | by Pat

As promised, here is our photo gallery slideshow of the recent Blue & Gold weekend. Thanks so much to Joseph S., Michael S., Eddie F., Gerald K., Brian T., John M. (who sent in the above photo), Ryan V, and Mike B. for sending in the pictures. There really are some fantastic shots in there so make sure to check them out. There are even more photos in a bit less organized manner on the main BGS flickr page if you're looking for even more shots of Jimmy Clausen, by far the most popular photo subject.

Blue-Gold Bonanza | by Pat

(With the dramatic increase of online information about Notre Dame football, we here at BGS took to the task of updating our multimedia capabilities in the form of the newly constructed Jerome Green Memorial BGS Media Lab *. There are of course some bugs in the system -- we blew one of our internet tubes during a trial run -- but the lab passed its big first test this weekend with flying colors. Now we can easily present all of the relevant media links -- video, photo, or otherwise -- from the recent Blue-Gold weekend. Enjoy.)

Your first stop this morning should be the Lou Holtz video feature on ESPN. It's vintage Holtz: cajoling the refs, explaining why he never threw to the tight end, and offering both lectures and lessons in being a winner to the players. It's fantastic.

The next must-see is the highlight video of the scrimmage found on UND.com. You can also find some individual plays popping up on youtube, although most of them are covered in greater resolution on the und.com clip. The interviews of Coach Weis and Lou and Ara are up and great to watch. If you don't have the time, here are the transcripts of both Charlie and the two Irish coaching legends. Charlie's presser is a good read, as always, as he discusses the plans for deciding the QB depth chart and why he's looking to emphasize a power running attack with the ND offense next season.

Photo-wise, the South Bend Tribune has a very nice photo gallery. The AP wire has a string of photos from the weekend while Irish Eyes and Irish Illustrated also have some great galleries for members only. The BGS photo gallery is almost done, but I'm going to wait another day or so to let more people get their shots in. We already have some fantastic action shots, but if you want to send in your pics of the weekend festivities, feel free.

Getting into the print stories, the official stat sheet and game play-by-play is up on UND.com, but really there isn't too much to glean from the numbers. The SBT has stories on Clausen, Lou, Ara, offensive MVP Junior Jabbie, and defensive MVP David Bruton, while the Observer covers the only real big news from the game, John Sullivan's ankle injury.

That should just about cover most of the major news items from this weekend. If there is anything else you think we missed, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

*Jerome Green is the Notre Dame professor who in 1899 constructed a tower outside of the Basilica and transmitted a signal down the road to Saint Mary's. That transmission was the very first wireless transmission sent in North America. The message read, "I need a date for the Sorin SYR. Any takers?"

Recruiting Double Dip | by Pat

During their trip to campus for the Blue-Gold game weekend, a pair of "F"s decided it was time to make a public commitment and join the ND Class of 2008. Chicago linebacker Darius Fleming committed first thing in the morning, and California tight end Joseph Fauria committed later in the day after talking things over with his family and Coach Weis. Fleming has been a regular visitor to spring practices and his commitment was hardly a surprise. Fauria, on the other hand, wasn't expected to make such a quick decision. Expected or not, the result was the same, and ND picked up its 9th and 10th members of the Class of 2008.

The commitment by Darius Fleming continues a strong Midwestern recruiting push by ND and also adds another player from the talent rich Chicago area. At 6'3", 230 pounds, Fleming plays mainly defensive end for his high school but will be an outside linebacker once he arrives at ND.

"I know the defense isn't the strong part of the team right now, but I feel the recruits that are coming in and coach Brown coming in, that he's going to be very successful teaching us the new style of defense that he's bringing."

Fleming is now the third linebacker recruit already this year, and of the three, Fleming comes in with the most recruiting fanfare. A 1st team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-State selection at defensive end, Fleming picked ND over offers from Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Wisconsin and a handful of other schools. Scout lists Fleming as a 4-star recruit, rated the 49th overall recruit in the nation, and along with Dayne Crist and Anthony McDonald, Fleming is ND's third straight recruit listed on Scout's Top 100 list. Rivals still hasn't listed any rankings yet, but includes Fleming on their Top 100 "pre-evaulation" list. ESPN.com lists him as the 146th overall prospect on their initial Top 150 list.

(Fleming also rides horses and competes in rodeos, but no rodeo recruit rankings could be found. If they exist, I'm sure Fleming is a 5-star rodeo recruit).

You can watch Fleming's football highlights here. With Anthony McDonald and David Posluszny tentatively penciled in as inside linebackers and Fleming slotted for the outside, ND has plenty of flexibility for filling a fourth linebacker spot. At this point ND can hold out for talented linebacker targets like Chicago's Steven Filer, the first junior offered by Notre Dame, or someone like Arthur Brown, the nation's #1 rated player by at least one recruiting service. It's possible that the Irish will take five linebackers if more than one top recruit decide to join Corwin Brown's defense.

The other Blue-Gold weekend commit, Joesph Fauria, continues ND's run on talented tight ends and California natives. Listed at 6'8" and 240 pounds, he'll be the tallest player on the roster when he arrives on campus.

If the name Fauria seems familiar, it's because his uncle Christian Fauria is an 12-year NFL veteran who played tight end for Coach Weis in New England for three years and won two Super Bowls. And as you might suspect, his nephew took a lot of notes in watching how a pro tight end should play.

“I try to emulate a lot of tight ends, like Joe Newton (Oregon State) and Matt Spaeth (Minnesota). I would watch them the whole time. And of course, when I watch the NFL I watch my uncle. I’ll call him a day after the game and mess with him and tell him all the stuff he did wrong. I love watching the tight end block on runs and passes. I love how they’re used. I want to go to a school that uses their tight end a lot.”

Fauria, who grew up a Notre Dame fan, picked the Irish over offers from LSU, Nebraska, Colorado, Stanford, and UCLA. On Scout he's listed as a 4-star player while Rivals has him as part of their intial Top 250 list. You can check out his highlight videos here.

It's pretty impressive how ND is scooping up the top tight ends. In this class alone, 6'8" Fauria joins 6'7" Kyle Rudolph, now listed as a 5-star recruit on Scout.com and the 25th overall recruit in the nation. That's a lot of height at the tight end position that will pay dividends in the run game and in the red zone. At the recent L.A. Nike Camp, Fauria impressed the recruitniks with his ability to catch the football and was listed as the top tight end at the camp. Rudolph, Fauria and Mike Ragone will give ND a potent combination of tight ends to succeed John Carlson, Konrad Reuland, and Will Yeatman.

Charlie Weis has left campus for his monthly trip around the country re-visiting current commits and dropping in on future prospects. Six of the ten current public commits are on the offensive side of the ball while four are on the defensive side. Expect that number to balance out as ND looks to solidify the defensive side. ND will ultimately wind up with between 20 to 23 players in this class, so the Irish are already about halfway home, and the class of 2008 is already looking very strong across the board.

I went to South Bend... | by Mike

...and all I got was this hellacious sunburn.

Actually, that's not all I got, but I don't think I saw enough to draw any real substantive conclusions regarding the 2007 edition of the Fighting Irish. It was enjoyable to see Junior Jabbie garner offensive MVP honors following his 87 rushing yards on 13 carries, and we certainly hope Jabbie has a great season. However, Charles Stafford and Chris Olsen have demonstrated that a strong spring game performance does not necessarily portend fall stardom.

Given my limited expectations from a football standpoint, I was drawn to a weekend in the Bend by the surrounding revelry - and in these respects I was not let down. The weather was as good as it gets in South Bend. The cloudless sky, mid-70s temperature, and slight breeze combined to produce perfect tailgating weather. After a long winter, it was nice to be reminded of the simple joy of simultaneously soaking up sun and spirits.

As the morning passed, it became apparent that we could expect a Blue & Gold attendance record. The rapidly filling tailgating lots were a testament to the considerable buzz generated by the wide open QB race, the unveiling of Corwin Brown's new defense, and the return of the legendary Ara and Lou. Yet even after witnessing the multitudes outside, the number of people inside the stadium still surprised me. For starters, it was hard just finding an accessible section. At section entrance after section entrance, the ushers turned our merry band of late-arriving tailgaters away, telling us their section was full. When we finally reached the stands, I was amazed at how many people were in the upper level. This was due in part to the decision to close off some of the sections in the tunnel endzone, but the crowd still dwarfed any I had seen at a Blue & Gold game.

