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.

 

Chucky to ND?

Its ridiculous, but the rumors of Jon Gruden becoming the next Notre Dame coach have gotten to an "absurd" level. If you remember, Jon Gruden attended Clay High School in South Bend, where his father was an assistant under Dan Devine at Notre Dame. Gruden did not attend Notre Dame, feeling he could get more playing time as a quarterback elsewhere. He was right, as he was a backup at Dayton most of his career. During the coaching search of 2002 (that eventually produced Ty Willingham), Gruden openly discussed his affinity for the Irish numerous times publicly, fueling speculation that he would be interested in the ND job.


Now that he has been fired by Tampa Bay this past Friday, the speculation begins again. From the New York Daily News Blog of Jets beat writer Rich Cimini:

"By the way, one of my Bucs peeps tells me that the word around the Bucs is that Gruden could be going to Notre Dame to replace Charlie Weis. Sounds a
little farfetched, but as the theory goes: The school will buy out Weis as soon
as he signs his recruiting class, in two or three weeks, and hire Gruden. Heard
from someone close to the Notre Dame program that there's a weird vibe around
the football offices. Hmmm"

Amazing. I can understand hearing about speculation that Weis will be fired after another potentially mediocre Irish season in 2009, with Gruden then being a potential candidate. But firing him right after the recruits sign? That's the most lowdown thing I have ever heard of, and certainly something that is not the Notre Dame way of doing things. While many hate Notre Dame, few can accuse the school of dirty recruiting tactics (deceiving or lying to recruits, money, cars, etc.). I think this comment was erring on the side of ridiculous.

Weis hired a few more assistant coaches, including Tony Alford, running backs coach formerly from Iowa St and Louisville. More to come on these guys later. But make no doubt about it - the most important assistant coach, Frank Verducci - offensive line coach - was already hired. Defensive Line coach is soon to come. The talk is also that the offensive coordinator spot may not really exist with Weis essentially filling it.

News & Notes

Ok, the posting layoff is over. In the week's since Notre Dame's throttling of Hawaii on December 24th in the Hawaii Bowl, a few coaching and personnel decisions have been made:

• Will Yeatman, former starting tight end, has transferred to Maryland to play football and lacrosse (he was 1st team All-America in lacrosse as a freshman). Yeatman was one of the players at the off campus party in September, where he was arrested yet not charged for under age drinking. The 20 year old had an amazing .02 BAC level - making him 3 times below the legal limit of any state. ND promptly suspended him for the entire semester, largely based upon his previous DUI the year before. It was time for him to leave, although ND as usual treated him like a nefarious criminal for a very simple offense. Still no charges for that arrest because the officers entered the house without permission (illegally) and the cases are being thrown out. The best blocking TE on the roster, his loss will be felt. Lucky for us, the ND tight end talent is deep enough to cover, assuming no injuries.
  
  
  
• Offensive Coordinator Mike Haywood has become the head coach of Miami of Ohio. Mike was a good assistant coach and has the experience to take the jump. Its hard to be an offensive coordinator under Weis, so this loss is not huge. So far, the Irish program has not replaced Mike. There are rumors that no offensive coordinator will be hired, just a few offensive assistants under Weis. I am fine with this, as we saw how well the Irish offense performed in the Hawaii Bowl when Weis was in the booth, calling plays, just like an offensive coordinator.





• Defensive Line coach Jappy Oliver is gone, to pursue other opportunities. A few names are floating around for his replacement. There has been talk of Luke Fickell, Ohio St Linebackers coach, joining the Irish staff. Whether he would be defensive line coach or an additional linebackers coach is anyone's guess.





• Offensive Line coach John Latina is also out, having been replaced this week by Frank Verducci. You can read all about him and some insight at the great blog Blue Gray Sky. In short, he has about 12 years of college experience preceding his last 8 years in the NFL. He is a New Jersey native that is exactly what Weis wanted - someone that speaks his language (NFL) but has worked in college (recruiting). It doesn't hurt that Verducci's father and brother are football coaching legends in New Jersey, which always helps in recruiting. Verducci has been OLine coach for the Cleveland Browns the past few years, employing the often controversial Weis scheme of "zone blocking". Many old timers hate this, but its what the OLine and Weis are used to. This is likely the most important coaching hire in Weis's career, so hopefully he got it right. Time will tell.





• 2007 starting corner back Darrin Walls has returned to campus, after moving home for the fall semester for "personal reasons". Walls was the best corner on the team in 2007 (remember his interception and then 60 yard TD return against Penn St?), as well as a top 50 recruit 3 years ago. He has 2 years of eligibility left, and is adding to what most think is the strength of the Irish, the defensive backfield. Next season, the Irish will have have 4 highly talented and experienced corner backs - 1 senior (McNeil), 2 sophomores (Blanton & Gray [hopefully - there are rumors of academics or transferring]), and 1 junior (Walls). After improving significantly in pass defense from 2005 to 2008, 2009 will be our best defensive backfield in 15 years.




• One more tidbit, not personnel related: The Irish scored more points (49) than any other team in any of the 34 bowl games this year.
  

Of all the news and notes, the hiring of the offensive line coach Frank Verducci, is the most significant. During the 4 years of Charlie Weis, the Irish have experienced the 3 worst rushing years in Notre Dame history. Some blame the lineman, or the scheme, while others blame the coaching. No matter what is the reason, the inability to run the ball has been the biggest disappointment and potential harbinger of failure of the Weis era.

A good example of the importance of the run game was this season, for instance. Everything started off great for the Irish offense. We passed the ball deep, and it worked well. Once teams adjusted by dropping more defensive backs deep (2nd half of the North Carolina game) we had to respond, but couldn't. What should be the offensive response when the defense backs up? Run the ball. We were unable to do that, so we were screwed offensively. Teams figured this out, and just deep covered us to death, knowing that their defensive lines and inside linebackers could handle the Irish run game with no help. Against Hawaii the talent level showed and we simply outplayed them and had a great day against a poor defense.

If Weis can find a way to run the ball even remotely like our teams pass the ball, he will finish his contract. I truly believe this is the missing ingredient, as the defense and talent level are improving each year. The flip side of this is simple - if Weis and Verducci don't make significant inroads in the running game - this coming fall - then they will both be fired. Lets hope they do.

Happy New Year

Been slow on the posting the past few weeks. A big reason for that has been laziness around the holidays. A bigger reason is that we have all offseason to break down the Hawaii Bowl, recruiting, and the 2008 performance by the Irish. Much more good discussion to come in the next few weeks.

Surface level reaction to the Hawaii Bowl has been great. The obvious plusses are finishing the season on high note, young players gaining confidence, and getting the 15 year bowl drought off the Program's shoulders. Certainly all of the positive must be tempered by the 2008 season, which saw an 8-4 caliber Irish team go 6-6.

The not as obvious but very important benefits of the bowl performance are the effect and recruiting and the media watchdogs. Recruits have clearly been impacted based on what I have read from the articles flowing from the All America High School all star game. Committed players have been eased, and uncommitted players were impressed. And the big win by the Irish will be fresh in the minds of many recruits well into the summer time.

As for the media, this game "shakes (some) of the (Weis) haters off", as Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton once said about his haters. The win doesn't give Weis stability as much as it makes writing negatively about Weis more difficult. At least until next season. There is an effect on recruiting here as well, as its much easier to recruit in a kid's living room without Weis job security updates running every 15 minutes on the bottom line.

More to come later. As always, discussion is encouraged.