More TAYOHHHHHHHH (Te'o)

Great piece in the LA Times that covers some of the head to head recruiting wins the Irish had over the USC Trojans and resurgant UCLA. None were bigger than Te'o, however. These types of articles from the enemy turf are the sweetest.

 

But not as sweet as this video of the ND coaching staff reacting to the Te'o announcement on live TV (it should be one of the first video options on the video tab of UND.com). Te'o did not call the coaches, instead opting to announce on national television. You can see that 15 plus trips to Hawaii and months of hard work was all laying out on the table waiting for a 17 year old to make a decision. Their reaction was not unsimilar to mine, except I screamed and high fived myself in an quiet office cube.

 

Still feels good.

 

 

 

Te'o!!!!!!!

Elite 5 star linebacker Manti Te'o (pictured) shocked much of the recruiting world this morning by choosing the Irish over USC and UCLA on national television (I love the USC hat on the table, BTW). His commitment single handedly moved the Irish class up the charts, and more importantly gave the program some recruiting momentum unlike anything since the Jimmy Clausen commitment a few years back. Rated as ESPN's top overall defensive prospect - at any position - in the country, Manti's commitment is al over the internet and even on the front page of ESPN. Check it out on the front page, and also a background piece on Te'o here. Interesting read - he says he wants to be a trail blazer, and I'd say a Mormon Hawaiian linebacker coming to ND over USC is certainly blazing a trail of his own.

The program signed a total of 17 players today, a few people smaller than we would have liked, but very high on quality. The last will be ranked in the upper teens my most services, likely the highest in the ESPN rankings. Numerous prospects from the west coast, most of which were offered by USC - always a good thing to beat them on the recruiting trail some, since the field hasn't been a good place to compete against them lately. USC won their fair share today though, as the two safeties I mentioned in yesterday's post (Jawanza Starling and Byron Moore) both chose the Trojans over the Irish.

Tons of great video and information at UND.com, including a Charlie Weis press conference where he talks about each player. You could visibly tell that Charlie Weis was very excited about this class, particularly about Manti Te'o. Weis kept trying to explain that he was excited about the entire class, not trying to emphasize Te'o over the others. But he kept failing, continually bringing the discussion back to Te'o. Weis made it clear that Te'o was a huge defensive sign - but also that he was a huge advertisement for the program, even more important than Jimmy Clausen's in some ways. Te'o's decision airing live on national TV on signing day gave the program some good pub and street cred. Also, Te'o gives ND credibility on the defensive side of the ball, where Charlie has not been as successful in recruiting.

Without a doubt, this is the best defensive recruit inked in the last decade of Notre Dame football. Will he be as good as the hype? Who knows. I can tell you that based on the countless stories and interviews I have read dealing with Te'o, that this kid is a good, honest, heady kid that puts faith, family, and hard work first. Even though he is Mormon, he has Notre Dame written all over him. He reminds me of a former Irish defensive great, who impacted the program in the best possible way back in the late 80s - Chris Zorich. They play different positions, and come from different parts of the country - but these guys play with an earnestness and faith that screams Notre Dame. Te'o talks of doing just what Zorich did - coming to Notre Dame, blazing a trail, and working as hard as humanely possible to make the program the best it can be. Whether Te'o's results will mirror Zorich's, no one knows. But I feel good about this kid raising the level of intensity and passion on the defensive side of the ball to near Zorich-levels.

I hate to say it, but this morning, I felt that Te'o's decision would determine whether Charlie Weis ho-hums along at 7 to 9 wins a year, or if the program really starts doing damage. Losing Te'o would have been very very tough. Landing Te'o brings not only a great linebacker that can quarterback the defense, but some great momentum and hope for the Irish program - a program that has been short on both recently. The Te'o commitment and the Hawaii bowl performance were comparable in importance, which says a lot. Today, I feel like it's Christmas Eve all over again. Hope is alive for the Charlie Weis era of Notre Dame football.

Recruiting and Coaching News

Lets catch up on a few Irish football tidbits:

 

• Former Notre Dame All-American and future NFL Hall of Famer Bryant Young has accepted a graduate assistant coaching position for Coach Weis and the Irish. Bryant Young played 14 seasons in the NFL, all in San Francisco. Was one of the most dominant defensive lineman ever at ND, starring in the early 90s for Holtz's stout Irish squads. A great addition, who will be a major asset in coaching our defensive lineman, as well as a limited role in recruiting. Always a good thing to have Hall of Famers around your program.
• As many of you know, National Signing Day is two days away, Wednesday February 4th. ND's class is currently ranked from 20 to 25th by the major recruiting services (Scout.com, Rivals.com, and ESPN), largely due to the small size of the class (16 recruits). ND is still pursuing and likely to land at least one more top 100 recruit, while being seriously considered by 3 to 4 candidates at this point. Safety Jawanza Starling from Tallahassee is down to FSU, Georgia, USC, and the Irish, safety Byron Moore is down to USC and the Irish, and last but most important, #1 linebacker in the country Manti Te'o from Hawaii, is narrowed down to USC, UCLA, and ND. If the Irish get 1 of these 3, its good, 2/3 is great, and 3/3 is a grand slam. Te'o is in my opinion the most heavily recruited player in the Weis era, as Weis himself has gone to Hawaii numerous times in addition to the Hawaii bowl trip. Other coaches have made trips to Hawaii as recently as last week. This recruitment in many ways has been and all sellout blitz by Weis. We will know on all of these cats Wednesday morning, so lets just hope for the best. This class might be small, but there are some impact offensive players as good as any we have signed yet. Still looking for more impact defensive players, which is why these final 3 recruits are huge being all solid defensive talents (on top of who we are going against for each  -  the Trojans)
• Rumors and rumblings have Romeo Crennel penned as a possible ND defensive line coach. Wow. How awesome would that be, having Charlie and Romeo back together. Crennel may not have had success with Cleveland, but having another experienced defensive mind and coaching star like Crennel on the staff would be tremendous. Likely this is a pipe dream, but the rumblings have been strong enough to print in the South Bend Tribune, apparently.

More recruiting thoughts to come on Wednesday after signing day. Long story short, is that the Irish recruiting class will be the lowest ranked class of the Weis era. The reason, in my opinion, are very apparent:

• The Irish signed the #1 class in the country last season, which reveals itself in a young and talented depth chart. Even Florida's recruiting has slipped a bit this year, although still high on quality. The Irish were bound to fall outside the top 5, but should certainly have stayed in the top 10 if not for . . .
• The 3-9 2007 season. We signed the #1 class in the nation in February 2008, just after a 3-9 season. How? Because during the formative months of these recruits college decisions, the spring/summer before their senior year (2007), ND was just coming off two straight BCS games and things were looking up. The current 2009 signees had a formative recruiting period during the spring and summer of 2008  -  when the Irish were coming off a 3-9 season. Irish recruiting this year got off to a much slower start, and this class shows.

All this being said, 2010 recruiting is off to a great start, already with 2 commitments and numerous top talent on the board. Unless Weis has another disastrous season, his recruiting should easily be in any top 10 list from here on out.