The announced attendance was indeed a Blue & Gold record: 51,800. I was actually expecting a slightly higher figure and would be interested to know how the students were counted, since they simply had to flash their IDs. While this figure is significantly below the totals at the Alabama and Ohio State spring games, the Notre Dame fanbase is far less provincial than that of schools whose student body is overwhelmingly composed of in-state residents. In light of the geographic dispersion of ND Nation, getting almost 52,000 to travel to a game designed to reveal little of substance speaks volumes about the excitement surrounding Irish football these days.

The real stars of the game were Ara and Lou. I was talking to my father before the game, and he was pretty fired up about Ara's return. When I found out that yesterday's game was Ara's first time through the tunnel since my father was a student, I once again thanked Charlie Weis for his efforts to bring the family together. Holtz really seemed to enjoy the game, and when a yelling Holtz ran out on the field at one point, the crowd responded with an enthusiastic "Louuuuuuu!"

I hope the experience made quite an impression on the visiting recruits, and the early returns indicate that this is the case.

Crist crosses country; chooses Charlie | by Pat

We're catching up with an avalanche of ND football news. More on the Blue-Gold weekend and the two newest commits in a bit. But for now, here's the word on ND's newest quarterback, Dayne Crist.

The second Notre Dame High School football player to commit to Notre Dame in as many weeks, California QB Dayne Crist announced on Thursday evening that he will be attending the University of Notre Dame as the 8th member of the Class of 2008.

"I am absolutely thrilled. I couldn't be happier. Ultimately, it was between USC and Notre Dame, and it was a real difficult choice. It was a tough decision, and it took a lot of thought. I have a lot of respect for USC... but Notre Dame just felt right,"

Crist is a fantastic QB prospect and chose the Irish over offers from Southern Cal, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, and Stanford. At 6'5" 220 pounds, Crist is a big quarterback with a strong arm and a great prospect according to his high school coach.

“He completed a lot of deep balls and throws the deep ball very well,” said Notre Dame High coach Kevin Rooney said. “He had the highest yards-per-completion average that we’ve ever had here. He sees the field very well, too, and finds people when they are open, and that isn’t easy for a lot of people.”

Scout.com has him listed with 4 stars and the #66 overall recruit in the nation while espn.com has him listed as the 47th overall prospect. Recently he attended the Nike Camp combine in L.A. and walked away with the Camp QB MVP award. All are very good honors for a quarterback who threw for over 1,200 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions last year despite missing five games with an injury. Now, high school stats are usually pretty irrelevant when predicting college success, but a very lopsided TD/INT ratio, like Crist's 17/3 mark, is always a good sign of solid decision making. Crist also rushed for 400 some yards and is a member of his school's track program, which is a clue that he's also not a motionless statue when back in the pocket.

With the current QB depth chart full of talented quarterbacks with plenty of eligibility, some might wonder if taking on another quarterback now is a wise move. The simple answer is yes. Great programs don't get to the top by taking one top player and then taking a few years off. They consistently land great players in order to keep the depth chart full and foster a competitive atmosphere on the squad. It is true that Notre Dame currently has four good quarterbacks on the roster now, but you never know how attrition, whether via injury or transfer, will change that situation. The recent past of ND fielding tight ends and walk-ons at QB should be enough to remind Irish fans of how quickly a QB depth chart can change. Crist doesn't seem to be scared off by the current depth chart though and is well aware of what it will take to see the field.

“I’m a very competitive person by nature,” Crist said. “I knew wherever I went I would have to battle and be as competitive as possible. That was going to come anyway. Winning a spot in college is not easy at all. You have got to go in there and be ready for the most competitive situation. That I knew going in, so then I looked for other things. That was a given going into the whole recruiting process.”

It's the second straight year that ND landed the top quarterback in California, which is a great sign that the Irish are making even more inroads into the talent rich west coast state largely dominated by the Southern Cal Trojans. Crist, who went to middle school with Jimmy Clausen, is now looking to help ND bring in even more talented recruits.

"I'm going to do everything I can to help the team I pick get the top recruits," he said. "I want to win, and I want to win big. I wouldn't have it any other way."

T. Nice | by Jay

A little bit on the other Blue-Gold captain. I was a freshman in 1988, and for me, Tony Rice simply defined Notre Dame football at the time.



Was there ever a better fit between coach and quarterback than Tony Rice and Lou Holtz? It was a near-perfect melding of coach, scheme, and skills, with Rice as the motor that powered Holtz's vaunted option attack. In this era of aerial assaults by ND quarterbacks, it's funny to think that in Rice's time, fifteen passes a game were considered a lot. (In the Fiesta Bowl win for the National Championship, for example, Rice was 7-11 for 213 yards and two touchdowns). But any great quarterback, whether option- or pro-style, is above all a great decision maker, and Rice was one of the very best at knowing when to pitch it and when to tuck it and run. When the Irish got inside the 30 yard line, there was simply no doubt they would score, and it was largely due to Rice. He'd hand it off to AJ or Culver up the middle, or stretch it to the sideline and pitch it to Watters or Brooks or Green, or sprint off tackle and take it in himself, or fake the option, pull back, and lob one to Derek Brown at the back of the end zone. He was so much fun to watch.

His 65-yard keeper for a score against Southern Cal in 1988 (highlight above) was perhaps the quintessential Tony Rice play: #1 versus #2 in the Coliseum, last game of the regular season, a National Championship season on the line. Rice takes the snap and dashes left on the option. Mark Green is the pitch man, mirroring Rice step for step on the outside. The USC defensive back comes flying up, and for a fleeting moment there's a perfect triangle between the quarterback, the running back, and the defender. Rice does a subtle shoulder dip -- is he about to pitch it? -- and then he's gone, the Trojan defender having bitten on the fake, and Rice sprintng sixty-five yards down the sideline for the score. Beautiful.

A few random facts from the '90 media guide on the other Blue-Gold captain today, Tony Rice:

• His three year record as a starter at ND was 28-3. (And those three losses are more than he ever lost in high school. During his four years at Woodruff high, he lost only two games - both in the state championship.)
• He engineered a 23-game win streak as a starter, which included wins over seven Top 10 teams and twelve bowl teams. That's the longest win streak for a quarterback in Irish history.
• During his tenure he beat:

'87 Alabama (#10)
'88 Michigan (#9)
'88 Miami (#1)
'88 Southern Cal (#2) -- ND ranked #1
'88 West Virginia (#3) -- ND ranked #1
'89 Michigan (#2) -- ND ranked #1
'89 Air Force (#17)
'89 Southern Cal (#9)
'89 Pitt (#7)
'89 Penn State (#17)
'89 Colorado (#1)

(From the end of 88 to the beginning of 89, Rice and the Irish beat #2, #3 and #2 in a stretch of 4 games. Crazy.)

• Won the Johnny Unitas "Golden Arm" Award in 1989 (which is sort of funny, if you think about it)
• Finished 4th in the Heisman voting in 1989
• Holds the record for season rushing yards by a QB (884 in 1989) and career rushing yards by a QB (1,921)
• Won a National Championship in 1988, beating West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

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Rice's career at ND was birthed in controversy; he was the first ND athlete to fall victim to Proposition 48, and had to sit out his freshman year due to poor testing grades. But he worked overtime in summer school to gain his eligibility back, and eventually graduated Notre Dame with a degree in psychology.

The option, of course, was his bread and butter, and nobody ran it with better instincts and talent than Rice. He was the first QB to lead Notre Dame in rushing since Paul Hornung did it in his Heisman year of 1956. But despite dazzling with the option, Rice always had a little trouble in the passing game, although he improved remarkably during his time as a signal caller. On his very first snap in college, coming in for the injured Terry Andrysiak midway through a game against Pitt, he lined up over the guard instead of the center. He completed only 42% of his passes his sophomore year. Holtz had him throw darts in between starts to improve his accuracy, and he got that completion rate up to 50% his junior year. But he seemed to hit the big pass when he needed it: long passes against Miami in '88 to set up touchdowns; a bomb to the Rocket from his own end zone against USC in '88; going 7-11 in the Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia.

