Recruiting 8th Graders

I guess college football recruiting just got a little crazier.  We here at the Station were amazed that the Irish and Brian Kelly had two verbal commitments for 2014.  (Check them out on the left side of the Blog)  That makes those two guys juniors in high school.  Well that’s nothing. 

Les Miles (talk about crazy) has a verbal commitment from a 7^th grader to attend LSU in five years.  Yep, we can’t make this stuff up folks.  Dylan Moses will be starting the 8^th grade in a couple of months and has verbally accepted an offer from Miles to play quarterback for the Tigers in 2017.

You think this is an isolated case?  Nope.  Tate Martell a fourteen year old quarterback wannabe will also be entering the 8^th grade and has verbally accepted an offer from Washington and Coach Sarkisian.  Seems Martell attended a quarterback camp and was ‘discovered’.  Kind of like future quarterback David Sills who in 2010 as an 8^th grader committed to USC.   Figures USC and Lane Kiffin would start something like this.  Who knows where it will end?  Maybe the NCAA?

BTW the Irish are now up to 18 Verbals for 2013.  Check out Jamel James on the left side as well.

Notre Dame Picks Starting Quarterback!

Sorry.  Don’t we wish.  The headline was a dirty trick.  Man I hate myself.

Well it’s just eight days to the start of fall camp (August 4).  The issue of course is quarterback.  Spring practice showed us the issues, the glimmer of hope and the work to be done.  If Brian Kelly does not know today who will at least be the top two contenders, the two guys who need to get the majority of the reps, then he needs to return to Grand Valley State and start all over again.

This has gone on long enough.  Kelly needs to groom his number one and number two quarterbacks either to what they can accomplish or feed enough of the offense to them day by day until Dublin. 

No quarterback derby, no competition, and no third look, set the depth chart at quarterback and let’s go for gosh sakes.  The Team needs to know and rally around him.

Coach Kelly if you need help:

#1  Everett Golson

#2  Andrew Hendrix

# 3 Tommy Rees

#4  Gunner Kiel

Let’s go already.  Put in the running plays, you got a bevy of running backs.  Put in the slot and back in motion plays, you got the talent.  Put in the tight end plays, you got the depth and an All-American. 

Man we’ve been waitin here at the Station and we want to see an offense that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot at quarterback.

The Bear, JoePa and Nick

Like many of you I am a fan of college football.  I have read and watched with fascination and then horror as the PSU scandal unfolded before my eyes.  I’m not sure if it's over yet, at least two participants will have their day in court and have to deal with Lady Justice.  I cannot believe anything good will come out of the trials and probably only more evil, deceit, and lies.

In many ways Joe Paterno is very much like and very different from another fan revered icon of the gridiron, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.  I look at Nick Saban and see the beginning of the same worship culture down in Alabama.  Let me explain.

I was living in Alabama when “The Bear” abruptly retired and then about four months later died of a massive heart attack.  His reason for retiring was that he did not believe he could deliver as a coach what was expected of him at Alabama.  Very truly humble and honest.  Compare that to JoePa who for the past 10-12 years was propped up and staked to the sidelines and injected with formaldehyde to present a picture of someone coaching the Nittany Lions.  All done in chasing the most winningest coach title for JoePa and PSU. 

In the state of Alabama you either root and die for the Tide or the Tigers.  Damn Yankees and Catholics are as rare as hen’s teeth and pretty much ignored and scorned anyway.  My next door neighbor was an Auburn fan and his wife an interloper transplanted Tennessee nut.  They took my wife and I tailgating to an Auburn/Tennessee game and our first big time college football experience.  Nice memories.  All our friends were dyed-in-the-wool Alabama types.  I swear they bled red and white when the Tide got beat.  Many were graduates and had season tickets.   You could not buy a box of Tide on gameday, then were all stuck of sticks and paraded around.

Early on, every time the Bear left the South to play someone he would get his butt-kicked because of the talent laden teams with African Americans on them.  Convincing UA to integrate the football team was not easy, however, winning football games was and the Bear won that one.  The Bear got a dorm built for football players only.  Same for a football only dining hall.  The Bear also got himself appointed Alabama athletic director, something neither JoePa nor Nick would dare even dream about in this day and age. 

He had an early Sunday morning show before church services that was mandatory viewing if you intended to hang out at the water cooler on Monday to rehash the game.  It was fun to watch and listen to his polite, homey southern accent, and his take on the previous day’s game.  The announcers and interviewers shamefully fawned over him. 

