Ever since Dayne Crist was recruited by Charlie Weis, he knew that he would have to be patient and wait for his opportunity. Barring any kind of injury to Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame fans would not really get to know Crist until after Clausen left. That time is now.

There is no doubt that Crist has high expectations to live up to. Not only will he be replacing Clausen, but he will be wearing Brady Quinn’s #10. In fact, Weis made Crist get permission from Quinn to wear that number. If that isn’t pressure, I don’t know what is.

If Crist is going to make it three great Irish quarterbacks in a row, he will have to do it by learning a new system that is being implemented by new Head Coach Brian Kelly. Not only does Kelly run a completely different offense than Weis, but also everything about Kelly is just different from Weis.

Weis was known to be very positive with his players and was always encouraging. Kelly on the other hand is just nasty. That is not a put down. It is probably what these players need. All throughout spring, Kelly was very hard on his players especially the offense.

Kelly has to realize that although he did not recruit Crist, that he is his best chance at winning right away. He is the only guy with any kind of game experience at all. Crist definitely showed some positive stuff against Purdue and Washington State last year.

Although Crist and Kelly clearly need each other in order to be successful, this is clearly an arranged marriage. While that does make me nervous in some ways, the last arranged marriage was Weis and Quinn. That worked out alright.

Related posts

• No related posts.

In spite having a season in which he won the Blientikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver, Golden Tate has really been overshadowed by Jimmy Clausen heading into the draft. It is understandable to a point since Clausen is projected to go in the top 10 and Tate is probably a 2nd round pick.

Even still, Tate has a chance to very a very good pro. Like anything else though, he needs to be in place where his talents will be utilized in the right way in the right system. Below is a list of five teams where Golden Tate would have his best chances of success. It is ranked in order of best chance to worst chance.

#1. Kansas City Chiefs

What better place for Tate to go than to a team that has an offensive coordinator that already knows how to utilize his talents. Of course, I am referring to former Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis. Weis will undoubtedly run the same system in Kansas City that he did in South Bend.

The Chiefs also have a very promising young quarterback in Matt Cassel. Cassel to Tate could become a household name.

#2. Denver Broncos

If Tate can’t get hooked up with Weis once again, maybe he can get the next best thing. That is Josh McDaniels who was mentored by Weis and runs an offense that is nearly identical.

Who will be throwing Tate the ball is still a bit of a mystery. It will likely be Kyle Orton to start the year. If he falters however, Tate would then be catching balls from fellow Notre Dame alum Brady Quinn. That would be a great fit having a quarterback and recevier both from the same system working a more advanced version of that system.

#3. New England Patriots

Now if Tate doesn’t end up going to teams that have taken the same system he was in in college, how about the team that started that system to begin with?

For Tate to be able to go to a team where he can catch passes from a legend like Tom Brady would really be a dream come true for him. The only problem is that he would be be behind two Pro Bowl receivers in Randy Moss and Wes Welker.

At the same time, that could be a good thing. There will be less pressure on him to come in and challenge for a starting job right away. Also, defenses will key on Moss and Welker and that could open Tate up.

#4. Arizona Cardinals

This could be a good fit for Tate even though it is a different system than he is used to. Arizona in recent years has featured a triple threat at wide receiver with  Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston. With Boldin now gone, they need somebody to replace him.

Defenses will put alot of attention on the other receivers and that could open up Tate.

The only trouble is that this team may be in trouble at quarterback. With Kurt Warner retired, Matt Leinart will now finally have to live up to the hype that made him a first round pick. If that doesn’t work out, newly acquired Derek Anderson could be throwing balls to Tate. That has the potential to be really good, but also really bad.

#5. Pittsburgh Steelers

Here is another team that really features wide receivers in recent years. With the recent trade of Santonio Holmes to the New York Jets, this team desparately needs somebody to line up across from Hines Ward. With all the winning tradition of this organization, it could be a great fit.

Of course Ben Roethlisberger is one of the best quarterbacks in the league when his is able to keep his pants on.