"He proved it when he had to, in prime time," said flanker Ricky Watters, who grabbed a 57-yard bomb from Rice to set up an Irish touchdown. "Bottom line, he's a winner."

"I'm glad we didn't have to play against Tony Rice," Irish safety George Streeter said. "That would be a really big challenge."

Rice had his best statistical performance in a Notre Dame uniform. He hit 7 of 11 throws for 213 yards and two touchdowns. He also had an interception. The 21-year-old junior from South Carolina also ran for a game- high 75 yards. [Major] Harris, by comparison, hit 13 of 26 for 166 yards and a touchdown and ran for 42 yards. He also had an interception.

In the process, Rice made a believer out of coach Lou Holtz, who had doubted Rice's passing ability all fall. "He's just gotten better and better," Holtz said. "I did say (last week) that he's throwing the ball better this week than I've ever seen him."

Rice's biggest pass was a 47-yard strike over the middle to freshman tight end Derek Brown, who was caught from behind at the Mountaineer 5-yard line. The Irish had worked all week on exploiting that weakness in the heart of the West Virginia defense. Notre Dame scored on the next play to take a 16- point lead and deflate the No. 3 Mountaineers. "Our offensive team can score against anybody," Rice said.

The main reason was Rice. He was deadly on the option, as he had been all season. But his passing was a vast improvement over his 5 for 20 in the season's first two games.

Going into his senior season Rice was a legitimate Heisman candidate; even Bo Schembechler called him "the most dangerous quarterback in the country." From a Chicago Tribune article at the time:

This year, Rice not only finds himself to be a highly regarded candidate for the Heisman but he's also found peace of mind. "Last year, he had something to prove. This year, he wants to get better," says Holtz. "I see a more mature Tony Rice, a more confident Tony Rice. His knowledge of football has improved as much as any individual I have ever seen. We've really come to appreciate him as an exceptionally fine quarterback."

Rice was keenly aware of his critics last year and is clearly tired of them now. "I don't have anything to prove to anybody," he says with a characteristic wide smile that takes the sting out of the message. "There's always going to be so many people out there who say I can't pass. "I can't do what they are going to say I can't do. Let it be like that. I'll go and prove things to myself and just have fun on the field and do what counts for the team. "If I pass five times and we win, that's fine with me. "

Rice finished out his career at ND in fine form; the Irish went 11-1, with only a heartbreaking loss in Miami preventing the Irish from capturing their second consectuive National Championship. Rice placed fourth in the Heisman voting. ND went on to play #1 Colorado in the Orange Bowl, beating them 21-6.

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A couple other BGSers were in school while Rice was there...

Jeff: I knew Rice fairly well (all of the South Carolina kids knew each other). One of the reasons I'm really looking forward to the BG game this weekend is to say hello.

He was really known for his leadership and his demeanor. He used to crack jokes in the huddle to lighten the mood during tense situations. After the '88 Miami game, he laughed that he had to come to the sideline to wipe off "a big gob of spit of my forehead" and none of it seemed to faze him. Holtz also tells a story of Rice on the sidelines after an opponent had rallied back to take the lead late in the game. Before putting on his helmet to take the field, Rice smiled at Holtz and said, "Good game, huh coach?"

Sean: So many great T. Rice moments.

1988, Miami game. One of the best shots of the day was Tony Rice calmly raising his arms in victory after taking the knee to run out the clock.

1988, USC game. I remember sitting in the upper reaches of one of the end zones at the Coliseum. Irish ball on their own 35 yard line at the far end of the field, and Tony Rice takes the snap, breaks to the outside. He's into the secondary, and -- HOLY SHIT, he's coming right at us! He... could... go... all... well, you get the idea.

1989, USC game. ND down 24-21 with only a few minutes left. Undeafeted season on the line. Tony Rice calmly marches the team down the field, culminating with an option left from about 15 yards out where he crossed the goal line with a USC defender hanging onto his ankle for the last three yards.

Three (!) Sports Illustrated covers in about a ten week span in 1988 (post-Miami, post-USC, post-Fiesta Bowl). Has anyone (not named Jordan) ever done that?

Off the field, Rice was quite simply the definition of the BMOC, only without all of the ego that usually goes along with that "title". In the few times I was around him, he was the same charismatic, upbeat guy whether he was hanging out with his teammates or whether he was hanging out with other students. Just a really good guy. On a campus that he shared with many future NFL draft picks and even a few NBA draft picks, Tony Rice was, undoubtedly, THE MAN. If you don't believe it, just ask any of the football and basketball players who were there the same time as him.

And in a little known fact that you won't find on Wikipedia or any Notre Dame history books, Tony Rice bought me the shot that put me down for the count on my 21st birthday. CJ's Pub, January 1990. I'm sure he had no idea who I was, just some soon-to-be-deathly-ill loser who was standing in a booth at CJ's. I like to think he did it out of the goodness of his heart. That was Tony Rice: always better instincts and judgment than anyone else on the field.

Get your fix | by Pat

Time for some offseason football. The most anticipated spring game in quite a long time is almost here, and the weather appears to be cooperating. The bad news is that many Irish fans, like yours truly, won't be anywhere near South Bend for kickoff at 1:35 this afternoon. For my fellow unlucky brethern, here's a rundown of some viable options for following the game.

• It appears that the radio station WZOW will in fact be carrying a broadcast of the game. Here's the link to tune in and rock out, err... I mean, listen to some football. Another radio option is the student run station WVFI.

• Journalist Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette will be live blogging the game with constant updates. Rothstein has been doing a great job covering the team this spring on his blog; check it out if you can't get near a radio.

• Also check out your favorite ND message board, where certainly some members with fancy phones will drop in to give their thoughts during and after the game. If the board has traditionally strong chat room usage, like over on Irish Eyes, that's also something worth checking out.

• Finally, if there's any other way that we missed, feel free to add it in the comments and we'll update this list. And if you're heading out to the game, dont' forget to take those pictures and videos (if possible) for BGS. Oh, and make sure to have fun. It should be a great weekend.

the Biggest Hitter | by Jay

The two captains for the Blue-Gold game are former Irish greats Ross Browner and Tony Rice. I was in school with Rice, so I have many fond memories of him running the option, darting between tacklers, and leading the Irish to so many great wins. But my recollection of Browner is much hazier; I remember shaking his hand after a pep rally in 1977, but I was only seven years old at the time. Here's a little retrospective we threw together; if you want, feel free to chime in with your firsthand memories of Ross Browner.

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"I sat down with Ara and said, 'Coach, I really like dishing out the punishment.' He said, 'Well, defensive end will be your position.' "

-- Ross Browner, Notre Dame defensive end, 1973-1977

Where to start with Ross Browner? How about a quick glance at the trophy case:

• Two-time consensus All-American ('76 & '77); one of only 16 Irish players to achieve that distinction
• Won the Outland Trophy in '76
• Won the Lombardi in '77
• Won the Maxwell in '77
• Finished fifth for the Heisman Trophy in '77 (The late, great Eddie Robinson said at the time: "Even though he came in fifth, he deserved to win it!")
• Holds Irish record for most tackles by a defensive lineman in a career
• Holds Irish record for most tackles for a loss by any Irish player in a career
• Holds Irish record for most career fumble recoveries (12)
• Would surely hold the record for most QB sacks, if the stat was recorded previous to 1982
  
• Selected eighth overall in the NFL draft by the Bengals; played 10 years in the NFL
• Selected to the College Football Hall of Fame
• Named one of just three defensive ends (along with Jack Youngblood and Hugh Green) to the Sports Illustrated College "All-Century" Team

Ross Browner: the best defensive lineman to ever play for Notre Dame, and arguably the greatest defensive player in the history of the Fighting Irish. If he's not number one, he's right up there. Ara Parsheghian summed up Browner: "I have to say that he's one of the finest defensive ends that I've ever coached. He had speed, he had quickness, he had size. He was a great competitor. And, he has a terrific personality." And with Browner's help, Notre Dame won two National Championships that bookended his career under the Dome.