He never beat Notre Dame, however he did beat a heck of a lot of other teams.  You name the trinket or junk souvenir and he had his picture on it.  Ditto for the hounds tooth trademark hat.  They begged him to run for governor and what fool would have run against him?  In the end, he left on a high note, with dignity, grace, and on top.  Still he became more than a football coach and as I quoted in a previous post, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  Although different times, I think both The Bear and JoePa became too big for their britches.  I guess that’s why Roman generals had servants to whisper in their ears, “remember you are only human.”

Now Nick has an eight-year contract for a total of $32 million making him one of the highest paid football coaches, professional or college, in the United States at this time.  His total compensation this year is, $5,997,349.   He appeared on the September 1, 2008 cover of Forbes magazine as "The Most Powerful Coach in Sports".  Saban's career record as a collegiate head coach is 146–54–1.

Saban led LSU to the 2003 BCS National Championship and Alabama to the 2009 and 2011 BCS and AP National Championships, making him the first coach in college football history to win a national championship with two different Football Bowl Subdivision  schools Saban and Paul "Bear" Bryant are the only coaches to win an SEC championship at two different schools.  He is the first coach to win three BCS Championships and is the only active coach with three national titles.  Not a bad resume.

He is starting his fifth year and Alabama has already poured the bronze. 

Hey Nick, Psssss.  “remember you are only human.”

What about Notre Dame?  Could it happen at the Bend?  Did Lou Holtz try and fail to push the power envelope?  Try and lower admittance standards for football players?  Ask that ResLife back off in certain cases?  Try and sneak in Randy Moss?   Hmmm.  The rumors are out there.

Nittany Lion

Stuff you would never learn if you if didn’t start a Blog.

notredamemike responded to my question concerning “what is a Nittany Lion.  Who’d have known?  Obviously Mike knew.

“The mountain to the east of the Penn State campus is called Nittany Mountain or Mount Nittany.  The name comes from a young Native American woman named Nit-an-nee, who is said, died on the mountain.  Supposedly, there are panthers or cougars up there.  Thus, the Nittany Lion.”

Thanks Mike.

OK, now who can set me straight on the origin of the nickname, “Fighting Irish”?

New Notre Dame Football Gloves

Notre Dame equipment manager Ryan Grooms has twittered this picture of one model of game gloves for the players.  Interesting choice.  Appears to be a bit complicated to read if the fingers are not positioned just perfect.

This provides for the opportunity after a Notre Dame touchdown for the player to flash his hands in the direction of the enemy and receive a taunting technical from some biased anti-Notre Dame ref.

Notre Dame Football Pregame and Post Game Shows

You know what would be great?  A pregame show and a postgame wrap up with a Notre Dame home football game sandwiched in between.  You would think that this is something Jack Swarbrick would be negotiating for in the current and/or upcoming contract talks with the Peacock.  Part of the problem is that all the Notre Dame media types and the entire athletic department are in the stadium and not watching on television like us poor saps.  We deserve better.  Maybe another network would offer such a package?

What we get now is a few minutes of hype from Tom Hammond and some insight and analysis from Mike Maylock.  Then bounced back to NBC studios in New York, about ten minutes worth of commercials, watch the Irish run on the field, more commercials and then the kickoff.

After the game some chick with a microphone grabs each coach and asks a couple of dumb questions and that’s it.  If there is time left we get to see the cheerleaders and Team mouth the words to the alma mater along with the student body.  It there is really a lot of time left, we may get a few final words from the booth.  If the game is close, slow, timeout riddled at the end, forget most of the above.

If you have a decent computer and internet provider you can dial in the coaches post game press conference via streaming and the NBC Notre Dame Central website.

Heck NBC has their own sports network (NBCSN) now (formerly Versus), why can’t they produce something along those lines on that channel freeing up the NBC main channel for other regularly scheduled programming before and after the game?

If memory serves me, the first couple years of the contract, NBC did offer a pregame show and it was pretty good.  I don’t know if low ratings or small viewer audience killed it or what.

I would never in a million years try and tell ND and NBC how to program and produce a pregame and post game/wrap up set of shows only broadcasted seven times a year.

Or would I?  Hmmmm.  Well maybe I’ll think something up over a couple of brewski’s.  Anybody have ideas?

