The Call Goes Out For Rudy



Cameron Roberson

So is this the second leg of the Trifecta? View the first leg here.

Soon-to-be sophomore running back Cameron Roberson (6’- 218) went down Saturday in the third Spring Practice session of the season with a left knee injury requiring him being carted off the Loftus practice turf and headed for an MRI. Roberson could not put weight on the knee, a bad sign.

Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly did two things.

Immediately jumped into a golf cart and sped over to the Grotto and lit a candle hoping/praying the injury is only a hyperextension or bruise.

Put out the call to the dorms for running back walk-on try-outs at 6:00 a.m. Monday morning.

Rudy Ruettiger

Well modern day Rudy wantabees here is your chance. This is similar to the famous 12th Man coming out of the stands to help a depleted Texas A & M Team.

The 12th Man

The Irish are thin at running back and will be until reinforcements arrive in the fall. Cam Daniels is the lone pure running back recruit along with WR and RB George Atkinson. Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray are the only scholarship running backs on the Team. With the way Coach Kelly runs such fast paced practices and scrimmages, Wood and Gray have the potential for getting tanked and even hurt.

So how easy would it be to walk-on?

Apparently this is a Spring Practice only requirement. No long term commitment. It is also safe to say that the job description reads for a tackling dummy. It can be assumed that attempting to block the likes of a blitzing cornerback Robert Blanton is also in the cards. The same guy who blocks punts and runs them back for touchdowns.  The same guy who has walked into Spring Practice with an attitude.  Ouch.

Requirements:

*  Have a class schedule that is open Monday –Wednesday – Friday mornings until around lunchtime.

*  Undergo and pass a physical examination.

*  Be in pretty gosh darn good physical shape.

*  Have previous experience at running back.

*  Have some brain matter between the ears to quickly learn the plays. [This is questionable because if you had any gray matter, you probably wouldn’t be there trying-out in the first place.]

*  Get your Mom to say yes.  {This may be the tall pole in the tent.]

It would appear that the class schedule requirement would dictate a senior since they coast their last semester anyway and never have classes before noon when they finally arise from a night of closing local watering holes.

The reporters standing around Kelly when he made the announcement were also asked it they were interested. Kelly had no takers. Too bad. These reporters are always complaining about being shut out of football practice. This is their chance.

EDITORS NOTE: A previous SAS post was made on March 26th and is located below this one.

Mentoring Ohio State Style

We here at Subway Alumni Station (SAS) are not known for being the sharpest knives in the kitchen drawer but……………… When we read that Ohio State Football Coach Jim Tressel ‘volunteered’ to suspend himself for an additional three games in solidarity with the punishment received by his five memorabilia-selling football players (five game suspension), we could smell something very rotten in Denmark/Columbus.

If you have not read the latest revealed escapades of Jim Tressel, you can peruse it here.

SAS has commented on the corrupt Ohio State Football Program not once but twice before. Why? To level the playing field. In some small way publicize coruption and lying in college football. 

Notre Dame has taken a number of unfair shots concerning the deaths of Elizabeth Seeberg and Declan Sullivan. It is only fair that the hypocrisy of Ohio State Football be commented upon.

So Terrelle Pryor has a mentor? Ted Sarniak from his home town of Jeannette PA who helped with his recruitment to Ohio State.  Pryor works for Sarniak during the summer and drives a Corvette around town.  Must be earning nice money.  Interesting that Tressel e-mailed Sarniak and no one else.  Hmmmm.

Who is Ted Sarniak? Wow. Check him out here and here.

What exactly is a mentor? Someone who acts as a surrogate parent? An advisor? A counselor? A tutor?  A friend?  A role model?  Someone filling the role as in the Big Brother Program or Boys Club?
All of the above?  None of the above?

Why does a 20 year old college senior need a mentor?

Here are a few questions for the NCAA Rule Compliance Investigators:

Was Athletic Director Gene Smith aware of Pryor’s mentor Ted Sarniak?

Does Ohio State have a formal mentoring program involving the likes of Ted Sarniak?

Is the program open to other football players?

How about the Basketball Team?

Does mentoring include ensuring that Terrelle has sufficient ‘walk-around-money’?

How about clothes for Terrelle?

Air fare to get home for the holidays and spring break?

Does mentoring include looking out for Terrelle’s family to assist with food, housing, and transportation?

Did Troy Smith (former OSU quarterback and Heisman winner) have a mentor?

Was Smith’s mentor the guy who gave Smith $500? (Smith was suspended for the Alamo Bowl and the first game of the 2006 season for taking money). Only Smith and his Ohio State booster/mentor know the actual total amount.

Did Maurice Clarett have a mentor? If he did, the mentor did a pretty crappy job.

Gene Smith and Jim Tressel need to resign or be fired now.

The Trifecta and Michael Floyd

The entire Subway Alumni Station (SAS) staff has thrown their car keys into the middle of the conference room table and are slowing getting drunk. OK, OK, some are drinking white wine, however most of us are doing shots followed by Bud Lite. Spouses, Significant Others, and Designated Drivers have been alerted to pick us up and drag our sorry butt’s home.  Are you listening Michael Floyd?

That wise old sage and former Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz has repeatedly stated that bad things happen in threes (3s). So when will the other two shoes drop? Who is going to get hurt? Who next is going to screw up? This thing with Notre Dame Team Captain and 2010 MVP Michael Floyd sucks big time. How stupid? How Dumb? When will these Star, God Gifted Athletics ever frickin going to learn?

We all presume Michael is innocent. We all presume he is a lot smarter than his actions. So let’s move on Notre Dame Administration and Residence Life. Don’t stick the knife in our hearts please. We all bleed Blue and Gold. Help us Mother Mary.