Browner was one of those rare talents who was a superstar from the very beginning. He grew up in Warren, Ohio, and was heavily recruited by Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State, but he loved Notre Dame:

When I went to Notre Dame I was really impressed with the players, guys like Eric Penick and Joe Theismann and Al Samuel and Wayne Bullock. I liked the coaches – Joe Yonto (Browner's position coach), Greg Blache, Coach (Ara) Parseghian. They really impressed me. They told me what a great university Notre Dame was, and that there was national TV and radio exposure. They said we'd play all over the country. That really interested me, that schedule. It was great that they weren't in a conference, and they didn't play just in one area. I loved the idea of playing in California, Texas. They took us everywhere...

Then I saw the campus and found out about the mystique and the spirit of the place, about Knute Rockne and Touchdown Jesus. I can remember meeting Father Hesburgh (university president) and Father Joyce (executive vice president) and (Athletic Director) Moose Krause and (SID) Roger Valdiserri. I can remember them saying, 'Ross, we'd love to have you here. It will be a great experience and it will provide you with a great opportunity.

Initially, he was recruited as a tight end by Ara, as the heir apparent to senior All-American Dave Casper. But Browner had so much natural ability the Irish needed to find a way to get him onto the field right away. And that suited Ross just fine. Ara: "Ross had just arrived on campus, but he played like he had been there for years. It was very apparent that this guy was going to be something special." Said Browner:

"When I arrived as a freshman (1973), I wasn't sure I could play. We had Steve Niehaus, he was like 6-5, 280, and Mike Fanning was 6-8, 260. There were a couple of other big guys. I was like, 'My goodness. I'm just a little, small thing.' I thought maybe I could be a kamikaze on the kickoff team and make some big hits and get noticed that way.

The only thing I did was pray and say 'God, make a direction for me and give me an opening, and I'll make it from there.' When Ara Parseghian saw our first scrimmage against the varsity, we were stuffing the offense and sacking them right and left. He said right then and there he was going to move some of us up to first team.

Browner started the first game of his freshman year against Northwestern. In the game he blocked a punt -- and broke the punter's leg.

"Ross got in there so fast and blocked a kick, and Northwestern's kicker broke his leg in the process," Parseghian recalled. "It was unfortunate that had to happen to the kicker, but that play made people realize how fast Ross was. He was unknown before that play."

Browner wasn't sure how the kicker's leg broke.

"I'm innocent," Browner joked, "but I do remember recovering that block for two points. I scored the first two points of our national championship season."

That '73 season turned out to be magical for Notre Dame; the Irish went undefeated, and a trio freshmen -- Browner, Luther Bradley and Willie Fry -- contributed mightily the Irish's dominance. Here's a video from the Southern Cal game of that year, featuring highlights of the fantastic frosh. Browner finished the season with 68 tackles, third-best on the team.

At the end of the season, Notre Dame squared off against powerhouse Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, prevailed in a nip-and-tuck 24-23 victory, and won the National Championship.

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In the offseason came the first controversy of Browner's young career. Along with five other players, he was suspended from Notre Dame for a year for an incident involving a female student.

A female student alleged that Browner and five others -- including Browner's roommate Willie Fry and fellow All-America strong safety Luther Bradley -- raped her on campus. Since the woman refused to testify against the players, the case did not enter criminal court. The incident did, however, leave a cloud over the football program.

Ross spent the suspension year in Indianapolis as a construction worker. He kept in shape at a health club, and with Parseghian's backing returned to ND the following summer.

Parseghian backed his players and kept them from being expelled for good, although he didn't condone their actions.

"I fought hard for those kids," Parseghian said. "I didn't believe that a kid 18, 19 years old should have his whole life and career destroyed. I thanked Father Hesburgh for being compassionate.

"There's no question that Ross made a mistake, although he was not paramount in the incident," Parseghian added. "I've always said that it's not the first mistake that you make. It's the one you repeat."

Throughout the ordeal, Browner maintained his innocence.

"My parents said I could leave school if I wanted to, but I stuck around because I did nothing wrong," said Browner, who worked and lived in Indianapolis during the one-year suspension. "I did make a mistake by being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

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Browner was the first in a line of fantastic football-playing brothers. Two of Browner's brothers, Jim and Willard, followed Ross to Notre Dame. "That was a great thrill to be able to play alongside my brothers at Notre Dame," says Browner. "I was very proud of my brothers, especially since I was the oldest." Younger brothers Keith and Joey starred at Southern Cal, and all of the brothers but Willard went on to careers in the NFL. No other family has put more players into the NFL than the Browners.

By the 1976 season, Jimmy had joined Ross in the starting lineup at strong safety. Willard was seeing extensive playing time at fullback. The brothers were inseparable on campus, with Jim & Ross rooming together and Willard living nearby. When Ross won the Bengal Bouts his junior year in the superheavyweight division, beating All-American tight end Ken MacAfee in front of 7,000 at the JACC, brother Jimmy, a karate black belt and former Gold Gloves boxer was his corner man.

If Browner was a budding star his freshman year, by his junior year he had arrived as the best defensive lineman in college football. He led the team in tackles both his junior and senior year, and terrorized opposing backfields. In 1977, Browner and the Irish went 10-1, but ended up as big underdogs in the Cotton Bowl against #1 Texas. Said Browner:

I think we were ranked No. 5 going into the Cotton Bowl to play No. 1 Texas. That was Earl Campbell and (Johnny) 'Lam' Jones and (Johnny) 'Ham' Jones. One thing that sparked us for that game was how we felt like we were treated like second-class citizens down there. At the ceremony where bowl officials were giving out the watches, we were sitting up in the balcony and Texas was on the main floor. Anytime we went around Dallas people were like, 'Why did you guys show up? We're undefeated.' We got so fired up for that game. We were determined to win. Earl had won the Heisman and he had a pretty good game, but we kept him running east and west and he had no touchdowns.

The Irish routed the Longhorns, 38-10, and Browner had his second National Championship.

After a nice, ten-year NFL career, Browner owned several successful businesses, and in 2005 he moved to Nashville to become vice president of corporate/community development for Backfield In Motion, an academic and athletic program for inner-city youth.

"When I got here, I was very pumped up about what they're doing for inner-city boys. I wanted to be a part of it. I want to make sure they don't do the wrong things in life. There are too many prisons filled with them. We try to help the kids keep an awareness of education, life skills and academics. And we teach them the game of football. It has been a great sport for me and tremendous in my life."

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Here's a '77 highlight reel with some excellent clips of Browner in action (provided by our buddy T.J., who also has lots of ND clips in the BGS video vault):



Watching those highlights, you get the distinct feeling that Browner versus the Offensive Line was an unfair fight. Browner didn't just shed blockers, he simply disregarded them, swatting them away like a petty annoyance on the way to tackling the ball carrier. There's more than one clip in that reel where you have to strain to even identify who the blocker was; Browner engulfs his man, moving over him, and exploding to make the tackle on Campbell or whomever. Although he was a big guy (6-5, 270), he wasn't much bigger than scores of contemporary players. And yet he appears like a giant among the little people, all long legs and massive frame, pushing through a double team, running down a quarterback, pouncing on a loose fumble. He played with a tunnel vision, like there were only two players on the field who mattered: the ball carrier -- and Ross Browner. An unfair fight indeed.

Big Hitter | by Pat

We're a little late with this, but last Wednesday, linebacker Anthony McDonald from Sherman Oaks, CA, committed to Notre Dame. The seventh player in the Class of 2008, McDonald is the second linebacker in a class that is in need of both quality and quantity at the linebacker spot.