If NBC does not want to go down the road of a couple of new shows to sell advertising so be it.  Then I really would like to see a different opening than that tired music and same flashing of still photos that NBC has used for the past dozen years.  Tom Hammond needs to dial back on the pancake makeup as well.  The sideline chick needs to invest in a green miniskirt and quit chasing after the coaches asking dumb questions.

Alex Flanagan

Well OK, Alex can wear britches.

Go IRISH Sink Navy.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely

Former Joseph Vincent Paterno Memorial Site

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Lord Acton - 1887

It appears the current PSU President wanted to erase a power symbol from Beaver Stadium.  Maybe the University will donate the statue of JoePa to the Paterno family and they can stick it on his grave.

Honoring in Bronze

While doing some research on the bazaar JoePa statue issues in State College I stumbled across this slide show of college football player and coach pictures.  Check them out Here.

Couple of interesting points. 

** The statue they used for Ara Parseghian is the one down at the University of Miami (OH).

** The location for the three they used of Notre Dame coaches is: South Bend IN.  I suspect the University of Notre Dame would differ and say: Notre Dame IN.

** The statue of Tom Osborne doesn’t do him any favors depicting him wearing a headset.  He looks like Mickey Mouse.

If JoePa were still alive and coaching, he and Nick Saban would be the only two active coaches honored in bronze.  There is something to be said in honoring a person after his days at your institution are over.  Let’s hope it does not go to Nick’s head like it did Joe’s.

“Happy Valley” Ain’t So Happy

Well what do you expect?  Two of its’ former residents have become infamous.  One’s in the slammer awaiting a long prison sentence and the others in the ground.  Three or four others are awaiting trial or have been disgraced.

The media is having a feeding frenzy during a slow time in national sports (unless you like baseball).  Golf is going on in Scotland and America’s best are in London.

Here are the headlines just from today:

Saban: Tax PSU sports to help kids

City of Grambling wants Paterno’s record vacated

PSU students protect statue

Ex-PSU board chair Garban resigns trustee post

Lawmaker slams Pinkel’s defense of Paterno

Recently Bobby Bowden came out of forced retirement (some say firing) to make the statement that the statue of JoePa needs to go.  What he really wanted to say is that JoePa’s winning record needs to be vacated so he, Bobby can claim the most wins title in college football.  Man Bobby looked real old, liver spots all over his hands, face, and arms.  Too much FSU sun?  Is that in the cards for me?  Liver spots I mean.

I’m not sure why Saban piped up, must be a slow week with the annual SEC media events going on and all.  I guess he’s considered an expert cuz of his NC rings.

When JoePa died they painted a halo over his head on this huge mural.  Well they just painted over it this week.

Outside the main gate to the stadium a tent city goes up before every game, it's called Paternoville.  Nope not any more.  Now it's Nittanyville.  BTW, what exactly is a Nittany lion anyway?

There has been some talk of the NCAA investigating PSU.  If they take as long as they did over the Reggie Bush/USC violation, everyone involved from Happy Valley will be dead. 

Wow.  The Paterno family has decided to conduct their own investigation and are hiring their own independent investigators.  Really?  These guys and gals are going to do a better job than Louie Freeh former director of the FBI and his solution company made up of former FBI agents and his law firm?  The Paterno family needs to quietly move out of the house in Happy Valley and keep low for a while.

Below is the statue of JoePa everyone is going ga ga over.

Some guy rented a plane and flew over Happy Valley dragging this sign.

That got two boys so worked up they decided to camp out and protect the statue.  Neither one of them look like they could fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

Looks like you could wrap a logging chain around an F-350 tandem’s rear axle and wrap the other end around JoePa and take off down the road.  He is only anchored by one leg.  Does bronze make sparks on asphalt? 

Heck leave the statue alone.  It makes for great photoshop fodder.

It must be a great time to be a lawyer in Happy Valley.  Seems like everyone is hiring one to either sue or afraid of being sued.

Oh well.  Irish fall camp starts August 6th.  I don't know about you, but I can't wait.

Go IRISH Sink Navy.

17 and Counting

Yes, well I’m bored.  It’s hot outside.  TV as usual sucks.  The political ads are driving me crazier than I am, thank god for the mute button.  Daily I check-out the Notre Dame Blogs and most are quiet.  NDNation Bulletin Boards have the usual rants against Brian Kelly,  possible conference affiliation, and JoePa.  The one exception is a Sports Blog called No Coast Bias; I put in a pitch for one of the writers, Lisa Kelly.  She writes about former Irish players and gets us up to date with their careers and lives.  Check it out HERE.