Sure this is his second run-in with alcohol. Yet he is the pride and joy of the Fighting Irish. Coach Brian Kelly’s great hope for a stellar 2011 season and BCS bid. The SAS staff feels Floyd is going to get hammered like suspended from the Team permanently. Part of the blame is the crap at Ohio State and the Get Out Of Jail Free Card those morons and coach received. ND does not want to look lenient.

The semi-drunk consensus is that Michael Floyd is going to receive the Death Sentence.

We humbly offer the following alternative:

Suspension from all of Spring Football Practice.

200 hours Community Service with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

$800 fine.

Suspension of driving privileges on Campus and Greater South Bend.

Forced to stand naked for three hours in the Notre Dame Peace Monument Pool holding a sign “DRUNK” while getting soaked with cold water.

While the final outcome is far beyond the control of SAS, we are glad that the decision on punishment/chastisement/castigation/retribution is not ours.

Go IRISH.

Notre Name Basketball

2011 Congratulations and the best of IRISH Luck to the Women’s and Men’s Basketball Teams in the upcoming NCAA Championship Tournament.

GO IRISH BEAT THEM ALL!!

Recruiting 101- Casting the Net

College football recruitment is an art, not a science.

It has been widely reported on the Notre Dame Blog/Web sphere that Head Coach Brian Kelly of The Fighting Irish has made over 100 offers to soon-to-be high school seniors to come to Notre Dame and play football. What exactly does this mean? The NCAA allows 85 scholarship players per team which translates into that you can normally recruit 20-25 incoming freshman per year. What the heck is going on?

Sure the SEC Teams get Letters of Intent from 40-50 guys but that is a whole other story and just another example of abusing the college football recruitment system. You hve to feel sorry for those guys that end up with no scholarship, no college, no prospects.

In 2010, Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh made 170 offers to high school seniors. How the dickens did he get away with that?

Let’s look at some Notre Dame numbers to assess where ND was and where apparently Coach Kelly is taking us on the recruiting trail.

Notre Dame offers over the last 11 years:

2002 75 Davie/Willingham

2003 58 Willingham

2004 69 Willingham

2005 65 Willingham/Weis


2006 59 Weis

2007 64 Weis

2008 57 Weis

2009 77 Weis


2010 103 Weis/Kelly

2011 125 Kelly

2012 100+ Kelly (and counting)

So do you have to make that many offers to sign the 20-25 prospects that you require at desired/critical need positions?

With the “elite only” recruitment type system, it was obvious that both Charlie Weis and Tyrone Willingham ended up having position holes that showed up eventually on the field and on the scoreboard. Of course part of Willingham’s problem was that he made the offers to play at wonderful Notre Dame and star with the likes of Knute Rockne while spending most of his time playing golf and working on his handicap.

The Kelly philosophy now appears to be the “wider net” recruitment system that gives the coaching staff some breathing room. So long as you know what you're ultimately looking for, there doesn't seem to be much downside to casting a wide net.

With the Weis approach, apparently he missed out too many times and it was simply because he didn’t make enough offers. No back- up for when a long sought recruit spurned his offer and went elsewhere.

You often read when recruits pick a school they talk about who was recruiting them early. If you restrict your offers on the basis of "exclusively" and a recruit focuses on another school, you end up coming late to the table after having lost the recruit you wanted the most.

Well how does this “wider net” approach work? If you recruit ten linemen needing four and your tenth choice yells out first “hell yes, sign me up Coach,” what do you do?

First it is assumed that each player offered meets Notre Dame admittance standards and Kelly’s Right Kind of Guy (RKG) criteria. This means a whole heck of a lot of research, homework, frequent flyer miles, film watching and analysis.

So how do the ten linemen know and understand where they stand with the limited number of spots available at their position? They know who is being recruited, the number of positions and their chances. This is big business and effects playing time and NFL chances down the road.

Is the “wider net” approach a crap shoot? The more offers you put out, the better chance you get to fill your needs. Here are three things Kelly is probably doing.

First, get the recruits Notre Dame desires engaged early. They don't take anyone seriously until they have an offer and offering late means you have to play catch-up because your few recruit that were made offers went somewhere else. It creates pressure for them to sign with ND. They can see that ND is offering 10 recruits 4 spots at their position and ND are going to take the top first 4 that say yes.

Second, Kelly doesn’t just offer anyone; those 100+ offers are for recruits ND would take a commitment from and honor.  The RKG mold.  Over the years as Notre Dame wins more and more, we all are going to understand and appreciate the RKG.

Third, if he offers say 10 offensive linemen, (C, G, T), they are secretly ranked OL -1 to OL-10. ND only needs 4, Kelly probably tells the bottom 6 (OL-5 to OL-10) since you have an offer, "we gave out 10 offers for four spots, the first top 4 that verbally commit and end up recruited will be honored by us, just hang in their".

Apparently too an "offer" isn't really anything but an offer of interest. If OL-7 jumps on an offer before the OL-1 to OL-4 choice recruits get much of a chance to consider the offer, then Kelly may tell the OL-7 recruit to wait a while. This makes a little bit of sense in that, a commit, when he goes public, usually says something like "I called coach and told him I'd like to commit." There are probably those that called Kelly, and he told them not to say anything publicly until other recruits have more time. If a recruit publicly commits early, it seems to mean he is a recruit the Notre Dame coaching staff really wants or are fairly certain that a better recruit isn't coming.

Also thrown into the equation is the ‘silent verbal’ and ‘soft verbal’. These drove Weis nuts and caused him to lose a number of top recruits at the last minute, leaving him no time to fill the position. A ‘silent verbal’ is when a recruit says ‘yeah coach I’m in the bag but I don’t want anyone to known’. A ‘soft verbal’ is one when the recruit says ‘yeah coach , I’m coming but still looking and going on campus visits.’ It appears that Kelly does not accept either of these recruit options, although he had to fight to the wire to get Aaron Lynch from Florida State back this past recruiting year.