McDonald is slotted to play inside linebacker and adds plenty of size at 6'3", 220 pounds. Likely to get bigger by the time he enrolls, McDonald should be a very solid force in the middle and help to bulk up a linebacking corp that is trying to add size with the move to the 3-4. As a junior, McDonald was 1st team All-CIF as he totaled 101 tackles and 10 sacks for Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

A heavy ND lean from the start, McDonald chose the Irish over offers from Oregon, Boston College, and Ole Miss. And as the various recruiting services start to roll out their star rankings -- which of course change throughout the year -- Scout.com lists McDonald as a 4 star linebacker and the 43rd overall prospect in the nation while Rivals has him listed in their Top250 to Watch list. Over on ESPN, he is listed as the #8 inside linebacker and the 112th overall prospect. Assuming the 4-star status on Scout sticks, McDonald would be only the 2nd 4-star linebacker, according to scout rankings, that has committed to ND in the past 8 years.

If you want to check out his high school highlights, you can find them here. His high school position coach clearly thinks the Irish have landed a tough player.

"I have been waiting for a guy like this to come along for a long time," said Notre Dame [high school] linebackers coach Mike Curiel. " He is such a student of the game, I have to constantly feed him tape. He always wants to learn and get better... Anthony is hard-nosed," said coach Curiel. "He takes aggressive down-hill angles – he's just not a side-to-side kind of player, when we commit to go vertical he can flat out attack."

And just like ND's other linebacker commit, David Posluszny, Anthony comes from some pretty good defensive bloodlines. His father, Mike McDonald, played for USC before spending time in the NFL with the L.A. Rams. It's not very often, if ever, that kids of Trojan players decide to head to South Bend to play football, but McDonald is happy with his decision and is ready to move away from rooting for his dad's alma mater.

"I have Notre Dame blood in me now," Anthony McDonald said Thursday. "The SC blood's gone, no more SC blood."

The strong Irish recruiting, in particular with the defense, continues and hopefully will get even more good news in the coming days. McDonald's high school teammate, Dayne Crist, has already hopped on board (more on him in a bit) and with the Blue-Gold game in two days, the Irish could land a few more players and keep up the strong recruiting momentum.

Snapshot | by Pat

With the Blue-Gold game weekend extravaganza finally upon us, it's time for BGS to turn to our readers and ask your help and participation. Last year we were able to cobble together a great photo slideshow of the weekend as well as a few videos and we'd love to be able to do the same this year. With all of the new faces in the starting lineup, the legendary Ara and Lou roaming the ND Stadium sidelines once again, and all of the assorted recruits, celebs, and past players hanging out at the game there should be some great photo ops. And don't forget to snap some shots of the other events going on during the weekend like the unveiling of The Shirt on Friday, the usual campus landmarks, tailgating, and the home baseball, lacrosse, and softball games.

Once you have your shots and videos, you can email them in to BGS at this address, which is also located on the upper right of the blog sidebar.

Choosin' Up Sides | by Pat

With the Blue-Gold game coming up this weekend, we wondered, how would we choose up teams to make it a competitive match? Last year, if you recall, the coaches basically stacked one team with offense and one team with defense, mostly due to depth issues. This year, Charlie & Co. wanted to make it more even:

"I kind of have it laid out generically now, but I'm trying to make the teams more competitively balanced," Weis said. "I'd like to see it competitive when we're out there playing."

To come up with the rosters, the coaches probably did something boring like sitting down and cordially hashing it out, with Charlie casting the deciding vote. And what do you know, yesterday the scrimmage roster was published, and it roughly follows the line of #1 offense/#2 defense (Blue Team) versus #1 defense/#2 offense (Gold Team).

But here's how we'd do it. We'd get some of the guys together, crack open a few beers, pick a couple of captains and have the first-ever BGS Blue-Gold Fantasy League Draft! Everybody who plays in a fantasy league loves them a good draft. (In some leagues, the draft is about the only redeeming part of the whole season.) The pressure. The second-guessing. The trash talk. The regret. And applying a draft to the Notre Dame roster was intriguing: Who would go number 1 overall? Who would be the first quarterback taken? When would the run on linemen start?

The ground rules were simple. We set up a basic starting lineup (1 QB, 1-2 RB, 2-4 WR, 1-2 TE/FB/HB, 5 OL, 3-4 DL, 3-4 LB, 2 CB, 2 S, 1 K, 1 P) that you had to fill before picking any backups. Teds and John were picked to captain Team Ara while Matty and Mark got the nod for Team Lou. Team Lou won the ceremonial coin flip conducted by honorary game official Marco, and we were off.

The picks are below, along with the captains' rationale for picking that player in that slot. Any quibbles? Surprises? Utterly crazy picks?

Rd	Lou	Ara
1	John Carlson, TE He is the best player on the team, a future All American, and with the expected evolution of this offense, he will likely shatter the record for receptions by a TE in a single season. No brainer. And I have a very little brain.	Trevor Laws, DT Defensive talent and experience is at a premium in the front seven, and Laws could become an extremely valuable and effective DE in the new defense if the other guys on the front wall can hold up their end of the bargain.
2	Maurice Crum, ILB Crum brings experience and leadership to a LB squad that will be relatively young. He's poised to have a career year playing inside in Corwin Brown's 3-4 package.	David Grimes, WR He is far and away our best and most experienced receiver at this point. Great hands, good blocker and route-runner. Not a future superstar but an important and valuable player on this team.
3	Travis Thomas, RB After a year playing on the defensive side of the ball, Travis is back at his natural position of running back. He's got a chip on his shoulder and is ready to prove that he can carry the load in what will be a relatively inexperienced offense.	Sam Young, OT We're going to need to build a wall to protect our new quarterback, and he's our most experienced and talented tackle.
4	John Sullivan, C The most experienced player on the OL, Sully will provide veteran leadership for a young group of O-Linemen.	Joe Brockington, ILB He's sort of "Maurice Crum Lite", and although he acquitted himself well last year once healthy, he might have done a good bit better if he hadn't been sidelined for so long. Good play from the linebacking corps is going to be critical in the new defense.
5	Terrail Lambert, CB Lambert exhibited flashes of greatness in the '06 season. I expect even more production from CB from Cali. in the upcoming season with a year of game experience at the CB position under his belt.	Tom Zbikowski, S He certainly wasn't the same player last year that had been named a preseason AA, but he still possesses first-round ability and the sort of potential big-play impact that a defense loves to have. I think that Corwin Brown is sharp enough to find ways to put Zibby to optimal use. He's also the best punt returner on this team until proven otherwise.
6	Paul Duncan, OT Duncan appears to be slotted in a Left Tackle, and for good reason. He's probably the most reliable and experienced Tackle on the team behind Sam Young. He's the best option to protect the new QB's blind side.	Ambrose Wooden, CB Our most experienced and natural corner. Similar to Brockington, I think that injuries obscured how much he could have done for the defense if healthy for the duration. I need a lockdown type of CB to make this defense hum, and he's the closest thing to it, IMO.
7	John Ryan, OLB Ryan has been running with the One's in practice and is exactly the type of player you're looking for to play OLB in the 3-4. He can play with his hand down is necessary and rush the passer, yet is athletic enough to drop into coverage when necessary. He's our pick to be one of the pleasant surprises this year on the defensive side of the ball.	Dan Wenger, C/G By all accounts, this guy is an animal in the trenches with the physical gifts to boot. And he has the flexibility to play either guard or center with similar aplomb.
8	Armando Allen, RB By all accounts thus far, Allen has been beyond impressive in spring drills. He has the speed to make an impact at the RB position and the hands to be put in motion out of the backfield and be a serious threat catching the ball. We expect him to see serious special teams return time in addition. Overall, he's got the potential to have a Rocket-like impact in his freshman year.	James Aldridge, RB Thomas is the #1 back, but I think that Aldridge is making up ground as he becomes more comfortable and authoritative running on a healthy knee. Reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated...
9	Pat Kuntz, DL Another player who has impressed in spring ball, Kuntzie will likely man the middle of the DL in Brown's 3-4. He has bulked up some since last season, and has the tenacity and motor to be a more than serviceable anchor for the DL.	Mo Richardson, OLB Most likely our best natural pass-rusher among the LB crew, and I expect that Brown will make him a lot more effective in that respect by better disguising our blitzes.
10	Matt Carufel, G Tenacious, mean and nasty - all qualities that you want in a solid offensive lineman who can open some serious holes for your running backs. The Cretin Derham Hall product fits the bill here perfectly.	Derrell Hand, DT More help on a thin DL, and another player who's output and potential were waylaid by injuries in 2006.

