Looking Back - Seniors

With the last home game of the 2008 season being this weekend against Syracuse, we can look back on the senior class and see how they did. On the official roster at UND.com, there are 23 "seniors". Since Notre Dame lists 4th and 5th year players both the same as "seniors", there are players who arrived at Notre Dame in the '04 class, and some that arrived with the '05 class.

Of the 23 seniors, you can break it down like this:

• 9 players have played significant time during their career, and have completed their eligibility
  


• 6 players have played significant time during their career, but have 1 year of eligibility remaining
  


• 8 players are walk ons or did not see much field action during their career; none is likely to be asked to return for a 5th year
  

See the spreadsheet snippet below that details the names in the first two categories of seniors. If you cannot view the spreadsheet via email or RSS reader, click here.

And to put these 2004 and 2005 classes in perspective from an overall talent standpoint, here are the recruiting rankings by the two major services from 2004 through the current class being assembled for 2009. Weis was hired in December 2004 and did partial work on the 2005 class, the full work on the 2006 - forward classes (click here if you cannot view):

As you can see, the talent level in 2004 and 2005 was rated very poorly. In many's opinion, the very bad national ranking for these two classes is what pulled the rug out on Ty Willingham. Losing is bad, but with good recruiting in the pipeline (like Charlie), a coach can get a little bit more slack.

Digging into the 2004 and 2005 classes actually shows them to be significantly worse than the ranking would entail. In 2004, the Irish signed 16 players, which is a small class (20 is about average). Of those 16 players, an amazing 10 players transferred or left school. The top two players in this class were both 3 star rated, being Darius Walker (pictured) and Maurice Crum. The 2005 class was not much better, as only 15 players were signed. Only 3 of these players transferred/left, however. But the only 2 four star players signed in the 2005 class (Joey Hiben and DJ Ford [pictured]) left the team and transferred, respectively.

The point of this post is twofold - first, to congratulate and recognize the seniors who will walk through the tunnel for the last time on Saturday. Terrail Lambert, Maurice Crum, David Bruton, and Pat Kuntz will be sorely missed by the defense, as each is a multi-year starter. Maurice Crum has now started for 4 straight seasons, while David Bruton has been a significant contributor for 4 seasons as well. Bruton will be a first day pick in the NFL, with his rangy speed at free safety. Turkovich, Lambert, and Crum may have a chance to make an NFL team, but at this point the future is uncertain. These guys have fought hard through the firing of Willingham (the '04 class) and the transition to the Weis era. Bruton and Crum have been big time leaders for our defense, and have stayed completely out of trouble. Kudos to all of these guys as they move forward with their young lives.

The second point of the post is the obvious one. The lack of talent in the 2004 and 2005 classes explains a lot of the problems of the 2007 and 2008 seasons. I don't care how much talent is in the freshman and sophomore classes, rarely are there good teams that do not have strong junior and senior classes. Sprinkling a few Freshman and Sophomores with some experienced guys can work, but making the freshman and sophomore classes the foundation of your team will not. 2005 and 2006 football seasons had strong upper classes, and you saw the results. 2007 and 2008 do not. 2009 will.

I am not blaming the recent struggles of Notre Dame football fully on Ty Wilingham. Weis has made a huge number of coaching mistakes, equally as devastating as Willingham's lack of 2004-2005 recruiting. Willingham is gone forever and he is not the point.

My point is that come next season, the 2009 season, the excuses are over. All 4 classes of players will have been solidly ranked classes with depth and a minimal amount of attrition. This will be the year that Weis can best be judged by, more than any of his previous 4 years.