Is Weis Still On The Hot Seat?

Another Prince that I hope is not a Pauper

ND Strategy

Armando, Best Back?

Run Armando Run

Armando Allen in lane four runs a 13.82 in the 110 meter hurdles. The world record is 12.88. Not too shabby.

-- (USA Today 7-2006)--

Liu's time of 12.88 seconds at the Athletissima Grand Prix meeting was .03 better than the record he matched in winning gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Jackson ran 12.91 in Stuttgart, Germany, in August 1993.

Armando Allen...Can't Catch Me

Something to help get through these uneventful months on the way to the Spring Game. Can't wait to see how they use him in the offense.

Video of Armando Allen. Not the best quality. Actually looks like the 8mm film i use to watch when playing. Armando looks like he is playing against little boys, believe me, he is not. This is class 6A High School South Florida Football.

1st and 3rd clips say it all in the above video.

More Speed Please

Stars Shine

“If Armando can go up from Florida to Notre Dame and have a good year, it’ll make me think I can do that,” Johnson said. “I want to show people that Florida kids can do it anywhere.

Davon Johnsonarticle -- (IE) You will need to subscribe to see the rest of this story.

PROFILE

Playing Time

Well thought out and informative as always.

Only The Young -- (BGS)

Recruiting Breakdown V 1.1. The Offense

1. Jimmy Clausen, QB--Obviously the go to guy at one point in the future, but will need to step up in the spring to be there for the GT game. I like his poise and arm strenght, but with the young offense coming in, Charlie may want a more mobile choice at QB. Demetrius Jones is a guy I feel can get the job done. Maybe a mix of the two.
2. Armando Allen, RB--Love the speed and ability to make people miss, could be a great return guy. Hasn't played in a year due to an injury his senior season, but is in school now for the spring and will have a jump on learning the system. Hails from the South Florida area and plays big school ball. Pipeline to the region. Took him away from Florida. Can get out and play the slot if needed to spread the field.
3. Robert Hughes, RB--Big, fast in the Darius model, but with better lateral ability. Great hands that will work out great in Charlies system. Can be big and bruising, but can also take it outside. Corwins addition has helped and will continue to help in the Greater Chicago area.
4. Golden Tate, WR--Return man, #3 or 4 WR for this season and will continue to improve. Has the Innate ability to find openings. Not Rocket type speed, but very fast. Impressive enough to make the Greg Little loss less painful.
5. Duval Kamara, WR--Replaces Smardzija with all the ability. Big, strong, fast and great hands. Can spread the field and not scared to come over the middle.
6. Mike Ragone, TE--Will get a lot of touches this season. With Carlson coming back he will have a great mentor into the Weis system. He can get up the field like a WR, but with great size. Definitely a fantastic option in the Red Zone. The Irish were pretty good at scoring in th Red Zone last season with 90% @ 44-49. Getting TD's was a little more diffcult with a 76% clip @ 37-49. Just think what scoring in the Red Zone against USC last season would have done. Hmmm?
7. Matt Romine, OL--Will Start this season in the mode of Sam Young. Probably our RT. Big, strong, fast and great feet.
8. Taylor Dever, OL--Will get snaps, and will make the decision for the OL very difficult. Not a bad thing from a fans perspective.
9. Emeka Nwankwo, OL/DL--Can play both sides of the ball, but will remain on the OL. Another great addition to the line. And another pipeline to the South Florida recruiting circle.

Charlie has recruited very well on the offensive side of the ball. This will change for next year. Even with the young team ND will have, I am feeling more and more optomistic about our chances next season. Looking at the type of recruits coming in, you can see a major difference than in the past ten years. We have had some very good and quality recruits under Davies and Willingham, but now we have a much greater percentage of guys that want to play and they want to play NOW!

We are working on the Defensive Recruiting Breakdown. All opinions are that of Irish Universe. If you do not agree, please comment in a respectful manner.

We got speed

Armando Allen is a kid that can flat out run. ND has not had this type of back in a long time.

Armando and the Hurdles Get excited fellas, things are going to go the Irish way once again.

Golden Tate has the ability to play RB, CB and WR. He can also return punts and kicks. We will likely see him in the WR and Slot position, but he is another kid that can run.

Welcome to Notre Dame...

The big day is done. How did we do? Yes we lost two commits on the big day, but ND picked up 18 quality players for the 2007 class. This class included:

Two members of the Parade prep All-America team - Clausen and wide receiver Duval Kamara.

Three players received All-America accolades from USA Today - Clausen, Matt Romine and Golden Tate

Seven players rated among the top 100 nationally by CSTV and Tom Lemming - Clausen (1st), tight end Mike Ragone (33rd), Allen (38th), Gray (54th), wide receiver Duval Kamara (55th), running back Robert Hughes (59th) and Tate (79th).

