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 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.
"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
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.
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."
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."
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.
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.
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 fewvideos 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.
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.
• 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.
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.
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.
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'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.)
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.
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...
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.
"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.
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."
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?
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.
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."
"Go on out there, go on out there and play 'em off their feet in the first five minutes. They don't like it! Play 'em! Play 'em! They don't like it! Come on boys! Rock's watching!"
Spring practice is already one-third over and it's still pretty tough to peer through the fog of coach-speak and all-too-brief video clips to figure any answers to some of our big questions about the 2007 Irish. Still, news is trickling out, however slowly. Here's a quick rundown of what's going on.
Before we dive in, those of you who haven't been able to enjoy the practice and interview videos on All-Access can now check them all out here on a Mac friendly page. Enjoy.
Getting Defensive. The first major position switch of the spring saw rising sophomore running back Munir Prince switch a blue practice jersey for a white one and join the defensive as a newly-minted cornerback. The move wasn't a total surprise, but not many expected it to happen so soon. According to Charlie, it's not a pure depth chart move, but rather a switch to see if Prince fits in better at corner.
"We're going to give it a fair go, a legitimate look," Weis said. "This isn't just an emergency move where you are moving a guy over there just to get another guy over there"....“He asked me to consider it and I said consider it done. He asked me to consider it, and we made the move (Saturday) morning.”
Two things jump out to me with the early position swap. First, our cornerback depth chart is now actually deep. And fast. And talented. Then again, we are talking about the Notre Dame secondary so any positive news should probably still be tagged with a "I'll believe it when I see it" label. The good news about Prince is that he's not a stranger to cornerback; he was named 1st Team All-State as a junior at corner. The second thing that jumped out at me is that early enrollee Armando Allen must really be impressing the coaches if they felt comfortable moving Prince already. The BGS expectation meter on Allen has now just been turned to eleven.
Busted. Speaking of cornerbacks, just when ND added another talent in Prince, injury took one away. Early enrollee Gary Gray fractured his arm during drills and his spring ball is over.
"It's not displaced, not all the way through, but it's enough where you have to put it in a cast for a minimum four weeks," Weis said. "We talked about it last night. This isn't something you wait. You just put it in a cast. There is no pin, no operation, you just let the thing heal."
Bad news for sure for Gray, but the good news is that he'll be healthy in a few weeks and it shouldn't affect him for very long.
Leaders. The captains were announced for the 2007 season and 5th year seniors Travis Thomas and Tom Zbikowski are repeating as captains. Joining them are5th year John Carlson and rising senior Maurice Crum, Jr. Unlike last year where Travis was the lone captain of the special teams, Weis said that all four captains have a say on special teams this year.
This and that. A few other quick notes that I've noticed while checking through newspaper updates, video clips, and the like. According to James Aldridge, he wasn't allowed to lift weights with his lower body all last season by order of the coaching staff. That had to have affected him during the season. Maybe we'll see a more powerful Aldridge with a spring and summer of lifting under his belt........With people focusing on rising sophomores Eric Olsen and Matt Carufel, rising junior Michael Turkovich seems like he's not letting go of that starting left guard spot. It's still early, but he may just line up next to his classmate and likely starting left tackle Paul Duncan......The defensive players generally seem happy with the new defense. Not that I'd expect them to come out and say they hate it. We still have no idea who the starters are going to be though. True to their word, the coaching staff are trying out guys in different variations to try and find a solid starting eleven. (For a daily update on the starting lineups being used, check out Michael Rothstein's Irish Insights blog.)
Again, not too much in the way of big news as the various position battles are still underway and Weis certainly isn't tipping his hand about the QB battle. This Saturday the entire two-hour practice will be open to the media so there should be more interesting news following it, even if the practice is a special teams heavy practice like last year.
The pipeline of top prep tight ends to ND continued with Cincinnati native Kyle Rudolph committing to Notre Dame on Monday. He's the fifth member of the Class of 2008. Rudolph visited Notre Dame earlier in March as part of ND's Junior Day and decided to end his recruiting early.