Kelly and his staff do a tremendous job in sending out offers, pushing the right recruits to commit when they need them, while also holding onto recruits and asking them to stay patient to see if "more elite" or higher prospects jump on board.  Leave your ego at the locker room door.

Most of these are "verbal" offers, and a lot of times the staff must have to be very honest with the recruit and tells them what spots are looking like, if they need to hold off and wait it out. Also you are not going to get every recruit.

You definitely can lose recruits with this system because Kelly may have to go slow and easy playing a couple of slots, but at the end of the day more prospects will respect the honesty than those who will be upset and leave for another school (unless the offers is really strong as well).

Remember all the offers are verbal and written offers cannot be issue until the early Fall per NCAA rules.

These days the recruits have a backup position too.  Not only can they change their minds and de-committ.  If they get offers from Notre Dame as a OL-9 recruit and an offer from Compass U as a OL-1 type recruit, they can always commit to Compass U to make sure they have a place to go but if ND comes back at the last minute after losing OL-1 type, he can de-commit from Compass U and commit to ND. This appears to be happening more and more.

Normally recruits narrow down the field to three or four colleges and the coaching staffs have a pretty good idea if the recruit is going to fall into their laps or not.

Again, take Stanford with a slightly different approach. Coach Harbaugh must have a fallback position for his 170 offers. It seems as though that you weren't really 'committed' to Stanford until after the 1st semester of their senior year, once the admissions office gives the go ahead. It gives Stanford some leeway, but maybe a little less than honest. Maybe this is part of the decommittment process and strange numbers you read about.

Probably a good bunch of the 100+ offers or so are such long shot offers but it still makes the more serious (to ND) recruit take a good hard look early knowing they can't come back to ND later because slots have already been filled. It also steps up the pressure and forces other coaches to continue working and expending time to keep the recruit in their fold.

Go Blue, Beat Gold.
Go Gold, Beat Blue.

Anatomy of a Sleazy College Football Program

While this humble Notre Dame Football Blog in no way shape or form is self-righteous, it is impossible not to comment on the recent happenings in Columbus Ohio.

If Notre Dame would:

Fire George O’Leary, a newly hired Head Football Coach for padding his resume.

Suspend FB Rashon Powers-Neal for the season because of a DUI that he committed while at home on school break.

Push Head Coach Lou Holtz out the door for recruiting an academically and morally questionable Randy Moss.

How would the Administration have handled the Ohio State Buckeye incident?

A proud Ohio State Football Program that:

Fired Coach Woody Hayes for striking an opponent player in the face.

That recruited and put up with a common street thug Maurice Clarett because he helped them win a National Championship.

Produced a two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

The entire incident stinks worse than a week old bucket of dead fish.

Five prominent members of the Ohio State Football Team including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor were caught up in a larger Federal investigation. They were selling football mementos, uniforms, awards and Big Ten championship rings for tattoos and cash. They were suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season, but not the pending Sugar bowl Game with Arkansas (Won 31-26). Conventional wisdom would suggest the Buckeyes would have lost the game.

Why the first five games?

In-state powerhouse - AKRON

In-state powerhouse - TOLEDO

Rebuilding - MIAMI (FLA)

Rebuilding - COLORADO

Stiff - MICHIGAN STATE

Why not first six games?

Duh. NEBRASKA

Then the bombshell.

Turns out Head Coach Jim Tressel knew about the whole incident that prior spring!

Cover-up?

Obstruction of Justice?

Punishment:

Public apology.

$250,000 fine.

Attend an NCAA compliance seminar.

Two-game suspension against mighty Akron and Toledo.

I remember well the stern warning Father Hesburgh made to New Head Coach Lou Holtz: Paraphrase “If you or your staff are involved with any scandal you will be gone off this campus by midnight.”

How would the Notre Dame Administration have handled the Tattoo Boys and the Liar?

“Should Notre Dame install a Jumbotron?”



Obviously Notre Dame Football news is awfully slow right now. The recruits are trickling in, two to be exact.  Compared to 15 or 16 for Texas A&M. 

Way back on February 2nd, Phil one of Subway Alumni Stations crack writers posted a piece on Traditionalism. One of the key points concerned erecting a Jumbotron or other type huge scoreboard and advertising signage in Notre Dame Stadium.


What do you think?

We decided to find out and post another one of our stupid and irreverent question polls.

Hey, reread the first sentence, we got to keep the interest up until Spring Practice somehow!

Anyway, somewhere on the right side of the Blog is the Jumbotron Poll.

“Should Notre Dame install a Jumbotron?”

Add your comments here to get a discussion going.

Kelly Lands a Cornerback for 2012

Wow, just as Notre Dame Football news was getting as rare as hen’s teeth, Coach Brian Kelly comes along and gets a 2012 verbal commitment. A defensive cornerback no less. The first!  Way to go! Nice tall guy at 6’1” too. T’Ajani (Tee) Shepard, welcome aboard lad.


Shepard’s high school coach mentioned that he intends to use Tee not only at CB but some safety as well this fall. Shepard will also get time on the offense. Sounds like one of Kelly’s RKGs to me. California dude no less.  Sorry U$C.  :+(

Betty our recruitment monitor has started a column on the right side of Subway Alumni Station Blog to keep you informed on the recruitment class of 2012. Check out Tee over there. 

Coach Kelly’s Big Questions Going Into Spring Practice

Spring Practice From Yesteryears

Well this is March so that means Spring Practice for the Fightin Irish will actually take place this month. No more flippin the calendar to see where March 23rd is located and having to count the days backwards.