Related posts

• No related posts.

As the NFL draft is less than two weeks away, Irish fans anxiously await to see what uniform Jimmy Clausen will be wearing next fall.

Will he be in red and blue in Buffalo? How about teel and black in Jacksonville? Is it possible that he could be sporting purple and gold in Minnesota if they trade up? As much as I would hate to see him in silver and black in Oakland, even that is better than seeing him in orange and Brown in Cleveland.

I know that there are other Notre Dame fans like Eric Murtaugh, Kenneth Kacala, Mike Muratore, and Bobby Hogan who are also Cleveland Browns fans. Therefore, they wouldn’t mind seeing him go there but even they realize that it is a place where quarterbacks go to die since they rejoined the league.

From Tim Couch to Notre Dame alum Brady Quinn, that organization just is clueless on what to do with a talented quarterback. It is true that there is a new sheriff in town in Mike Holmgren. Holmgren has a proven track record with quarterbacks. However, he has proven nothing as a team President. He will not be coaching.

The fact is that the same coaching staff that was there a year ago is still in place. Eric Mangini is not a good head coach and Brian Daboll is a joke as offensive coordinator.

Even if Holmgren is the change in management the Browns need, there is one thing that will never change and that is the fans. Although I am not a Derek Anderson fan at all, I totally agree with everything he said about the fans.

Those are the same fans that screamed for Quinn to come in the game constantly only to call for his benching as soon as he ran into any trouble. Many of these fans are calling him a bust although he has started only 12 games.

Going even further back, Tim Couch was beginning to develop into a decent quarterback and was able to lead them to the playoffs. However, he was hurt for the game and Kelly Holcomb stepped in and had a huge statistical game in a loss. Then all the fans wanted Holcomb to be the guy and he was. That lasted about 8 games.

As much as we would like to say that the fans don’t influence the decisions, that is wrong. The NFL is a business and the fans are the consumers. Businesses have to listen to their consumers.

So forgive me if I want Jimmy Clausen to have no part of that organization. I was hoping that he would fall to number 11 to the Denver Broncos. However, now that they have acquired Quinn I am not sure I want to see two Notre Dame guys competing for the same job. Besides I think we can all agree that Quinn deserves a fairer chance than he got in Cleveland.

I am really hoping the Minnesota does trade up as there are rumors they might. Although that would likely mean Clausen would have to sit for a year and learn from Brett Favre, he would be a great situation loaded with talent and a really good offensive line. I heard they have a pretty good running back too.

One thing is for sure, I will be supporting him no matter where he goes. I just pray it is not Cleveland. If they want to ruin another qaurterback fine, just don’t do it to another domer.

Related posts

• No related posts.

It happened three years ago to Brady Quinn and it is happening now to Jimmy Clausen. What am I referring to? That is blatant Notre Dame bias. Recently, ESPN’s Todd McShay described Clausen as have an average arm and average accuracy. He also said that Clausen should not be a first round draft pick.

Mr. McShay should go watch the last play of the half versus Washington State and then come back and say that. He should also look at his long bombs to Golden Tate that I witnessed personally in the Hawaii Bowl. Then call his arm average. Finally, McShay should look at his 68% completion percentage and four interceptions and then say he has average accuracy.

I am not saying that there isn’t reason to have doubts about Clausen at the NFL level. I myself think it will be very difficult for him if he goes to a team with a poor line. Since Clausen is not fast on his feet at all, his escapibility is a concern. He had a hard time with Navy’s rush, so an NFL pass rush could cause trouble for him.

So to be fair, there is reason to have doubts about Clausen. Let’s be real though, his arm strength and accuracy are not even remotely a concern.

As mentioned earlier, the same thing happened to Quinn three years ago. In spite having a near flawless workout on his Pro day, the media just hammered him saying that he didn’t impress the scouts. Later they hammered him more as he fell in the draft.