"Just being up there and being around guys who will be my future teammates ... the people are similar to the people I went to Catholic grade school with and Catholic high school with. It just makes sense."
At 6'7", 230 pounds, Rudolph will be a tempting red zone target for an offense that loves to feature the tight end. High school video highlights show that Rudolph is already adept at catching the jump ballTD pass, sometimes only needing one hand. Rudolph is also a very accomplished basketball player -- he's already a two-time conference player of the year in the GCL South -- and that shows up in his footwork on the football field, especially near the sidelines. If you want more highlights, you can check them out here and here. Rudolph's coach notes that he's a great player who will fit in well at ND.
"He's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime player," Ramsey said. "He has great hands, he runs great routes, and he's a great blocker. God gave him a lot of ability, but to his credit he's never rested on that and he works hard. I think he's in the perfect situation at Notre Dame, in an offense that uses the tight end a lot."
Rudolph chose ND early, but still had a pretty impressive recruiting cohort from which to choose. Ohio State, Michigan, Tennessee, Miami, Virginia, Boston College, and Louisville were some of the programs that offered Kyle. And while the recruiting rankings are still being formulated, Rudolph is named to the Rivals "Top 250 to Watch" list as well as ESPN's Top 150 list. Getting an Ohio prospect that was offered so early by Ohio State is perhaps the most noteworthy part of Rudolph's recruitment; the Buckeyes haven't lost many in-state targets lately.
It also deserves mention that as with three of ND's other four public commits, Rudolph is from the midwest, which is Corwin Brown's recruiting area. We even had a quote from Kyle about Corwin in our previous post about Brown's impact on recruiting. Not that ND has had trouble recruiting tight ends from Catholic high schools before, but helping to get Rudolph away from Tressel is another sign that Corwin Brown is having an impact on ND's recruiting fortunes.
With the Rudolph commitment, ND has now landed their first choice --by that I mean the first guy offered -- at tight end for three straight years. Kyle will join Konrad Reuland, Will Yeatman, and Mike Ragone to form an incredibly deep and talented tight end corp. It is impressive what has happened to the tight end position under Coach Weis and Coach Parmalee. Not only has the recruiting been outstanding, but in the first two years ND has had two different players (Anthony Fasano, John Carlson) become Mackey Award finalists, with Carlson a near lock to make it three years in a row next season. And when Carlson heads off to the NFL, there will be four very talented successors looking to continue the streak, Rudolph included.
Last April, we covered the story of Easter Heathman, a witness to the Knute Rockne plane crash in 1931 who still to this day lives near the plane crash site. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you do. Also, here's a short video on Easter that is well worth watching. An addition to the story is that this past September, Notre Dame recognized Easter and his role as unofficial caretaker of the Rockne plane crash site with an honorary monogram before the Notre Dame-Penn State football game.
Mr. Heathman turns 90 years old in a few weeks and this note was posted up by a friend of the family on ndnation. I think it's a great idea and am reposting it here for those that missed it the first time. If you have a few spare minutes this week, I recommend you write a short note to Easter wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him for all the help he has given curious ND fans who have made the trip to Bazaar, Kansas these past 76 years.
March 14, 2007
Dear Friends,
We would like to take this opportunity to keep in touch with just some of the wonderful people our family has met through Dad’s devotion to helping strangers visit the crash site over the years.
As March 31st approaches, some of you will realize that Dad’s birthday will be following on April 7th. This year, his 90th birthday will fall on the day before Easter Sunday, so it will be a busy weekend for many of us. Dad doesn’t want a big celebration, so we are keeping his party small. I am sure he would appreciate hearing from any/all of you, thus the request for a card shower.
On April 29th, PBS will air a film called “Flint Hills: Meditations From a Kansas Prairie.” There is about 5 minutes of Dad taking the filmmaker to the monument and being interviewed in his kitchen, standing in front of his 2 ND awards, proudly wearing his Honorary Monogram blazer. The rest of the film is about the grasslands, the flowers, the rocks, the burning of the pastures, etc.. There is even going to be a “premier” shown at The Hitchin’ Post in Matfield Green this Saturday afternoon! To view the film on the web, you can go to: flinthillsfilm.com. If you get bored with the flowers and rocks, just fast forward about 35 minutes to Dad’s interview. The last part about the prairie fires is interesting.