So what are Coach Brian Kelly’s big concerns? What does he want to get out of 15, wet, cold, possibly miserable practice sessions between March 23rd and April 16th?

For the 62+ returnees, has Paul Longo’s strength and conditioning for January, February and most of March built upon what was started last year? How about the five early enrollees, have they bought into the system and taken advantage of the extra conditioning time? It would appear from Notre Dame’s finish last fall and the total physical domination of Miami that this guy Longo knows what he’s doing.

Can early-on some of the enrollees contribute immediately to strengthen the defense? Especially the two that drew all the late, last minute recruiting heroics? OLB Ishaq Williams and DE Aaron Lynch. You would expect them to make Special Teams, but can they at least make the two-deep depth chart? We are all looking for the defense to step it up another notch from late last fall and the Sun Bowl. Defense surely does win championships.

Speaking of defense. How will the much talked about decision of moving Bennett Jackson to cornerback and Austin Collinsworth to safety pan out? On paper it appears to make tremendous sense. Strengthen the defense. Get two guys on the field that show talent and ability and clear the logjam at wide receiver. Success will make Kelly look like a genius. Correctly utilizing talented players at the positions most needed is an art, not a science.

Can kicker Kyle Brindza push fith year newly annoted senior David Ruffer at PAT’s and Field Goals? Can he outperform Ben Turk and snatch the punting duties? Can Brindza finally give Notre Dame a kicker who can consistently create touchbacks and kick the ball through the end zone?

Will sophomore running back Cameron Roberson make enough of an impact competing for playing time with junoir Cierre Wood and senior Jonas Gray to keep Theo Riddick catching the football instead of carrying it? When healthy last year, Riddick drew enough attention to take some of the heat and pressure off Michael Floyd. You sure got to like that formula.

Will Dayne Crist’s legs be healthy enough to offer true competition at quarterback with Tommy Rees? Is Andrew Hendrix as good as the coaches say he is with his arm and his legs? Is early enrollee Everett Golson the quarterback Coach Kelly feels can best run his spread offense? We here at Subway Alumni Station cannot remember a Notre Dame spring where four intriguing quarterbacks with different unique attributes and god-given abilities will take the field at the same time in March. It is assumed that no depth chart decisions will be made until after the first week of fall camp. Kelly has too much to lose to show his hand.  Although the Team and insiders will have a much greater feel on how it all will play out come fall.

The Blue-Gold Game will be interesting to see certain talent perform but not an offense that will resemble what will take the field against South Florida come September 3rd. Coach Kelly is in a unique position to send a number of different quarterbacks onto the gridiron with multiple talents and specific play packages to wreck havoc with the opposing team’s defense.

It will be interesting who, what, and how he settles that question and the others he needs answered.

Charlie’s Stock Still Has Value

According to the Saint Petersburg Times, former Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis is making out OK. His jumping ship from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Florida Gators had a pretty soft landing. The new Gator offensive coordinator will earn $765,000 a year as part of his three year deal. He also received a $100,000 signing bonus and gets an additional $10,000 for wearing Nike gear. Then come February 1, 2012 he gets a $100,000 raise. This does not include potential income from annuities, sports camps and clinics, housing benefits, speaking engagements, TV and radio program, endorsements, and car leases. Weis is way behind Will Muschamp who has a base of $3.09 million but way ahead of the rest of the assistants. Like Dan Quinn the Gator defensive coordinator who will make palfrey base of $490,000.

Obscene, but get it while you can.

By The Way Where is Former Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis?

According to the just concluded informal Subway Alumni Station poll, 19 or 45% of responses "Don't Care".

ND Press Release - Jersey Number Changes

Notre Dame has justed announced a number of jersey number changes and new assignments.  Most interesting is between Robby Toma WR and Lewis Nix III NG.

Toma went from 19 to 9.

Nix went from 67 to 9.

For cryin out loud how are we ever going to recognize two players with the same number?

Hint: 

Basically Toma catches the football and is fast and difficult to tackle.

Nix tackles and throws players to the ground with wreckless abandon with the expressed intent of hurting them.

Preferred Walk-On Status

Nate Montana started out as a preferred walk-on and now Joe Schmidt (6'2", 225 lbs., LB, Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana, CA) is doing the same. 

You don't have to go back any farther than David Ruffer (Special Teams - Kicker) or Mike Anello (Special Teams - Gunner) to realize the importance of walk-ons.

What exactly is a preferred walk-on status player compared to simply walking on and trying to make the team?

Here are some of the procedures and unwritten rules..........

1.  Coordination and correspondence between the walk-on and coaching staff is extensive.

2.  You do not have to tryout.

3.  No scholarship offer in the future is implied or promised.

4.  You are invited on the team because you are wanted by the coaching staff and have agreed to attend Notre Dame at your own expense.

5.  The issue of GPA is less than for scholarship athletes.

6.  Opportunity to participate in summer camp prior to fall practice and freshman year. (Where regular walk-ons tryout during spring training.)

7.  The athletic department and admissions office work together for enrollment.

Welcome aboard Joe.  Good Luck.  Go IRISH.

Joe Schmidt

Notre Dame Football Traditionalism

The goals have always been staggering:

*  Once again to be a college football power.
*  Return to relevancy, respect and fear. 
*  Expect true love or hate.
*  Independence from conference and BCS politics.
*  A national schedule with a national following.
*  Fielding an honest team and program with honest coaches.
*  100% graduation rate.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick in a recent interview cracked open the door to Notre Dame Traditionalism and initiated a flurry of ideas concerning the notion of a Jumbotron and fake grass in hallowed Notre Dame Stadium. The innocent “video board” discussion centered around the unique experience of the Notre Dame – Army Game in Yankee Stadium during the 2010 season. It was special, historic; appealing to the TV ratings and well produced by NBC, however, let’s leave all that at Yankee Stadium.