Three years later, the media is ready to call him a bust in spite starting only 12 games for a team where any quarterback would struggle. Hopefully, he gets a fair shake in Denver and shuts them all up. Let’s also hope that Clausen gets a much more fair shake by the team that drafts him. 

The other thing that I am finding very annoying is all the attention that is given to Dez Bryant. Excuse me, but wasn’t it Golden Tate who won the Blientekoff Award. Sure Bryant was exciting and has the potential to be a really good pro. But why is nothing hardly even said about Tate?  He was a human highlight reel the last two years.

I certainly understand that Notre Dame is one of those teams where either you love them or hate them. However, these are just fine young men trying to live their dream. I don’t think it is fair for media to be this blatant about their Notre Dame hate.

What did Brady Quinn or Jimmy Clausen ever do to anybody to deserve the hate they recieve? They played for Notre Dame so they must be overrated. What did Golden Tate do to deserve to be ignored like this?

Related posts

• No related posts.

On Friday March 26^th, a football program makeover was unveiled as Notre Dame held its first spring practice under new head coach Brian Kelly.

After three months of leading the Fighting Irish, Brian Kelly has already brought significant change to South Bend and that transformation was on display as Notre Dame took to the LaBar practice field complete with their gold helmets and cleats.

Even before Friday’s practice, the program had been subject to numerous changes from the departure of Charlie Weis and the previous coaching regime. Yet, nothing was more eye-popping and dissimilar than this first practice under Kelly.

Moving at a frantic pace for the entirety of the practice, Notre Dame demonstrated the up-tempo style it will be perfecting over the next five months.

Unable to take their helmets off during any point during the workout, the Irish showed incredible emotion and energy in what has been described as the fastest practice in Notre Dame history.

In a press conference before the practice, Brian Kelly told the media what his practices would be all about and how he will handle the program for the spring.

He stated that there will be no posted depth charts and players will work in “pods” or groups that can and will be moved around as time goes on. Kelly also described his system of holding guys back who have injuries while reaffirming the importance of taken part in practice.

Luckily, only Theo Riddick and Dayne Crist were “protected” players, still nursing off-season injuries yet still fully participating in practice. There are a few “restricted” players, such as Kyle Rudolph who is coming off shoulder surgery, but the entire roster took the field on Friday.

Although there is a lot of learning to do, Kelly said he was happy with the team’s effort and also added that the offense is already into their five-wide sets.

For anyone who watched the practice, it is clear that Brian Kelly wants to address a number of issues with his ball club, none more important right now than fitness and thinking on your feet.

Moreover, even though Kelly has only been head coach for a short time, and Friday’s practice was a bit of a surprise to watch, the fact is he has been instituting some major changes in South Bend since day one.

It’s almost like Notre Dame has finally joined the 21^st century and is ready to compete at the highest level possible.

To address the fitness problem, Kelly brought in his long-time strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo who has whipped the team into shape over the past couple months with high intensity weight lifting and football drills.

The players were also subjected to the brutal mental and physical trials of “Camp Kelly” a Rocky-like training regiment designed to test the collegians to their max.

What’s more, a much needed training table has been introduced and is helping to keep the players at optimal playing weights with the addition of a proper meal after workouts are complete.

The results so far are that almost the entire team is in phenomenally better shape.

Offensive linemen have slimmed down, dropped fat and added muscle to fit into Kelly’s fast-paced offense. Defensive linemen and linebackers have added bulk and muscle. Players like star wide receiver Michael Floyd have dropped ten to fifteen pounds in an effort to become more lean, muscular and able to handle the load of a quick-strike offense.

The mental aspect has already been in place with the addition of a computerized playbook that trains and teaches players Brian Kelly’s new offensive and defensive philosophies. That training meant the team was ready to open the playbook, audibles and player motion included, on the first day of practice.

Also, Kelly has been using a similar computerized system to track recruits like no coach at Notre Dame before him has ever been able to do.

The Irish head coach says it’s all about maximizing your time and effort and these changes could play a key role in his success later down the road.