Since recruiting has all but dried-up due to the end of the college football camps for high schoolers and with most coaches taking a break before the start of fall camp, I decided to take an amateur look and comment on the 2013 recruiting haul thus far.

17 – They all appear to be firm.  No, “hey I’m going to Notre Dame because my cousin is coming as well”.  No cold feet and changing from Winsocky U to Notre Dame.  No momma twisting arms or crying girlfriends.  17 is a great number with seven months to NSD, expect 6 or 7 more with campus visits and invites to standing on the sidelines wearing your high school lettermen’s jacket watching the Irish pound somebody.

Not one recruit less than six feet tall.  Brian Kelly is recruiting his Right Kind of Guys.

No running back yet.

A quarterback, who is the shortest at 6’ 0” that twitters, texts, emails, calls, and is otherwide in constant touch with the other 16, plus the two 2014 recruits Kelly has onboard.  Malik Zaire, he’s going to be a guy to reckon with in the future.  I’m naming him “Glue” suspect that when he enters the huddle, everyone shuts up and listens.  Sounds like a leader, something the Team is currently lacking.

Two from Florida and two from Ohio.  The other 13 from separate states including one from Washington DC.  Quiet diverse huh?

Based upon Rival’s five star system: one 5 star, eight 4 star and eight 3 star.  I guess that’s good, statistics kind of show that the higher ranked guys end up performing well and have the best chances of making the NFL.

Ten are listed as offensive players, five defensive and two athletic.  Three are listed at TE, however Kelly has a way of moving guys around and some out-eat their original position.

One recruit, Mike McGlinchey – OL is listed at 6’ 9” and 280.  Holy smokes, he’s a senior in high school!?  Of course Steve Elmer - OL is a mere 6’ 6’ and 305.

At least 11 of the high schools appear to be Christian, Catholic, or private.  That sure helps with the academics.

I’m liking these 17 so far.

The Gold Line train will be departing come February guys, stand in line, be patient and welcome aboard!

Go IRISH, depth charge Navy.

Mace and Quarterbacking at Notre Dame

Tommy Rees entering court with his defense team (no not the football kind)

Well that’s a fine how-do-you-do.  Last day of finals, I go over to my friend John Goodman’s apartment/house and that night I get maced.  – Tommy Rees

Although a fictional statement, after reading the latest on the Tommy Rees saga we are stunned that he got maced.  We have devoured everything written concerning that incident and never read/heard that Tommy had to be maced!  This just came out in an article from WNDU concerning Tommy’s hearing being delayed a week until July 24^th.  The defense needed more time.  Well we should say.  My goodness.

Here is the latest what the SBPD are saying:

“According to police, Rees ran from officer Brandon Stec. Rees ran out onto Notre Dame Avenue. Police say a cab driver saw the pursuit and blocked Rees's path. They, they say Rees raised his knee into the officer, knocking the wind out of him. Officials say the cab driver then grabbed Rees and kept him from running away. When the officer tried to arrest Rees, police say Rees scuffled with him and they both fell back on the pavement. Stec sustained scrapes to the arm in the struggle.

Officers say Rees continued to try and resist arrest and was maced before being taken into custody.”

Hmmmm.  Notice the "officiers" plural.  Remember the cabbie as well.  Bunch of witnesses.

How do you try and get four misdemeanors reduced to community service, fines, or mandatory alcohol training when they include; two charges of resisting law enforcement, one count of battery to law enforcement and one count of minor consumption.

Remember Rees still has to face ResLife and Brian Kelly.

Man we hope Everett Golson has shaken the cobwebs from his brain and picked up on the offense.  We don’t see Rees making the trip to Dublin.

The All Important Watch Lists

Well the all important “Watch Lists” are starting to make their way onto the college football scene.  The pundit poll predictions and various preview magazines are making their early mark on the newsstands and internet as well.  Recruiting has kind of dried up and most college coaches are hitting the links while freshman are getting acclimated to summer school, 7-on-7 drills and getting pushed by the conditioning coaches.  All is about to change next month.  Hurrah!

The dribble so far:

Zack Martin – OT – Outland Trophy

Braxton Cave – C – Outland Trophy

Tyler Eifert – TE – Mackey Award

Kapron Lewis-Moore – DE- Bronko Nagurski Award

Manti Te’o – LB – Bronko Nagurski Award

Manti Te’o – LB – Bednarik Award

Did we miss anybody?