We kept going for another few hours, long into the wee night. Roster sheets were filled, arguments ensued, many beers were consumed, and the empties piled up. Somewhere around the 14th round the first quarterback went, and it was none other than Jimmy Clausen. When the dust settled, here's what we were left with:

TEAM LOU QB - Jimmy Clausen RB - Travis Thomas, Armando Allen FB - Asaph Schwapp WR - George West TE- John Carlson LT - Paul Duncan LG - Thomas Bemenderfer C - John Sullivan RG - Matt Carufel RT - Bartley Webb DE - Pat Kuntz NT - Chris Stewart DE - Justin Brown OLB - John Ryan ILB - Maurice Crum, Jr. ILB - Steve Quinn OLB - Scott Smith CB - Terrail Lambert CB - Raeshon McNeil SS - Ray Herring FS - David Bruton K - Ryan Burkhart P - Geoff Price

TEAM ARA QB - Evan Sharpley RB - James Aldridge FB - Luke Schmidt WR - David Grimes, Robby Parris TE - Konrad Reuland LT - Sam Young LG - Mike Turkovich C - Dan Wenger RT - Eric Olsen RT - Jeff Tisak DE - Trevor Laws NT - Derrell Hand DE - Dwight Stephenson, Jr. OLB - Mo Richardson ILB - Toryan Smith ILB - Joe Brockington OLB - Anthony Vernaglia CB - Ambrose Wooden CB - Darrin Walls SS - Tom Zbikowski FS - Kyle McCarthy K - Nate Whitaker P - Eric Maust

Who ended up with the better squad? I'd say the Blue Team clearly has the better offense, with ND's best receiver (Carlson), two good running backs (Thomas and Allen), and a bruising fullback in Schwapp. But the Gold team is stacked on defense from top to bottom. It'd be an interesting matchup, and I think the teams ended up fairly well-matched. And now, onto the 1-game season.

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As for the actual Blue-Gold Roster, there are a few notable items.

• Once again the OL depth is so shallow that they will play ironman football as part of the green team. Like last year, it will be the red-green-and-white uniforms against the red-green-and-blue. One of these years we'll actually have enough scholarship OL to field two full lines.

• Senior QB-turned-WR Darrin Bragg isn't listed on the roster and according to Mike Frank on his recent Irish Eyes PowerHour isn't a member of the team any more. I'm sure more on this will come out soon, but in the meantime the senior class is down to only 6 players out of the original 17. Junior Jabbie is the lone offensive player left.

• While the roster is not strictly broken down by 1st string and 2nd string, it is interesting to note that Toryan Smith was put on the with Maurice Crum and the rest of the returning defensive starters while Joe Brockington was placed on the white team. Toryan has the size and Joe has the experience. It will be interesting to watch this position battle as it carries over into the fall. The fight for the starting outside linebacker spots will be interesting too. John Ryan appears to have one of them locked down while guys like Scott Smith, Anthony Vernaglia, and Mo Richardson are all working to lock down the other outside spot.

• The quarterbacks were all given equal time to run with the 1st team offense during spring practice and this week is Jimmy Clausen's turn so not too much should be read into the fact that he, along with Demetrius Jones, is listed with the rest of the first team offense on the Blue team. Still, from spring practice gossip it's sounding like he's definitely played himself into the top 2 spots that Weis plans on picking at the end of spring ball. Don't look for clues based on who starts the Blue-Gold game as that honor is going to be decided by a coin flip prior to the game.

• According to the rules, no kickoff returns. It makes sense as it's an easy way to injure guys and ND just doesn't have the depth for that yet. Still, I can't be the only one who is disappointed he'll have to wait another 4.5 months to see Armando Allen return kicks.

to the maroon and orange | by Jay

I'd like to take a moment of silence to pray for the victims who fell yesterday at Virginia Tech, their families, and loved ones.

I was a senior when the Notre Dame women's swim team bus crashed on that snowy winter day coming back from Chicago; my sister was high school classmates with Colleen Hipp, who perished in the crash. I know something of the tragedy of a young person struck down just as she's beginning her life's journey, and I have grieved with a campus who came together to mourn their brothers and sisters. But what happened in Blacksburg yesterday is almost beyond comprehension in its sadness and misery.

Our hearts go out to Virginia Tech.

the New Guy | by Jay

The Sun-Times had a great profile of Corwin Brown over the weekend with all kinds of neat details: growing up on the south side of Chicago, playing speed chess in Harvard Square on his off days with the Pats, keeping in touch with friends of his from the old neighborhood, some of whom are in jail. It's a revealing portrait piece; be sure to check it out.

Along those lines, ND gave their annual clinic over the weekend to high school coaches. A friend of ours attended both of Corwin Brown's sessions and sent us this note. Enjoy.

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Loved the clinic this year. Aside from picking up some coaching tips and tricks (and I picked up a lot), I also wanted to hear the new defensive coordinator Corwin Brown speak. At the clinics, the coaches are a lot looser than they are in the press conferences and you can really get a sense of the guys and what their personalities are like. I was really impressed by Brown: he's enthusiastic and smart. He gave an overview of his defensive philosophy in the morning session. As another coach said, you hear these kinds of talks all the time, and usually it's fairly useless, but it's the rare coach who keeps you in the palm of his hand when talking about "philosophy" and "motivation". Corwin Brown is one of those guys. You can tell he's excited about this next step up in his coaching career and he's chomping at the bit to get out on the field and see what his defense can do.

He kicked it off with a quote from Parcells. "What you say you are is your philosophy...what we (the coaches) see on film is your identity". I was reminded of what Charlie said on his first day: "you are what you are, and right now you're a 6-6 football team." We can only go by what we see.

Like many coaches he has a number of simple, foundational maxims that he always refers to ("Players first, then the plays", for example). But he isn't just paying lip service, either. He has a basic philosophy and drills his players on it over and over. "You have a philosophy, you need to talk about it! If you don't talk about it, if you don't think about it, it's not going to happen." By the end of his session every coach in the room could probably repeat Corwin Brown's philosophy of defense.

What is ND's philosophy on defense? Very simple.
1. Run and hit.
2. Attack the football. (If you're tackling, strip it. If you're covering, become the receiver and make a play.)
3. Go hard.

"If you ask any player on the team what our philosophy is, they will repeat this without hesitation, because we are always talking about it."

"Players first, and then the plays." Totally Parcells/Belichick. You tailor your plays and your scheme to fit your talent. If you ask your players to do something they can't do, you can't coach them, and you can't get mad at them when they fail. Brown relayed a funny story about how he used to have to cover Coach Parmalee on third downs in the NFL when Parmalee was with the Dolphins, and for some reason he never could quite do it. He could cover Marshall Faulk all day long, but never could cover Parmalee. And the coaches didn't get mad at him for it. He just couldn't do it, and they knew that. (Now, when he screwed up something they knew he could do, that was a different story.)

The defensive scheme, no matter what it is (and there are many ways to skin a cat, as Brown put it), all starts with "Page 1", a concept borrowed from Bob Sutton of the Jets and also used heavily by Belichick. Page 1 is the foundation of your defense. You may start there, and go forward, but you have to start there. And you can always fall back on page 1 if all else fails. When Corwin started practice at ND they put in 1 front, and 2 coverages. Practiced strictly that for the first three days. That's page 1. We can always go back to that. And we can get the job done with that.

He's a teacher. He would go off on tangents on occasion, talking about growing up in Chicago, or stories from the NFL, but he'd always circle back around and tie it to the main point. Just an excellent teacher. He sends his players to the whiteboard in study sessions, constantly quizzes them on principles and situations. Incoming LB Brian Smith was hanging out at the chalk talk on Friday night, and Corwin had him come to the front to demonstrate a technique or draw up a coverage. He nailed everything. "That's one of my page 1 guys. Not bad for page 1, huh? See, he wants to play. Those are the guys I want."