Maybe the best news of all from the first weekend of practice was the relative health of quarterback Dayne Crist who was able to participate in all of the drills and show off his mobility. Although he may not be 100 percent at this time, it is clear he will be more than ready when the season starts.

Overall, it was an exciting and intriguing weekend for the Fighting Irish as they embark on yet another spring practice and the first under Brian Kelly.

The players are in excellent shape, the roster is nearly injury free and it is clear the team is ready to learn Kelly’s system and has done extremely well so far in this area.

Although it is still much too early to be talking about “awaking the echoes”, I think the program and its fans are quietly surprised and ecstatic about the changes taking place at Notre Dame.

Related posts

• No related posts.

As I was finishing the 2005 best-selling book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking  by Malcom Gladwell, I was struck by how some of his research and stories made sense of what happened to Notre Dame football over the past five years.

In a nut shell, the book looks into various ways our unconscious mind plays a role in our decision making in everything from spotting fake ancient sculptures, taste-testing soft drinks, creating facial expressions, choosing dating partners and catching criminals.

For a nice concise summary of the book, click here.

Gladwell asserts that we form (in the matter of seconds or sometimes milliseconds) intuitive responses unconsciously, or what he terms “the blink” or “thin-slicing”, and that often times this form of thought is powerfully correct.

What does this have to do with Notre Dame football? Well, the book itself dives into many different areas of our unconscious mind, both positive and negative, but there were three key arguments that kept setting off alarm bells for a major reason why Charlie Weis failed in South Bend.

Quite simply, Weis and the teams he led onto the field thought too much. They overcomplicated everything from day one, be it through sophisticated game plans, the continuing hiring and firing of coaching and the switching of personnel.

His players never used “the blink” very often, by making use of the powerful ability to make snap decisions in the heat of the moment, because Weis had his players bogged down with too much information. Instead of picking a simple formula for success, Weis led government-like scouting reports that laid too much chance for success on complicated offensive schemes and blitz packages.

A great example in the book came from a story about a man who came up with a simplified medical chart to help the over-crowded Cook Hospital in Chicago treat its chest pain visitors.

The problem beforehand, was that doctors were using too much information, taking too many tests (which often contradicted each other) and many times ended up giving poor diagnoses.

But with the simplified chart, the doctors were ordered to follow its three-step procedure and base the rest of their decision on their gut-feeling as medical professionals.

The result? The hospital diagnosed patients properly over 90 percent of the time with the simplified process, compared to roughly 50 percent before.

If diagnosing heart attacks were like trying to win football games, Charlie Weis would be the doctor too caught up in a mountain of data and test results to bring about victory.

The second example is the story of Paul Van Riper, a heavily decorated retired Marine officer who was brought in by the Pentagon to be part of a 21st Century war game.

Van Riper’s assignment was to be the leader of a rogue nation in the Middle East that would be battling U.S. forces in a multi-million dollar simulated war inside the halls of a cavernous northern Virginia government complex.

The disparity between the two forces before the war could not have been any greater. The Americans (Team Blue) had an overwhelming amount of power in troops, ships, artillery and planes to go with nearly unlimited technology and surveillance. It was expected that Team Blue would win the conflict swiftly and with ease.

However, Van Riper’s Team Red ended up defeating the Blue side almost as quickly as the Blue’s thought they would win the war.

The main reason was that Van Riper was decisive and gave his commanders a lot of power to react to situations in the moment to gain advantages wherever possible. On the other side, Team Blue held long meetings and briefings, poured over enormous amounts of data, acted slowly and found themselves dead in the water in a matter of days of simulated time.

The final example from the book details the outcome of the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War.

On the Union side there was General Joseph Hooker and over 130,000 troops against the Confederacy’s Robert E. Lee and roughly 60,000 men. Before the battle, the Union held nearly every conceivable advantage including an impressive maneuver to encircle Lee’s army and pin them against the Rappahannock River.