The issue of artificial field turf started with a comment concerning questions about “condition of the field” during a number of home games this year. Conditions did not appear idea; the reasons could be many from drunken maintenance crews to global warming. It is strongly suspected that natural grass technology experts have been all over the stadium playing surface since the Utah win. If the snow ever melts this spring in South Bend, changes will be made concerning care, maintenance and use.  Do not fear.

The discussion in no way indicated that Notre Dame was researching the possibility of erecting a Jumbotron high above the stadium in the South end zone. (No can do North end zone because of the Hesburgh Library). Nor is the natural grass going to be dug up anytime soon and replaced with recycled plastic water bottles and old car tires.

Please. Do we want a scoreboard that looks like this?  Advertisments and the like.

Or this one with a small screen?

At least our good friends and rivals up in Michigan have better taste and no advertisers!  But do they allow advertising on the screen?

The old saying rings true, either you love Notre Dame or you hate them.  The storied program is a throwback from another time and era.  Notre Dame has the responsibility as a nationally recognized football entity to maintain the college tradition.  No one else will.  So how about some blue plastic grass?

We cannot find a Notre Dame grad or Subway Alumni who would not want to watch the IRISH on this.

No team logo.  No conference logo.  No advertisements.  Touchdown Jesus and the Dome.  No strange design in the end zone, just slash marks.

Some other things that separate Notre Dame Football from the rest of the pack.

Simple gold shiny helmets without team logo decals or "See What I Did" stickers. 

The same goes for player names on the back of jerseys.  If you are too lazy to memorize the players number, buy a program.

Notre Dame is one of a handful of universities that do not allow the All State net in the stadium.  Creeping advertising.

Let us remain independent.  The greatest threat to tradition is commericalism.  Notre Dame does not need to follow other schools or the NFL.  We need to lead.

The Subway Alumni's of ND Nation have spoken.

Don’t forget to add us to your favorites list: http://subwayalumnistation.blogspot.com

23 Brave Young Irishmen

Just about every blog has a post on the great Notre Dame recruiting class of 2011. Mostly player and position analysis or some rehashed stories of the trials and tribulations of actually recruiting the class. The recruit flip-flops, decommits, soft verbals, the poaching, the Irish coaches predawn dedication to landing a recruit.

Here’s a little bit different take.

You have to admire and fully recognize the decisions made by Notre Dame’s freshman football class of 2011. The row they hoed was not an easy one. The pressure had to have been tremendous. Recruiting college football players has turned into a high tech, big money, dog-eat-dog process where the faint of heart are left way behind. It is reassuring that historically and statistically, 95% to 100% from the class of 2011 will graduate from Notre Dame. All will be given every opportunity to mature, learn, experience life and leave campus pretty much prepared for anything. Whether that be in the NFL, a professional career in the economy or simply a better person still searching for what life has to offer them.

Hokie talk? Idealistic garbage? Pie-in-the sky rhetoric?

There is much to complain about.

Let’s also face the fact that some of the recruits from other schools have some mighty big egos. Holding out to sign the letter of intent (LOI) on their birthday or waiting weeks after National Signing Day to ensure the limelight will only be on them. You could see the egos at work during the various high school All-Star games where a player/recruit announces his choice with his family behind him by picking up a team baseball cap and putting it on. All for the dramatics, the national audience and the show. The recruit from Rutgers even mocked North Carolina by first wearing a NC baseball cap and hiding a Rutgers cap underneath. Some ego. One mother forged her son’s signature to an LOI from a school he did not want to attend.

A high school coach in Georgia decided to be spokesperson for one family and limit all contact except to the recruit’s latest verbal commitment. That got straightened out by the mother and son rather quickly. You have to wonder what reward(s) were in store for that coach by Georgia Tech. Apparently outright lying was a common tactic used to discredit Notre Dame.

You read stories about unscrupulous agents dealing with college players preparing for the NFL draft. Are some of these high school coaches any different?

In another mother story, both the mother and grandmother were adamant that the recruit chose Notre Dame for the education and opportunities the school provides. Makes you think Brian Kelly should host a mother’s day visit for prospective recruits during summer camp for their sons.

The 2012 recruiting cycle is already in full swing; we just don’t see or hear about it. The whole process starts way too early and ends later than it should. The NCAA has a big fat rule book. Certain recruiting timeframes are called quiet periods where you can’t contact recruits. Coaches are limited to the number of actual home visits and players are limited in the number of visits they can make to a particular campus as well as total number of schools they can visit. Head coaches have periods where they cannot recruit at all. Phone calls, twitters, texting, e-mails are limited for everyone dealing with recruits. Yet, the internet has opened up contact opportunities with websites and Facebook pages. Computer software and programs track individual recruits and even provide player analysis on how they would fit on the team. Technology rules.

Five of the 23 recruits enrolled early at Notre Dane and gave up playing basketball, proms, friends, big graduations and the opportunity swagger around the hallways for one last semester. All to catch a break on spring practice, get credit hours under their belts and get acclimated to college life.

ESPN2, Scout, CBS and Rival all track, rank, grade and rate players by position, skill set and overall recruitment status. Individuals make a livelihood out of high school player analysis.

Personal trainers and dietitians are called upon to ready the recruit not only for their high school senior year, but also to give them a leg up with when they show up in the summer, ready for workouts and fall camp.

The call has gone out to move national signing day up. Restrictions are already in place concerning contact with high school juniors. What else can be done to even out this crazy process? It appears that it is only going to get worse.

Go IRISH!