He's also a student. Talked a lot about his influences, from Parcells to Belichick to Groh to Sutton, etc. He used some chess analogies when talking about in-game strategy, and has a great memory recall of certain players, situations, sets, formations, etc. He's extremely smart, knowledgeable, and used lots of examples from his playing days. His mind is constantly going.

His enthusiasm is authentic, and infectious. I can't imagine guys not being excited to play hard for him. He talked a lot about belief: belief in the system, in the coaches, in the players. He believes in every player, because you never know where you're going to find true greatness. He had a great bit on this:

"Who rates players? Who makes guys 'five stars'? What does a 'five star' mean? Where did these rules come from? Is it standard? I mean, really, is it? You don't know. That's why you got to give guys a chance. I will tell you this: win, lose or draw, the guys that WE bring in here, in my mind, THEY'RE the best players. Because I think I can teach them to do the right thing. The guys coming here, I BELIEVE in them. And they're going to be the best. I don't care about some guy who's 'five star' and got a hundred thousand offers. Give me the dudes that want to play! That's what I want. Give me all the dudes that want to play. That's what I want more than anything else."

In the evening "chalk talk" (the small group breakout) he took questions and talked more specifically about X's and O's, diagramming some stuff on the whiteboard and telling some fascinating (and sometimes hilarious) anecdotes from his playing and coaching days. He also dropped a couple of tidbits about what ND's defense might look like, but without getting too specific.

But no matter what the scheme looks like, the team will be prepared and motivated. As Corwin said, "I don't know if we will be good, but I promise you this: we will run and hit, we will attack the football, and we will go hard."

I can't wait for this Fall.

Cuyahoga | by Jay

I've thought for a while that the Browns at #3 were the most likely destination for Brady Quinn in the NFL draft, especially since the entire Cleveland brain trust, right up to the owner, attended Brady's pro workout in South Bend. Yesterday Charlie revealed he's openly pushing for that match. This is from a blog entry in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"I'm pulling for Romeo and Phil and I want to see them succeed," said Weis. "When you're close to people, you openly root for them. You can never have enough guys like Brady Quinn. He has that special something -- that 'it' factor that people talk about. It permeates positive energy throughout your entire organization."

Weis admitted he's been pushing Quinn to Crennel since 2005.

"He came to my wife's birthday party two years ago and I said to him then, 'You need to get Brady Quinn,' " Weis recalled. "Now there's a chance it can actually happen and I hope it does."

Quinn is one of five players the Browns are considering with their No. 3 overall pick. Savage said Wednesday night at a Browns Backers event that Quinn is a "terrific quarterback and we'd be happy if we end up with him."

Weis said of all the teams at the top of the draft, including Oakland at No. 1 and Detroit at No. 2, nothing would make Quinn happier than to get the call from the Browns.

"Would he like to go No. 1 overall? Sure. Would he like to be picked No. 2? Absolutely," said Weis. "But being drafted by the Browns would more than make up for being passed over by those two teams."

Weis said he has nothing against the other top-rated quarterback, LSU's JaMarcus Russell, but he's betting on Quinn. "I'm willing to put my name with him because I'm that sure of him," said Weis. "Brady has the ability to lead an organization for over a decade and that's what you want if you're picking that high."

He said Quinn has a big advantage over the other quarterbacks in the draft because of his association with Patriots two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady.

"Contrary to many people's opinions, it's not because I coached him," said Weis. "It's because he had four years of tape to watch on Tommy Brady. He studied and ran every play that Tommy's ever run. What's more, he's had open communication with Tommy for the past two years."

Weis said he was surprised at how much of the Patriots offense he was able to install in his first season at Notre Dame and how much he was able to add the second year. Quinn broke 25 school records in 2005 and threw for more than 3,000 yards in each of his last two seasons.

"Brady was able to handle much more than I ever anticipated," said Weis. "And we put a tremendous amount of responsibility on the quarterback. In New England, Tommy doesn't call the plays, but he runs the show."

Weis scoffed at critics who say Quinn hasn't delivered in the big games. "If you look at last season, there were three close games that we never would've won without him -- Georgia Tech, Michigan State and UCLA," Weis said. "Without him, we would've been a .500 team."

(And if you're interested, check out some of the comments on that post from what I'm guessing are myopic Ohio State fans.)

Protect Ya Net | by Mike

As previously mentioned, this year was a landmark year for the Fighting Irish hockey team. The Irish won the CCHA regular season and tournament championships and spent several weeks as the top-ranked team in the nation. The Irish lost to eventual national champion Michigan State in the regional finals of the NCAA tournament, but still achieved many firsts for the Irish hockey program.

Two of the men most responsible for the turnaround were second-year head coach Jeff Jackson and goalie David Brown. Brown displayed flashes of his brilliance even before Jackson arrived. As a freshman in 2003, he stood on his head in a 1-0 Irish victory over then-No. 1-ranked Boston College in Chestnut Hill. Though only the fifth game of Brown's collegiate career, it was already his second shutout.

Brown's senior year was the year he put it all together. As the Irish ascended to their number 1 ranking, Brown led the nation in wins (30) and goals-against average (1.58). His save percentage (.931) and shutouts (6) were second in both categories nationally. Following such play, the awards rolled in for Brown. He was the CCHA regular season Player of the Year. (Jeff Jackson was named CCHA coach of the year.) Following Notre Dame's CCHA tournament championship, Brown was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

The CCHA's best player also received his share of national recognition. He was a first team selection to the 2006-07 RBK Hockey All-American West Team. Brown was named First Team All-USCHO, Defensive Player of the Year, and national Player of the Year by USCHO. USCHO - U.S. College Hockey Online - also named Jackson national coach of the year. Brown was also the winner of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which recognizes the top student-athlete in the sport who uses all four years of his collegiate eligibility.

Brown was also named one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, the hockey version of the Heisman trophy. The award was won by North Dakota forward Ryan Duncan, becoming the sixth consecutive winner from the WCHA conference.

Head coach Jeff Jackson was honored with the Spencer Penrose Award, given by the American Hockey Coaches Association to the Division I men's hockey coach of the year. Jackson led the team to a 32-7-3 record in his second year, a staggering improvement over the 5-27-6 record in the year before Jackson's arrival.

Congratulations to David Brown, Jeff Jackson, and the rest of the Irish hockey team for their outstanding season.

First Time Caller | by Jay

Overheard on a recent Mike Frank Power Hour podcast...

Caller: This is Lowell from New York, I'm a first-time caller.

Mike Frank: Good to have you on the show, what's up?

Lowell from NY: A couple of different questions for you. Number one, I read on one of these sites, you know, one of these free sites, that Notre Dame has got a Division-III school on their schedule?

MF: Is it Division-III or Division-II?

Lowell: It was Mount Union or something like that. I read it over twice and I wasn't sure if I was missing something...I'm not even sure if it was true. I'll send you the link. Anyway it kind of segues into my next question. What do you think of some of these free online sites like Blue-Gray Sky and UHND.com and NDNation...you know a lot of these guys?

MF: Yeah, I do. I know 'em all. I have a friendship with all of 'em. The NDNation guys are good friends of mine. Frank & Kyle from UHND are good friends as well. BGS, I know those guys very well. They're just media sources out there doing a good job.

Lowell: You know sometimes I read certain things here or there and I wonder who's writing it on the other end. Sometimes I wonder if the person writing knows anything about what they're talking about. You read some things and take them as gospel, then you read something that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and you wonder who the source is.

No reason to post this other than I thought it was hilarious. For the record, Lowell, the only time BGS ever breaks news is if the date is 4/1...

the Poz that Refreshes | by Pat

As you've probably heard by now, Charlie put another easter egg into his basket over the weekend, winning a verbal commitment from a linebacker with some nice bloodlines and a name that sounds ready-made for a John Facenda voiceover: Posluszny. David Posluszny.

Poz had been considered a heavy lean towards the Irish since the start of his recruitment when he caught the eye of Irish coaches during last summer's football camp. After a trip to South Bend this past week, David gave his pledge to the Irish.

"Going into the trip, I knew Notre Dame was pretty much the top choice," Posluszny said. "Walking around campus, meeting the players and talking to the coaches, I knew that's where I wanted to go."