However, the battle was not won by the Union and Lee dealt a serious blow to the Union’s chances of winning the war in one of the greatest victories and upsets in military history.

Why? It was because even with more troops, artillery, spies and information, Hooker became indecisive and was unable to coordinate his army during the heat of the moment. In contrast, Robert E. Lee was boldly decisive and took the initiative with less information and less power to use.

I can’t help but think that Charlie Weis was to Notre Dame what Joseph Hooker was to the Union Army.

In both the war game and Chancellorsville, Team Blue and General Hooker were overly satisfied with their advantages and superiority. Just like Weis, they believed a major “schematic advantage” would win the day.

Often times Weis would lead the Irish on to the field against a weaker opponent only to find himself licking his wounds after a Notre Dame loss. Against teams like Syracuse, UConn and Navy, Weis’ teams had a monopoly of talent, yet they did not win. A schematic advantage was not enough.

The Irish teams from 2005-09 suffered from major “analysis paralysis” that hindered the team’s ability to perform at the highest level. Instead of picking one offense, Weis made his teams learn a multitude of differing packages, often switching game plans in the middle of a contest.

Meanwhile, while opponents were busy making adjustments in real time, Weis continually sought out too much information, consulting his atlas sized play sheet for a different formation to send to the huddle. In effect, Weis was merely guessing his way through games as coach of Notre Dame.

It’s not so much that Weis used such a thick playbook and tried to use his “schematic advantage” to beat teams, but that his entire system of operation was bogged down in paralysis because this “schematic advantage” permeated through every player.

Just think about Harrison Smith looking lost at the line of scrimmage and leaving a receiver wide open for a big play. Does that look like someone who was thinking without thinking? Or did it look like someone too confused by the plethora of coverages to know what he was doing?

If Weis had run a power running game similar to Alabama, concentrated on performing that system to perfection, and then used some of his offensive genius to make big plays, perhaps things would have worked out.

Instead, Notre Dame ran the ball 50 times one game, switched to a pro-style offense the next game, switched to shotgun Texas Tech ball the next, switched to West Coast style the next and everything in between. And the biggest problem was that these moves were made during games and sometimes from series to series.

And most of all, this attention to schematic advantage lessened the influence of crucial qualities which college football players need such as motivation, development and conditioning.

In short, Weis was not a very good leader. In the above examples of the Chicago heart chart, Pentagon war game and the battle of Chancellorsville, each problem was solved by someone with incredible intelligence. While it certainly takes a lot of studying and experience to be able to find solutions to the most difficult of problems, knowledge alone is not enough.

No one can deny that Charlie Weis was a smart man, but he never figured out that you can’t treat players like professionals and that scouting and clever formations alone wouldn’t win football games.

Almost immediately, Notre Dame fans have been struck with how different of an approach Brian Kelly is taking in South Bend.

Because of Kelly’s intelligence and experience, he knows what it takes to succeed. We’ve already heard him speak about how important it is to get players to develop and push themselves, to buy into the system, to learn it through and through and to be able to perform at the highest of levels without even thinking about it. It’s something Kelly calls, “unconscious competence.”

As Kelly said, “You can move them to a level that they can’t get to by themselves. That’s player development. That’s at the core of what I mean, to get people to do things that they normally wouldn’t do on their own. ”

In other words, Kelly wants Notre Dame football players to have “the blink” when it comes time to step on the field. He wants them to have confidence in their abilities as players and build a team that can think without thinking. That’s how you take a bunch of two and three star recruits to an undefeated season in the Big East.

Player development, strength and conditioning and fundamentals are three major areas that Kelly has stressed throughout his entire career and it is obvious that his players have been able think without thinking because of their preparation under this system.

When the entire coaching philosophy trickles down the program from a schematic advantage viewpoint, players cannot be developed very well. Without player development there is no harnessing of the potential of the unconscious mind and the ability to think without thinking is slowly stifled.