Why Dayne Crist Will Not Be The Starting Quarterback in 2011

The overriding question between now and September 3rd is going to be who will quarterback for the Fighting Irish? The ultimate decision may not be Coach Brian Kelly’s but rather the healing ability of Dayne Crist.


In the past to help sort through serious IRISH injuries Subway Alumni Station has called upon an experienced physical therapist that ends up dealing with the injury and the handiwork of the skilled surgeon.

Alex Brenner has over 15 years of physical therapy experience in the military, private clinics and the U.S. Public Health Service. He is rated as a DPT, Doctor of Physical Therapy.


"I have noticed in many Notre Dame Blogs and articles the consensus on the race for the 2011 QB position will be between Tommy Rees and veteran Dayne Crist. What many of these articles and blogs fail to address is the health of Dayne Crist. Naturally most bloggers and sports analysts are unfamiliar with the consequences of a patellar rupture injury. I am also surprised at the lack of information available concerning the rehabilitation of Crist’s left knee patellar rupture injury that he suffered during the first quarter of the Notre Dame – Tulsa game back in late October of last year. Notre Dame has been very “hush-hush” on his recovery. A patellar rupture injury is a very bad injury, arguably worse than his right knee ACL tear which incidentally he suffered almost exactly one year to the day from his patellar rupture.


Anatomically the patellar tendon is formed from the four quadriceps muscles (hence the name, “quads”) in the anterior thigh and runs from the inferior pole of the knee cap and attaches to the boney prominence on the lower leg (tibia). Patellar ruptures are not typically common in elite younger athletes but are seen more frequently in older athletes trying to compete a high level when their bodies are not quite in shape to do so. What bothers me about this injury is that patellar tendons are quite strong and so for his to fail on him there must have been some predisposing factors or micro trauma that already existed in the knee causing it to be weakened. My educated guess is that he probably returned too quickly from his right ACL reconstruction last year and had to use his left knee to compensate for a not quite 100% right knee.


A patellar rupture does not heal on its own; it has to be surgically reattached to the boney prominence from which it tore. Also, tendons, due to poor vascular supply, heal VERY slowly. It is not uncommon for these injuries to take over a year to heal properly even with a top notch rehabilitation staff which I am sure is in place at Notre Dame.


So now we have a guy with arguably two “bum” knees who will try to go out and compete at a very high level against a younger and healthier Tommy Rees and not to mention three other guys who also will be biting and scratching to be in the mix. As a physical therapist who has worked with athletes with these types of injuries, I just don’t have a “warm and fuzzy” about Crist’s return especially when Brian Kelly’s spread-style offense requires a very mobile QB. Having observed Crist’s play last year on television and first hand at the Michigan game last year, I can say confidently that he doesn’t have great mobility. Throw in two major knee injuries and you now have a QB that will need to rely on staying in the pocket. It is possible that he could be a successful pocket passer; however, I don’t think this is compatible with a Kelly Spread Offense and therefore we will be hard pressed to see him under center next fall. Time will tell."

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Luke Massa – Right Kind of Guy?

Notre Dame Head coach Brian Kelly stated the obvious at a post Sun Bowl-Pre Signing Letter of Intent Day press conference last Friday. The Irish can only carry, train, develop and get game ready four (4) quarterbacks. Seven are currently on-roster and in school.

Dayne Crist – Senior

Tommy Rees – Sophomore

Andrew Hendrix – Sophomore (RS)

Everett Golson – Freshman

Matthew Mulvey – Senior (WO)

Nate Montana – Senior

Luke Massa – Sophomore (RS)

So any competition, evaluation, development at the quarterback position during spring practice will be with four candidates. Common sense would list the seven quarterbacks in the above depth chart and in 2011 eligibility order.

Mulvey will most likely continue as a walk-on red hat signaler.

How Montana’s status will be resolved is both political and touchy. Conventional wisdom would retain Nate on the roster in his previous walk-on status.

That leaves Luke Massa.

Luke was a verbal commitment to Kelly and the Cincinnati Bearcats. All that changed when Kelly took over the Fighting Irish and offered Massa a scholarship to Notre Dame. During his senior year at Saint Xavier High School in hometown Cincinnati, Massa had a 67% completion rate, 1,800 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. Besides the Bearcats, Massa had offers from Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia and then Notre Dame. He was recruited and brought on board as one of those “Right Kind of Guys (RKG)” coach Kelly sought during an initial and short recruiting year way back in 2009-2010.

Without ever watching Luke Massa play football or even practice it is not really fair to evaluate his chances in making what appears to be Kelly’s mental cut. Highlight clips on the internet are exactly those clips of your best performances and are now ancient history.

He is a pro style pocket passer and up to 6’ 4” 215 lbs. from 6” 4” and 175 lbs. in high school.

Scouts gave him a two-star rating and Rival a three-star. Luke was a starting forward on the Xavier basketball team and has good hands.

Rarely does a question about Andrew Hendrix exclude a reference to Luke Massa. Likewise, any inquiry about Luke Massa usually is accompanied by mention of Andrew Hendrix. The only reason we have in choosing Hendrix over Massa is the fact that Kelly pulled Hendrix up to fourth on the depth chart when Crist went down in the Tulsa game. Both are pocket passers and both are similar in build and statue.

It would appear he has two choices. Accept another role at Notre Dame as a RKG or transfer to another school. The most obvious role would be receiver but that position is currently loaded with talent and potential.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out for Luke Massa.

Early NFL Declarations for the Draft

Kyle Rudolph will have a lot of company (51 total) with those college men deciding to forego education and seek fame and $$$ in the NFL. He is the only early TE, although Michael Floyd would have joined a group of eight WRs.

Good Luck Kyle. Thanks for the memories.  God Speed.