"I like everything about Notre Dame. I can't think of one negative," said Posluszny, who also has played defensive back and fullback at Hopewell. "At Notre Dame, you get an Ivy League-type education. Every year, you're competing for a national championship. So I really don't think you can beat that."

Getting a linebacker for a class that needs plenty of defensive players is a great news, especially considering David's football roots: his brother Paul won the Butkus Award in 2005, and left Penn State as maybe the best linebacker to ever play for "Linebacker U".

Here's the rundown on David. At 6'2", 215 pounds, Poz played fullback and safety for his high school last year after playing wide receiver -- and leading the team in receptions -- as a sophomore. Expected to play inside linebacker at ND, David was hampered by an injury that kept him out of a number of games his junior year. Despite missing some action, he was named Class AAA Second Team All-State, the same honor he earned as a sophomore. It's still too early for star rankings from the recruiting sites, but David is in Rivals "Top 100 to Watch" list. Scouts, Inc. (at ESPN) gave him a rating of 80, which is what they gave Toryan Smith two years ago, for whatever that is worth.

David had offers from Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Louisville, Pitt, and Rutgers. He hadn't received an official offer from Penn State (not yet, anyway), which seems puzzling given his brother's place in PSU program history. After looking at PSU's recruiting situation, however, I'm not too surprised. Penn State has limited scholarships this year and are trying to get two other top Pennsylvania linebackers, Andrew Sweat and Shayne Hale (both also offered by ND). Paterno and Co. probably felt it was better to hold off on offering David. What probably made them more hesitant is that David was an obvious ND lean the entire time.

Of course, the glittering legacy of brother Paul is something that's going to hang over David, at least until he establishes his own name on the field. It's both a blessing and a curse: he'll have a great resource in his older bro to help him develop in college, but he'll also be saddled with some sky-high expectations from Irish fans eager to have a Butkus winner of their own. David is about the same size his brother was at the time, and his high school coach sees a similar approach to the game.

"He is a heck of a player," Hopewell football coach Dave Vestal said. "I think he has that same instinctive reaction to things that Paul had, but he didn't have a lot of opportunity to show it because of injuries.

As ND tries to rebuild the defense under new coordinator Corwin Brown, getting quality and quantity this season in defensive recruiting is a big key to quickly getting the Irish defense up to par with the offense. With an incoming linebacker like Posluszny joining defensive lineman Sean Cwynar, ND seems to be off to a pretty good start, with the strong possibility of more good news in the coming weeks as the spring game nears.

One final note on the Posluzny story, from the "hindsight is 20/20" department:

"Everyone was really happy," David said. "Everyone wanted me to pick Notre Dame. Even Paul was pulling for Notre Dame because it's such a prestigious school. He said when he was in my position, he would have liked to have had an offer from Notre Dame."

Wow. Are you saying we could have had Paul Posluszny at linebacker these last four years? Well, welcome to the hit-and-miss world of college recruiting. While it's convenient (and probably at least partially accurate) to pin this miss on Ty's poor recruiting acumen, keep in mind that Paul was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school, and had roughly the same stock as Irish recruit Nick Borseti at the same time. Neither Michigan nor Ohio State offered Poz, if that makes us feel any better. And what's more, in that same class we picked up our own low-profile, 3-star wide receiver from Valparaiso who turned into a multi-year All-American. Recruiting is like an easter egg hunt; it's a big field, and you're not always going to find the ones with the $100 bill inside.

Rush Chairman | by Jay

An encouraging quote from Mo Richardson on the new defensive scheme (care of the UND.com videos of 3/30):

"I like the defense a whole lot more. I see this defense as being more flexible, giving us more playmaking opportunities, and in the long run, by the time we get to the season, there will be a lot less 'thinking'...it's more versatile.

"It's hard [for an offense] to guess where a particular rush is coming from. You might have a sense of what's going on, and you'd hear us saying the same things over and over, and think, 'the same guy's coming, the same action is happening', when really it's not. I believe this defense has a little bit more elusiveness to it than the last one."

Open Access | by Pat

This past Saturday the Irish held the only practice of the spring that was completely open to the media. You can get some impressions from beat writers like Michael Rothstein of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune. Now, the team had a full scrimmage the day before on Friday, which certainly would have been interesting for prying eyes, but Saturday's practice was more subdued. Still, it was the first time for the media to see Jimmy Clausen throwing the football more than a few feet during warmups.

UND.com put up over an hour of video of the practice so there's plenty to dig through for those that want to see things for themself. After starting with the practice overview, you can study the offense and the defense, or, concentrate on the one-on-one drills featuring all four QB's fighting for the starting job. For now I'll leave the breakdown to those that want to leave their opinions in the comment section as I'm hesitant to try and glean too much from a few isolated clips. But I will say that the team looks like they are having fun. From Zibby and Carlson having some fun trash talking to the team mobbing walk-on (and possible new starter?) Nate Whitaker after he hit the final field goal that kept the team from running a final set of sprints, there seems to be a lot of energy which hopefully carries over to the Blue & Gold game and into summer workouts. What caught your eye?

Scheduling update | by Jay

No comment.

Notre Dame Reveals 2009-10 Schedules, will play Mount Union in Two-Game Series
Athletic director defends scheduling Division III team by citing rest of home schedule.

NOTRE DAME, IN--Kevin White wants Notre Dame football fans to look at the big picture.

White, the ND athletic director, knows the dates against Mount Union College (October 24, 2009 at Notre Dame and the opener in Alliance, Ohio on September 2, 2010) are raising eyebrows among Notre Dame fans who consider the Division III school an unworthy opponent.

The matchup with the Raiders, the Division III national champions in 2005 and '06, was announced Saturday and rounds out the Irish's 12-game regular seasons.

This is the first time Notre Dame has played a Division III team. Mount Union is a private, liberal arts college with an enrollment of just over 2,000, and has been a Division III power for decades.

"I tell (ND fans) to take a look at our schedule overall first and foremost and see it's one of the toughest and best they'll have had in a few years," White said. "They have (at home) Nevada, BYU, Boston College, Rutgers. Mount Union will be a nice addition."

White said finding a team for that 12th spot has been difficult. He said there were several BCS teams that wanted to schedule Notre Dame, but the Irish had future scheduling constraints and could not return the game.

Some fans are disguntled. Other fans agree with White's belief, that facing the Raiders is not a drawback to a fine home schedule.

"Mount Union won a national championship the last two years, so it is not like the team is terrible," said Charlie St. Amand, 28, from Gary. "I don't mind them playing what will likely be a scrimmage. If that is what it takes to win a national championship, I'm all for it."

The Irish make about $4 million for each home game. Mount Union will make $400,000 for playing at Notre Dame Stadium in 2009, White said, and the teams will split the gate when the Irish travel to Alliance, Ohio in 2010.

"I'm sorry a series with Alabama didn't materialize, but we've been rewarded with something even bigger," said White. "I think it will be an awesome series, especially having the chance to play in venerable Mount Union Stadium [capacity: 5,529], the oldest stadium in Ohio. It will surely be a tough ticket."

The Raiders went 15-0 last season en route to their second-straight national title at what is called the Division IIII Football Championship Subdivision.

"Like everyone around the nation, we have great respect for the tradition at Notre Dame," MUC coach Larry Kehres said in a release. "The fact that they are playing us speaks a lot of our program and the things that we've accomplished."

Irish walk-on Tunney O'Hanlon, 29, a transfer in his second year with the Irish, is not pleased with the matchup.

"What the fook?" he said. "I came all the way over here to play an exhibition? No offense to those lads at Mount Union, but I'd rather chase geese back home. What's next, playing Galway middle school [O'Hanlon's grade school in his native country of Ireland]? Fer fook's sake."

When told of O'Hanlon's comments, White responded, "Would Galway Middle School count towards bowl-eligibility? I'll have to look into that."

White said it is not prudent for Notre Dame to schedule a higher-profile game because the Irish lose on the financial end, and would possibly even lose the game.

"I've been singing this song for a long time," White said of adding a Division III game. "I'm optimistic. We've got a lot of options to engineer a favorable schedule and we've got to look at it. Football is more than just competition."