And the ironic part of is, the team that stresses schematic advantage usually ends up being out-schemed on the field because its players are not adequately prepared for a team that has confidence to think without thinking.

Do not think I believe that the solution to all of Notre Dame’s problems comes from “the blink” factor. There are too many aspects to coaching and winning football games to break it down to something that simple.

However, it is an interesting topic that showcases how successful people, organizations, company’s and teams can harness the ability to act decisively with the proper training in order to gain an edge on the competition.

In a lot of ways, Charlie Weis’ coaching staff was a lot like the U.S. Government during the Pentagon war games. Weis hired some of the best coordinators and recruiters in the country, just like the government brings together the best talent from different federal agencies.

The problem is, without an effective leader laying down a plan for everyone to follow, the odds of success are severely diminished.

Weis hired two defensive coordinators, each of whom had different coaching philosophies. Corwin Brown thought his way would work best, but John Tenuta believed his would work even better.

This is no different than the CIA or FBI trying to work together when both agencies are working in opposite directions.

The result is major dysfunction and a total lack of comprehension during the most critical times of battle during war and on the football field.

As Gladwell points out in the end of the book, “The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding.”

Both Weis and Kelly have the knowledge. But so far, Weis has proven he did not understand college football.

So far, Brian Kelly has shown through his coaching hires, speeches and football past, that he is the type of coach who knows how to lead and set a foundation for success.

Related posts

• Utah at Notre Dame Football Tickets | November 13, 2010 (0)
• Tulsa at Notre Dame Football Tickets | October 30, 2010 (0)
• Western Michigan at Notre Dame Football Tickets | October 16, 2010 (0)

It is that time of year again. The time when so called experts put out so called rankings as to how good the recruiting classes are. The reality is we never really know how good the class is until three or four years.

So for what it is worth, Brian Kelly’s first recruiting class landed him at #14 according to rivals.com. At the head of the class is OT Matt James and DT Louis Nix. They also got a QB named Andrew Hendrix and a bruising runner in Cameron Roberson.

These guys are all four and five star recruits. Notre Dame has had their share of them the past few years. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten them very far. So how is this year different?

The answer is quite simple. The four and five star recruits are not the ones that will win you games. It is the guys that are ranked below them that will really build depth for the positions. That is where Weis missed alot.

The difference is that Kelly has a proven record of finding players that slipped under the radar and turning them into great players. A perfect example of that would be Dan Lefevour. Lefevour was not even recruited by any major university. Yet, Kelly saw something in him.

Lefevour went on to be the best player in Central Michigan history. That is definitely  a reason for Irish fans to be optimistic.

Related posts

• The Blink Theory: Why Charlie Weis Failed at Notre Dame & Why Brian Kelly Will Succeed (0)
• Video: Brian Kelly Introduced At Notre Dame – UCLA Basketball Game (0)
• Is Lane Kiffin a Good Fit at USC? (0)

Do you remember that day when Brady Quinn was drafted to the Cleveland Browns? It was a day of hope for Notre Dame fans. After seeing Rick Mirer and Ron Powlus fail at the NFL, Irish fans were certain that this Notre Dame quarterback would not follow in his predecessors footsteps.

We were happy to see him go to the Cleveland Browns. That is the team he wanted to go to since he always rooted for them.

Former coach Charlie Weis even said that Quinn would be a pro bowl quarterback by his third year. Here we are three years later. Quinn has only 12 career starts. Guys like Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, Chad Henne, and Matthew Stafford all have more starts despite being in the league less time.

There is also doubt about whether or not Quinn will be back in Cleveland next year. How did it go so wrong for him? Certainly, there was alot that he had no control over. The main thing is all the turnover in coaches and front office personnel. The plan is constantly changing as is Quinn’s future with the team.

While there were factors that were out of his control. Looking back at it, Quinn did make a few mistakes in the process that are still haunting him to this day.

Now here we are with Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate both expected to be drafted high this year. I think there is less to deal with with Tate. No matter where he goes he will catch balls. Also, wide receiver is a much less profile position than quarterback. Therefore, there will be less attention around him.