Seven players rated among the top 100 nationally by Rivals.com - Clausen (1st), Kamara (34th), Allen (52nd), Romine (55th), Hughes (77th), Gray (78th) and Ragone (83rd).

Five players rated among the top 100 nationally by Scout.com - Clausen (4th), Ragone (55th), Kamara (62nd), Hughes (71st) and Gray (72nd).

Ten players rated among the top 150 nationally on the ESPN 150 list - Clausen (9th), Tate (11th), Gray (13th), defensive lineman Kerry Neal (26th), Kamara (36th), Ragone (55th), Romine (85th), defensive lineman Ian Williams (120th), Hughes (140th) and linebacker Brian Smith (150th).

Six players named to National 100 list by Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Allen, Clausen, Gray, Hughes, Kamara and Ragone.

Seven players selected for the U.S. Army All-America Bowl in San Antonio last month -Clausen, Gray, Hughes, Kamara, linebacker Aaron Nagel, Ragone and Romine.

One player named Gatorade Player of the Year in his home state - defensive back Harrison Smith (Tennessee

So, with that said, it's over. Right?

Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Charlie didn't say that in his presser, but he should have. He is upset, to say the least at the shenanigans of the recruiting period.

Commitment doesn't mean the same thing it once did. I know all us ND fans feel like every one is picking on our players, but that just isn't the case.

Teams lost players yesterday and teams picked up players yesterday. We just happened to lost two pretty big recruits.

Why did we lose the recruits? Was it Poaching by other coaches? Was it our coaches not following through with the commits? In my opinion, it was a mixture of the two.

UNC coaches were relentless in their approach to recruiting Greg Little. Little Remarked yesterday about his decision to choose UNC. "They have a great program in my major, Business Administration, and a lot of guys have done great coming out of UNC with that degree". Does ND have a business administration department?

Once Butch Davis came into the picture, he started working on all the in state recruits that were leaving North Carolina. This is normal practice for any team. You can't let home state guys leave. Recruiting at Notre Dame is a different animal. Recruiting has always and will continue to be a national thing.

Charlie mentioned this in his presser yesterday.

The other thing is, for all those other people who are silent verbals, silent commits, to me they're fair game, just the way my guys are fair game, because that's the way the game is obviously played.

I think it then becomes an ethical question, okay? How exactly do you broach different subjects? I think between Rob and I, our staff, we're going to have to continue to review because we never want to do things the wrong way, but at the same time you have to make sure that everyone's playing the game the same way.

I think the first way, starting on the proactive, is our own view towards people that are committed to us because obviously sometimes what a commitment means doesn't hold much water.

Charlie and Company will now get COMMITMENTS. No more silent, quiet, or verbal. If a Kid is not going to commit, then ND will not commit. So, In my opinion, this is not over. Charlie is taking it personally and I am right behind him.

We did some Poaching ourselves this recruiting season. Brian Smith was an Iowa commit and did not have an offer from us until very late in the game. The Iowa coach told Smith that if he visited ND, he would be going in a different direction. When Smith took the visit, Ferentz got another LB. The big difference is, Brian Smith was upfront with the Iowa Coaching staff. This has made his decision easier to swallow on both ends.

Two things that are certain:

1. Notre Dame will change the way they recruit by getting commits from guys that want to be there
2. Until the recruiting climate changes, nothing will change

It is more than obvious that the kids read all the hype about decommits and the recruiting manage' twa's. Mike Ragone stood up at the press conference yesterday and the first thing out of his mouth was, "I will NOT be going to Notre Dame". Of course he was joking, but it's a joke that the coaches should take a long look at.

This recruiting age has the kids looking to ESPN and CSTV and ESPN U and ESPN the Ocho etc. etc. etc.

Martez Wilson, an Illinois commit was interviewed on ESPN and stated that he is "looking forward to playing the game and being on ESPN." I guess that's how Zook got players to commit to a team that hasn't won in years. No school, just ESPN and parties. Champaign is a nice place to visit, but C'mon Ronny, What about Classes and learning? What happened to the days of signing LOI in the principals office with mom and dad there to hug you and send you back to class? Oh yea, ESPN.

Ethics in recruiting is a huge Oxymoron. You cannot have one with the other and you can't have one without the other. What side does ND fall on? I am happy to say that Charlie will always fall on the side of ethics. And that is the way it should be.

This years recruiting class is a great example of that exact notion.

2007 will be a trying time for Irish fans, but when is it not? The schedule is tough for the first 3/4 and then slacks off. I think that an 8-4 or 9-3 season will be a great success. Any better than that is great, but any less would be underachieving. Being young is no excuse to lose games. Unlike the previous ten or so years, The Irish teams of the future will no longer rebuild with 6-6 seasons. The high quality recruits coming in will not allow it. And that is the main difference between Davies/Willingham and Charlie Weis.

My boys have Skillz with a Z!

Video from Irish Illustrated. Prior to Hughes and Tate commits, but a very nice piece on the skill positions the Irish are recruiting.

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