Last season, 53 underclassmen entered the 2010 NFL Draft. That number tied a record for most underclassmen in the draft. In 2009, 46 declared. In 2008, there were those 53.


Here is the final tally. Those six listed in bold red would have faced the Irish in 2011.

College football underclassmen who have elected to turn pro early

Name School Position Year

Darvin Adams Auburn WR Jr.

Akeem Ayers UCLA LB Jr.

Jon Baldwin Pitt WR Jr.

Da'Quan Bowers Clemson DE Jr.

DeAndre Brown Southern Miss WR Jr.

Brandon Burton Utah CB Jr.

Jurrell Casey USC DT Jr.

John Clay Wisconsin RB Jr.

Nick Claytor Georgia Tech OT Jr.

Randall Cobb Kentucky AP Jr.

Marcell Dareus Alabama DE Jr.

Tandon Doss Indiana WR Jr.

Darren Evans Virginia Tech RB Jr.

Nick Fairley Auburn DT Jr.

Blaine Gabbert Missouri QB Jr.

A.J. Green Georgia WR Jr.

Tori Gurley South Carolina WR So.

Lawrence Guy Arizona State DT Jr.

Jamie Harper Clemson RB Jr.

Brandon Harris Miami CB Jr.

Will Hill Florida S Jr.

Justin Houston Georgia LB Jr.

Henry Hynoski Pitt FB Jr.

Mark Ingram Alabama RB Jr.

Julio Jones Alabama WR Jr.

Thomas Keiser Stanford LB Jr.

Mikel Leshoure Illinois RB Jr.

Dion Lewis Pitt RB So.

Corey Liuget Illinois DT Jr.

Ryan Mallett Arkansas QB Jr.

Rahim Moore UCLA S Jr.

Cam Newton Auburn QB Jr.

Zane Parr Virginia DE Jr.

Patrick Peterson LSU CB Jr.

Jerrell Powe Ole Miss DT Jr.

Stevan Ridley LSU RB Jr.

Jacquizz Rodgers Oregon State RB Jr.

Kyle Rudolph Notre Dame TE Jr.

Robert Sands West Virginia S Jr.

Tyler Sash Iowa S Jr.

Sealver Siliga Utah DT Jr.

Aldon Smith Missouri DE So.

Torrey Smith Maryland WR/KR Jr.

Tyron Smith USC OT Jr.

Jordan Todman Connecticut RB Jr.

Shane Vereen Cal RB Jr.

J.J. Watt Wisconsin DE Jr.

Muhammad Wilkerson Temple DT Jr.

Aaron Williams Texas CB Jr.

Ryan Williams Virginia Tech RB So.

Martez Wilson Illinois LB Jr.

Best Photo Caption

During pregame warm-ups at the Sun Bowl, a number of Miami Hurricane players came out trying to make a fashion statement. About the same time a number of Notre Dame football players came out wearing T-shirts and shorts.


The mighty Canes went from convicts to wimps in less than a generation.

You could hear the Fat Lady loosening up her vocal cords already.

The photo got lost in the Irish victory, New Year’s Eve celebrations and the many fine shots of Harrison Smith and Michael Floyd.

We here at Subway Alumni Station will never, ever forget the 58-7 humiliation in 1985 at the Miami Orange Bowl by Jimmy Johnson and the Canes. Poor Gerry Faust was not given a chance to quietly fad into the sunset.

Thus we are looking for a caption to the great shot above. Vote on the one you like or if you have a better one, send it in and we’ll add it to the list.  Check out the right side of the Blog.  Vote until January 31.

Some Raw Numbers And Tough Decisions For Coach Brian Kelly

Take these numbers with a good dose of the salt shaker.  Issues may be at hand that are unknown to the common Subway Alumni.  Coach Kelly keeps things close to his vest.

Tentative Verbal Commitments for 2011 – 23

On Scholarship * - 56

Fifth year seniors ** - 9

22 + 56 + 9 = 88. Three over the 85 NCAA limit.

* Includes Nate Montana

** Dever, Gray, Nwankwo, Nuss, Paskorz, Ragone, Romine, Ruffer, Smith (Walker and Wenger are not included)

Based upon playing time and recordable statistics it would appear that Dever, Gray, Nuss, Romine, Ruffer and Smith are in line for scholarships if they want them.  Remember too all scholarships are technically approved yearly for everybody, however fifth year seniors are kind of a special case.

So: 23 + 56 + 6 = 85.  But that can’t be right either. Kelly is still in the hunt and has offers on the table to a number of other recruits.

Thus which additional fifth year seniors will not make the cut?

How many more for the 2011 recruiting class will Coach Kelly take?

A nagging side issue includes 6 quarterbacks and 4 kickers on scholarship.

Stay tuned. Decisions. Decisions.

And Aaron Lynch Makes 22

Man will Christmas never end for the Irish?

Lynch visits Notre Dame in the dead of winter, tons of snow, no students.  This is the same guy who withdrew his committment after Notre Dame was humiliated by Navy and Tulsa?  Classes start tuesday, hope you like snow Aaron.

First the Sun Bowl and now the recruits keep lining up. All 22 are on the right side of the Blog if you are interested. This is shaping up as a top five recruiting class.

Can't forgot Floyd's decision to earn a degree.

Who else is on Coach Brian Kelly’s speed dial?

Where are all the Kelly recruiting ability naysayers now?

Which fifth year seniors are not going to make the cut and get scholarships?

Will Nate Montana have to pay his way?  [I guess we all understood the gesture in offering a scholarship but never quite understood the reason.  Maybe scholarships were not that tight last year.]

How about David Ruffer?

Way To Go Michael

We expect to see a lot of these leaping catches in 2011.