The Flint Hills will also receive national recognition in the April issue of “National Geographic.” There is supposed to be about 20 pages about our hills, so you might want to check that out too. No, Dad didn’t make their story.
We hope this finds everyone doing well, and until we meet again, take care and keep in touch.
It seems that Jeff Samardzija wasn't the only Notre Dame player last year who was deceptively fast. At the second Notre Dame pro day, Brady Quinn finally lined up and ran the 40, along with a number of other agility tests, and had great performances in all of them. Here's the take from nfl.com.
Quinn weighed in 233 pounds. He ran indoors on FieldTurf. He ran his 40s faster than expected (4.82 and 4.73). He also ran the short shuttle in 4.22 seconds and the three-cone drill in 6.79 (with tiny cones, not tall ones). In addition, he had a 36-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-7 broad jump.
Now, the 40 is largely a silly measurement for quarterbacks. Sure, ND fans will note that Quinn's 40 is faster than JaMarcus Russell's (4.83) and about the same as Troy Smith's (4.72), but ultimately that doesn't matter much. QB's are paid to read defenses and throw the ball, not run in straight lines for 40 yards. Still, Quinn's times, especially his short shuttle and three-cone times, are impressive. Personally, I think a bit of credit for that goes to Quinn's specialized combine training out in Arizona, where he specifically worked on lowering his time on combine drills. But to some degree impressive times are also a reflection on individual work ethic, which is probably about the only thing the more savvy NFL teams take away from QB agility drills.
Quinn likely isn't going to overtake Russell for the top spot in the draft -- which I think is a good thing as long as Kiffin and the Raiders hold onto it -- but with a second straight impressive pro day, he's really going to make it tough on teams like the Lions and Browns to pass on him.
Derek Landri also performed running drills for scouts for the first time since hurting his knee against LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Results again thanks to nfl.com.
Landri (288 pounds) ran his 40s in 5.00 and 5.00. He also had a 32-inch vertical jump, 9-foot-1 long jump, 4.32 short shuttle, 7.08 three-cone drill and 26 bench presses.
Pretty decent agility numbers for Landri. He also increased his bench press result by two from the first pro day, which can't hurt. It will be very interesting to see where Landri ultimately winds up on draft day. He's not the ideal size for the NFL, but he's a good athlete with solid production on the college level.
I'm officially pulling the plug on the Guenther/Zook stakeout. I know the Illinois AD has had otherproblems lately, but it's been a month since he threatened to go public with the results of his investigation. We were expecting him to indict Notre Dame somehow -- that's what he told reporters off the record, anyway -- and yet we haven't heard a peep. I guess we can file it under "internet bluster". Thanks for the baseless smear, Ron(s).
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 started the first game of his freshman year against Northwestern. In the game he blocked a punt -- and 
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.
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."
Two of the men most responsible for the turnaround were second-year head coach 
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: 
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 
Spring practice is already one-third over and it's still pretty tough to peer through the fog of coach-speak and all-too-brief video clips to figure any answers to some of our big questions about the 2007 Irish. Still, news is trickling out, however slowly. Here's a quick rundown of what's going on.
The pipeline of top prep tight ends to ND continued with Cincinnati native Kyle Rudolph committing to Notre Dame on Monday. He's the fifth member of the Class of 2008. Rudolph visited Notre Dame earlier in March as part of ND's Junior Day and 
Rudolph chose ND early, but still had a pretty impressive recruiting cohort from which to choose. Ohio State, Michigan, Tennessee, Miami, Virginia, Boston College, and Louisville were some of the programs that offered Kyle. And while the recruiting rankings are still being formulated, Rudolph is named to the Rivals "Top 250 to Watch" list as well as ESPN's Top 150 list. Getting an Ohio prospect that was offered so early by Ohio State is perhaps the most noteworthy part of Rudolph's recruitment; the Buckeyes haven't lost many in-state targets lately.