Going into spring camp next month, the Irish will have only one veteran with any significant playing time at safety and it is believed both positions are completely up for grabs.

With Tom Zbikowski, David Bruton and the recently graduated Kyle McCarthy, Notre Dame has had a few very good safety’s in the recent past.

In order to field a strong defense in 2010, Brian Kelly will want to fill this position with the best available options. More to the point, he will be well served to lock up an elite prospect at this position in his next recruiting class.

Here are the top 16 candidates to play safety for the Fighting Irish in 2010:

The Rookies

Austin Collinsworth (Freshman) WR/S

The son of former NFL stand-out Chris Collinsworth, the young Austin was a great all-around athlete in high school who played safety, wide receiver and quarterback. It may be a year or two before Kelly begins finding him a position, so the chances of him starting at safety are fairly low as of now.

Lo Wood (Freshman) CB

With the body type of a smaller cornerback, Wood will probably stay at his natural position. However, with such a depleted depth chart at the safety position, it is not inconceivable that he could impress the coaching staff enough to get on the field at some point next year.

Spencer Boyd (Freshman) CB

Like Wood, Spencer Boyd has the body type of a smaller cornerback and will need to bulk up in order to see some playing time in the immediate future. However, he has impressed with his speed and play making ability, so we can’t rule him out just yet.

Chris Badger (Freshman) S

Badger joins Wood and Boyd as early enrollees this spring which will undoubtedly help their chances of seeing the field sooner rather than later. Badger is bigger than the other freshman defensive backs and safety is his more natural position. It still may be a long shot for him to start in 2010, but it could happen.

The Playmakers

John Goodman (Junior) WR

The athletic Indiana product had some moments of brilliance last year in his limited action as receiver and wildcat quarterback and may very well stay on the offensive side of the ball. Still, Goodman possesses great size and speed and could be an ideal candidate for safety with his soft hands.

Shaq Evans (Sophomore) WR

Besides Michael Floyd, Evans is probably the most highly regarded recruit at the receiver position to come to Notre Dame in some time. As a freshman he played very little, had some ups and downs, and struggled with being away from his native California. Coach Kelly will probably want to keep the budding star on offense, but a move to safety would give the team in instant athletic freak roaming the defensive backfield.

Deion Walker (Junior) WR

Walker has been a bit of a mystery over his first two seasons in South Bend after coming to Notre Dame with a decent amount of fan fare. Since he hasn’t logged many minutes at wide receiver, he could be a prime candidate to move to safety with three years of eligibility left. With his mix of size and speed Walker could start right away for the Irish in 2010.

Jonas Gray (Junior) RB

After a freshman season that saw Gray become a very capable backup, the 2009 sophomore campaign ended in a step back for the powerful runner. He doesn’t have ideal size or speed to play safety, but Gray has quickly found himself squeezed out of carries at running back and could fall as low as third or fourth string in 2010. He may be a bit of a project, but Kelly might consider making the move.

Cierre Wood (Sophomore) RB

Here’s a player who was one of Notre Dame’s biggest running back recruits over the past decade, but did not see the field as a freshman in 2009. We’re left wondering what this guy has, but all indications are that he is supremely talented. He doesn’t have ideal size to play safety, but with four years of eligibility left and at least two runners ahead of him on the half back depth chart, Wood may make the switch.

The Corners

E.J. Banks (Sophomore) CB

Banks did not play as a freshman last season, but could be ready to contribute significant minutes in the defensive backfield in 2010. Even though he is undersized, Banks is a tremendous athlete with a variety of skills. With a few veteran corners ahead of him on the depth chart, Kelly could move him to safety.

Gary Gray (Junior) CB

Although he didn’t start for most of the season and played fewer minutes than three others at his position, Gray might have been Notre Dame’s most consistent corner in 2009. He has all the tools to be a great corner, but those same tools would also make him a great safety as well. With a good amount of eligibility left, Gray might be moved to safety if Coach Kelly solidifies the depth at corner.

Robert Blanton (Junior) CB

After a pretty successful freshman campaign, Blanton took a step back last season seemingly losing that special swagger and playmaking ability from 2008. Although he will probably lock down a starting spot at corner, Blanton has the length that could turn him into a great safety for the Irish. Some improved tackling and added weight could make him an ideal candidate for the switch.