Clausen on the other hand, will have to deal with the same things Quinn did. Let’s look at some of the mistakes Quinn made in the process and hope Clausen learns from them.

Mistake #1: The Combine and Pro Day

This is a player’s first chance to workout for the professional scouts. This is the place to show his skills. Quinn just didn’t impress in these drills. That wasn’t really that surprising though. Quinn was known more for his intangibles than his tangibles. Clausen should have less trouble with this especially on deep balls.

This was a mistake for Quinn but was really only a minor setback.

Mistake #2: The Holdout

After failing to impress at the combine, Quinn’s stock fell a little and it wasn’t until #22 when the Browns took him. Though he fell, he was still a first round pick and expected to be the quarterback of the future.

Unfortunately, Quinn didn’t make it to camp on time because his agent failed to negotiate a contract for him. As a result Quinn didn’t sign until right before the first preseason game. He didn’t play until the second exhibition game.

Then Head Coach Romeo Crennel decided that Quinn was too far behind to start opening day. Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson would battle it out. Although Frye started the year, Anderson ultimately prevailed.

Anderson had a pro bowl year and all Quinn could do was watch. Since then the team has been in total turmoil over whether Anderson or Quinn should be the quarterback.

This was probably the biggest mistake for Quinn. Had he signed on time, nobody outside of Oregon would even remember who Derek Anderson was.

Let this be a lesson for Clausen. He needs to make sure he hires the right agent that will get the deal done for him on time. That way he can be in camp from day one and doesn’t have to play catch up.

Mistake #3: The Endorsements

Imagine working at your job where you have for years. You and your co-workers have been working hard to make the company the best. Along comes a new guy who was fresh out of college. He had the potential to do great things for your company but at the moment was doing very little.

How would you feel if he was able to do commercials on behalf of the company?

That is what happened in Cleveland. Quinn was carrying a clipboard his rookie year, yet Subway and EAS are having him on TV. Not to mention, Quinn did many local endorsements that off season that were shown at Caviler games.

That had to rub many of his teammates the wrong way. They were out there playing their hearts out and Quinn was the one getting all the endorsement deals.

On one hand, you really can’t blame Quinn for taking these deals. After all if somebody is going to give you money you take it. That is what any of us would do no matter what we say otherwise.

At the same time, these endorsements probably wasn’t the best way to earn the respect of his teammates.

Let this also be a lesson for Clausen. He needs to be careful on what endorsement deals he accepts and factor in whether or not it is the best way to have a long career.

While I am not ready to give up on Quinn yet and still think he can turn it around, it would be nice to see Clausen get off to a better start.

Related posts

• Tulsa at Notre Dame Football Tickets | October 30, 2010 (0)
• Notre Dame vs. Navy Football Tickets at New Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ | October 23, 2010 (0)
• Notre Dame at Boston College Football Tickets | October 2, 2010 (0)

If ever there were a player who is worth rooting for no matter what team he is on, Michael Oher is that guy. If not for the movie The Blind Side, most of us may never know his incredible story.

Here is a guy who was born to a mother addicted to crack. He had many siblings from many fathers. He didn’t even know who his father was for most of his childhood. Many of the things most of us take for granted as kids (stable home, loving parents, food on the table, own bedroom, etc.) were not there for Oher.

His whole childhood he had to persevere and overcome the hand that was dealt him. It was not until he was in high school that the Tuohy family abopted him. The Tuohys deserve a lot of credit for that. Just being real, they had a lot more to lose than they had to gain.

Sure they saw his potential as a great football player, but it is not like they needed money. The Tuohys were a rich white Republican family. They lived in a part of Tennessee that was very set in their ways as was their circle of friends.

Needless to say, adopting a big black kid from the other side of town was not something folks in that part of the country were lining up to do.

As you might expect, Oher was never the best student in keeping up his grades. The Tuohys had to hire a private tutor who would follow him all the way to Ole Miss and remain his tutor until the Baltimore Ravens drafted him.

