My Favorite Martin | by Pat

This post is a few weeks overdue. So without further ado....

It's more than rare that a head coach gets to announce a new public commit, mainly because NCAA rules severely limit what they can say about prospective recruits. But Charlie got to spill the beans on Signing Day about the newest member of the Class of '10 when answering a question about when he expected to see dividends following the Manti Te'o commit.

Q. When you got Jimmy Clausen to commit to Notre Dame you were able to get more elite offensive talent to follow him. Do you think Manti could have that same impact on the defensive side?

COACH WEIS: Well, we got one about 15 minutes after he said yes, Pete. If you are asking about 15 minutes later, we had already stated paying dividends. Now you guys always find out the answers anyway and you'll end up finding that out.

Shortly after the presser, the media tracked down the new commit and California linebacker/defensive end Chris Martin made an already good day even better. It's still very early in the recruiting evaluation process, but the 6'4 225 pound Marin is already earning rave reviews. Here's a quick summary from Rivals.

Will be a serious candidate for five-star status when rankings are released. Martin had a monster sophomore season with 108 tackles and four sacks. He then hit the camp circuit where he dominated everywhere he went. This included a stop at the always loaded USC Rising Star Camp. He was impressive in one-on-ones and drill work with his explosive first step and his frame that could eventually allow him to spin down to defensive end.

Scout is equally effusive, making Martin one of 10 junior recruits, along with fellow commit Lombard, to already get a 5-star ranking.

In addition to his ND offer, Martin had an offer from USC, LSU, Georgia, Nebraska, and many other schools. SC was after him pretty hard after his showing at the afromentioned USC Rising Stars camp. You can see him in action in this video of his day running by recruits a year older than him. These types of drills usually favor the defensive lineman, but it's still a very impressive showing by Martin.

Don't expect Pete Carroll or other programs to stop recruiting Martin just because he committed to ND. But Martin is going to make it harder on at least Pac-10 schools by looking into a transfer to Hun School , Tyler Stockton's alma mater, in New Jersey.

"We are in the process of doing all the paperwork and I still have to get accepted," said Martin, who orally committed to Notre Dame on Feb. 4. "It is still very early, but if everything does follow through then I will be going out there. There is a chance that I might not be going, but that is up to my mother."

The highly-recruited linebacker wants to go through the early enrollment program at Hun School and then enroll at Notre Dame for the spring of 2010. That would make him available for spring practices.

Getting Martin not only a few thousand miles away from a top recruiter like Carroll, but also prepped for early admission to Notre Dame is great news for ND. Martin is the edge pass rushing talent that was missing from the last class. More than that, he sounds like he will be one of the premier pass rushers in the next recruiting class.