Here are a few awards and trophies yet to dribble out:

Rimington Trophy

Lott Trophy

Butkus Award

Heisman Trophy

Don’t ask us all the specific areas of position recognition or what the awards mean.  We don’t know or care.  It would be fun to follow the money and see who actually benefits from the various awards and trophies.  Sure the players get a nice hunk of wood, chrome, silver, bronze, or pewter.  But come on now, nobody is doing this for free, who is pocketing money from all these awards?

Can you name who won the Dick Butkus award last year?

The only one we can remember is the Heisman. – RG III, simply because he was drafted by the Skins over here on the East Coast.

It does not appear any Irish will be in the running for the Heisman.  That’s a shame because the Heisman candidates normally coincides with a Team’s run for the National Championship.

Who? You Decide.

So who committed the greater sin against that unknown ten year old boy in the PSU shower room ?

The convicted pedophile?

OR

The dead lair and cover up guy?

How to Verbally Commit to Notre Dame in 2012

It is tough work being a fossil, an old dinosaur, someone living in the distant past.  A definite throwback to a generation, a time and place much different than today.

Used to be a high school senior football player would announce his intentions and choice of college in a very tame conventional manner.  Come National Signing Day, he would get his picture in the local newspaper sitting at a table with a fake blank piece of paper acting as a scholarship agreement.  His coach would be shown behind him over one shoulder and mom and dad smiling standing proudly behind the other shoulder.  Dad would be shedding tears of joy over now having the ability to buy a new care instead of financing a college education for junior.  There would be a nice accompanying article highlighting the young man’s accomplishments and hopes for the future.

The recent ga ga over Rival 4 Star recruit Alex Anzalone sure has brought reality back to us here at Subway Alumni Station.  What a bunch of old geezers we are sitting around here.  Now don’t get us wrong!  We are thrilled to have onboard the 17^th verbal commitment to Notre Dame.  All of ND Nation is going out and getting drunk with joy over the prospects of glory and honor on the football horizon. 

Future high school senior-to-be LB Alex Anzalone can and hopefully will make a difference on defense.  The Irish recruiting class of 2013 now is ranked 5^th by Rivals and probably will add another 5-6 recruits before it is all said and done in seven months. 

Here’s how you orchestrate the announcement today though.

Put the media word out that you are going to commit at the Nike sponsored “The Opening Camp” televised on ESPNU from Beaverton OR.  You previously dumped OSU because something stinks worse than a fish market in Columbus, the Program still has serious issues.  Your acknowledged choices are, Penn St. FSU and ND.  You put on a Notre Dame baseball cap and that is the name of that tune.

Alex went a little bit farther in his interview and statements.  He chose ND because of the ‘family atmosphere’ and bonding with fellow 2013 recruits led by future quarterback Malik Zaire.  This bonding started during summer football camps, twitter befriending, and visits to South Bend.  The reputation of the School of Business was pointed out as a plus.  He plans on enrolling early in January 2013 along with 5 others from the class.  He already has his jersey number, (#5) which is currently owned and operated by the guy he wants to replace in 2014, All American Manti Te’o.  Alex already knows his roommate, Mike Heuerman.

Alex probably knows what’s on the menu at the North Dining Hall for his first meal on campus come January.  Man things have changed.

Kudos’s to Brian Kelly and his staff.  Welcome aboard on the Green Line to South Bend Alex.  Hang-on son, it’s going to be much more than donning a baseball cap on TV.

Jimmy Clausen and Decision-Making

Way back on 10-21-11 we here at Subway Alumni Station beat up Jimmy Clausen pretty darn good over him leaving Notre Dame early for the NFL and a dismal first year and a non-existent second year. [or is it ‘well’? The good sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary never could pound proper grammar into me.] Any way read it Here. Cam Newton and Jimmy’s third year does not appear to bode any better for the former Notre Dame Quarterback.

Miss Jess Gysin and Mr. Jimmy Clausen

However his decision making is improving.  Just check out his current flame.  Jimmy has been dating former USC All-American volleyball player Jess Gysin.  Jess plays professionally and is very attractive.  Looks like she could have been a USC Song Girl.  Check them out Here.  Way to go Jimmy.   

Since Jimmy had a lot of time on his hands, he even went back to South Bend, finished a couple of classes and picked up his degree.  Way to go Jimmy.  Now you need to figure out how to jump start your NFL career.