If that is not a great story I don’t know what is. He goes from being homeless for part of his childhood to being an NFL lineman.

Oher was such a great prospect out of high school, that every major college in the south offered him a scholarship. Watching the movie, there were so many recruits that came to his home that you couldn’t count.

The part I found sad was that Notre Dame was not one of the schools that tried to recruit him. Do you think Jimmy Clausen would have liked to have Oher in front of him for a good part of his career?

Notre Dame has always made it a point to maintain there high academic standards and still try to build a competitive football team. While I have always commended that, I am beginning to wonder if it is the right thing to do.

The reality is that Notre Dame hasn’t seriously contended for a National title since 1993. That is 17 years. The Irish also haven’t won a National Title since 1988. That is 22 years. If you ask me, it is time for Notre Dame to really look at how they do things and think about if it is really the right way to go.

The fact is that a player like Michael Oher would have never gotten a chance in South Bend. That really makes me scratch my head. Not every kid comes from an ubringing that would foster a kid to be great academically. Does that mean they are horrible kids?

Would it really be that horrible for Notre Dame to bend a little for a player with a background similar to Oher’s? Does it really go against what Notre Dame stands for?

I sure hope not. There are certain players that are worth taking a chance on and Michael Oher proved to be one of them. The reality was that he was going to Ole Miss even if Notre Dame had tried to recruit him. That is where is family went to school and where he wanted to go.

However, that does not mean that there is not another Micheal Oher out there. I would certainly love to see Notre Dame take a chance on one. After all, isn’t that what colleges are supposed to do? Aren’t they supposed to put young adults in a position to be successful?

Related posts

• Utah at Notre Dame Football Tickets | November 13, 2010 (0)
• Tulsa at Notre Dame Football Tickets | October 30, 2010 (0)
• Western Michigan at Notre Dame Football Tickets | October 16, 2010 (0)

As we are all aware, former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis will now be the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. After a disappointing end to his tenure at Notre Dame, Weis is now back to doing what he does best. That is an NFL offensive coordinator.

I don’t know how other Notre Dame fans will root. I am sure some will want him to fail and others won’t really care one way or the other. Me personally, I will root for him to do well and I hope he gets a chance to eventually be a head coach again at the NFL level.

I could never hate on Weis the way I do Willingham. The reason is really quite simple. Willingham really didn’t aggressively recruit and he drove the program to the brink of irrelevance.

I have no doubt that Weis gave all he had to Notre Dame. From the brink of irrelevance, Weis immediately took this team to the BCS two years in a row. Because of Weis, top recruits once again are going to Notre Dame.

There is no doubt that Weis did a really good job with the offensive players. Notre Dame had two really good quarterbacks in Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen. Weis offenses also had guys like Golden Tate, Jeff Samardijiza, Michael Floyd, Darius Walker, Armando Allen, Kyle Rudolph, Anthony Fasano, and the list goes on.

Under Weis, Notre Dame produced some of the most exciting offenses I have ever seen.

Unfortunately though, Weis apparently didn’t recruit as well on the defensive side of the ball. Nor did he hire the right guy to be his defensive coordinator. That is what ultimately did him in. He did recruit Manti Te’o, but he was a day late and a dollar short on that one. I guess he always was an offensive coordinator at heart.

At the end of the day though I know Weis gave it all he could. He is a Notre Dame alum. I always root for Notre Dame players to succeed at the next level no matter where they are. I feel the same way about Weis.

The ironic thing is that he will now be working with a former USC quarterback in Matt Cassel. Don’t be surprised if Golden Tate ended up there as well. Then you would have USC throwing to Notre Dame. How weird would that be?

Related posts

• Tulsa at Notre Dame Football Tickets | October 30, 2010 (0)
• Notre Dame at USC Football Tickets | November 27, 2010 (0)
• Notre Dame vs. Navy Football Tickets at New Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ | October 23, 2010 (0)