The Leaders in the Clubhouse

Dan McCarthy (Junior) S

The younger brother of graduating and fellow safety Kyle McCarthy, Dan has been slowly making a name for himself in South Bend while pushing for playing time. McCarthy actually came to Notre Dame with more fan fare than his older brother, so it isn’t crazy to think that he will someday start at safety for the Irish.

Jamarious Slaughter (Junior) S/CB

Slaughter found himself inserted into the lineup last season and played his first significant minutes of his career in 2009. He replaced Harrison Smith at safety for the latter part of the season and although he didn’t make much of a difference, he didn’t play terrible. With another off-season under his belt, Slaughter could find himself starting at safety from day one.

Zeke Motta (Sophomore) LB/S

One of the top recruits from last season, Motta played a decent amount on special teams and mop up duty on defense as a freshman. Known to be one of the strongest and best conditioned athletes on the entire team, he will be one of the favorites to start at safety in Brian Kelly’s first season at Notre Dame. His size has been trending towards linebacker, but if his speed can be improved Motta will probably start for the next three years at safety.

Harrison Smith (Senior) S/LB

A week ago, Brian Kelly let it be known that Smith was having a tremendous off-season and would be moving back to safety next season. Given his experience, it is hard to believe he won’t be the top safety all year long. Still, Smith struggled mightily in 2009 after making the transition from linebacker to safety, making many wonder if he has the tools to succeed at safety. Perhaps with a less complicated defensive system and the encouragement and support of a new coaching staff, Harrison Smith will flourish.

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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.

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2010 Notre Dame Home Games: Purdue (9/4), Michigan (9/11), Stanford (9/25), Pitt (10/9), Tulsa (10/30), Utah (11/13), Navy at Yankee Stadium (11/20)

2010 Notre Dame Away Games: Michigan State (9/18), Boston College (10/2), Navy at East Rutherford, NJ (10/23), USC (11/27)

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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.

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Sep 5 | Notre Dame 35, Nevada 0
Sep 12 | Michigan 38, Notre Dame 34
Sep 19 | Notre Dame 33, Michigan St 30
Sep 26 | Notre Dame 24, Purdue 21
Oct 3 | Notre Dame 37, Washington 30
Oct 17 | USC 34, Notre Dame 27
Oct 24 | Notre Dame 20, Boston College 16
Oct 31| Notre Dame 40, Washington State 14
Nov 7 | Navy 23, Notre Dame 21
Nov 14 | Pittsburgh 27, Notre Dame 22
Nov 21 | Connecticut 33, Notre Dame, 30 (2OT)
Nov 28 | Stanford 45, Notre Dame 38

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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.

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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?

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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?

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Why should he be? He was fired by the Raiders. Then he had a very mediocre year with the Volunteers. During that mediocre year, Kiffin received a lot of bad press. It was one scandal after another.

That really has to make you wonder if Kiffin is the right choice for USC. Considering that the basketball team has just been placed on probation for the actions of O.J. Mayo, the football team doesn’t need any bad press.

There were the allegations revolving Reggie Bush’s parents a few years ago and most recently the Joe McKnight incident in which his use of a new Land Rover is in question.

This is a university that could and likely will undergo an investigation. It makes you wonder why they would hire a guy who just can’t get away from scandals.

It reallymakes you wonder if coaches don’t know something. The timing of Carroll’s departure is suspicious no matter what he says.

USC has been regarded as a dream job around the country for the last few years. Yet, there have been several who have turned it down. Why would they turn it down, if they didn’t suspect that something is going to happen?

This will undoubtedly have a negative effect on recruiting. Hopefully, all gets resolved for USC and everything goes well.

Looking at it from a Notre Dame perspective, their last two coaches were not their first,  second, or even third choices. It didn’t work out. This time, Brian Kelly was absolutely the first choice. From that standpoint, it could be bad for USC.

Hopefully, it does work out for USC because it would be nice for Notre Dame and USC to play when both are two of the best teams in the country.

The good thing about the hiring of Kiffin is that his father, Monte will be joining him. Monte Kiffin is a proven defensive coordinator.

At the end of the day though, this hiring really makes you scratch your head and provides more questions than answers. You would think that a school that may be in trouble would stay away from a guy who gets followed by scandals. He also has been mediocre based on results.

The reality is either Kiffin has outstanding interviewing skills or USC didn’t have much of a choice.

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