Well we got it half right on our post concerning the likelihood that Kyle Rudolph and Michael Floyd would remain at Notre to complete their education and senior year on the football team.

The results of the pathetic poll that was posted: Will Michael Floyd return for his senior year?

Yes – 8

No -10

Maybe – 1

It is still our belief that Rudolph coming off a major injury and the potential of not being ready for the NFL combine in April will drastically hurt his chances.

Let’s Go Bowling !

Now that we have your attention.

So how did Notre Dame’s 2010 opponents perform during the bowl season? Here are the results loyal lads of Notre Dame and Subway Alumni Station followers:



Purdue – With a dismal 4-8 season sat and watched the games from the comfort of their West Lafayette living rooms. Probably contemplating how in 2011 they can stay out of the cellar where their “Old Oaken Bucket” buddy Indiana now resides.

Michigan – Managed to get pounded by Mississippi State 52-14, and have their coach unceremoniously fired. When was the last time you observed a coach hanging in the breeze so long? Michigan is in disarray and hopefully will remain so until at least after we visit the Big House on September 10th.

Michigan State – Was totally humiliated by Alabama 49-7. We here at SAS are thankful that the results did not bring on another heart attack to Coach Dantonio.

Stanford – Showed the Hokies the way to the door with a 40-12 shellacking. The happy results vaulted Jim Harbaugh to the NFL 49ers and out of our hair. Thank you Hokies.

Boston College – Highly overrated Nevada (#15) defeated the other Catholic School 20-13.  Amazingly enough over 41,000 showed up to watch the game.  That's probably more than watched it on TV considering the NFL dominated the airwaves all day.

Pittsburgh – Beat 6-7 Kentucky in a waste-of-time bowl. Kudos to Pitt for the victory with an interim coach after going through two head coaches in less than a month and still looking for a third.

Western Michigan - The 6-6 Broncos stayed home in Timbuktu or is it Kalamazoo? Maybe if the bowl gods increase the number of bowl games from 30 to say 40, they could bowl too.

Navy – Where as Notre Dame could not stop the Triple Option, SDSU had Navy’s number and beat them rather nicely 35-14.

Tulsa – In a game devoid of defense, defeated Hawaii, 62-35.

Utah – Continued to be exposed (10-3) and was soundly beaten by BSU 26-3.

Army – The Golden Knights eked out a 16-14 win over SMU. Go Long Gray Line.

Southern Cal – Because of running a shabby and loose football program, USC with a 7-5 eligible bowl record was forced to side on the sidelines. We are looking forward to pounding them in South Bend in 2011.

So the tally is..............  W- 4    L - 5     DP - 3

The Education of Brian Kelly

Well the 2010 season is in the books and the ink is now dry. A lot happened. Some arm pumping YES! But way too much wailing and grinding of teeth over lost opportunities. It could obviously have been better, but could have also been a lot worse. The injuries both season ending and nagging game-to-game took their toll on the team. Coaching and playing mistakes cost Notre Dame two games. However, the last four games made us all very proud. What was learned? What did Kelly take away from the season? What did we learn as well?

There is reason for excitement in 2011 with the battle over the quarterback position. Maybe even two QB’s sharing playing time befuddling the opponent’s defensive game plans? Many football pundits turn their noses up to that proposition but with a huge stable of quarterbacks with different styles, strengths and weaknesses it makes sharing huddle time very attractive. A special package of plays for two quarterbacks including some Leprechaun type shenanigans is very appealing.

The Irish are obviously on a roll with those four straight wins. With some young quality players returning this year (2011), some good looking, exciting recruits and everyone else being a little smarter. Including Coach Kelly.

ND 23 Purdue 12 – As soon as the game ended, you could smell it. Purdue kind of stunk. The season bore out the odor of  a 4-8 record with lackluster wins over Western Illinois, Ball State, Minnesota, and Northwestern and an embarrassing loss to Toledo. It should have been a wakeup call that things were not right in ND Nation. We should have blown them out of the stadium yet we struggled with a two touchdown win. Whatever adjustments were made for Michigan did not appear to work.

Michigan 28 ND 24 – Michigan was/is a one dimensional offense centered around QB Denard Robinson. Take away the short pass in the flats and put a spy on him to stop the scramble and QB draw. If that was the Kelly game play, it did not work. No quarterback should amass 258 yards rushing. Nor should he be able to connect at will on short passes to the sidelines. The next man in philosophy that was much talked about was smoke and mirrors as neither Rees nor Montana were prepared to take over the offense for a groggy Dayne Crist.

MSU 34 ND 31 (OT) – If coach Mark Dantonio had known his call for a fake field goal would end up costing him a heart attack you wonder if he would have called it. The Irish should have known better. It was beyond the range of the Spartan field goal kicker. Two ND defenders fell down and the OT loss hurt worse than the one against Michigan. Would a full-time Special Teams coach have made any difference? Probably not.

Stanford 37 ND 14 – This one really hurt. Stanford outplayed the Irish this year. Jim Harbaugh is a very good coach who gets his teams ready in late August. They play old Big Ten smash mouth in your face mask football. They were licking their chops knowing the Irish were on the ropes after two loses. It was a simple mismatch. What could have ND done to change the outcome? The coaching, game play and talent level were in a different league.

ND 31 Boston College 13 – A nice on the road win against the 'Other Catholics'. Notre Dame was written off as tanked coming into the game. The coaching staff was instrumental in turning around a disheartened team and deserve a lot of credit for the win. The coaching and play was exacting what the doctor ordered. The game was not even close.

ND 23 Pittsburgh 17 – Although ending up 7-5 like the Irish, Pittsburgh like Purdue is another team Kelly should have put away easily. Notre Dame struggled all year trying to put together four quarters of solid football. Where was the high powered spread offense Kelly preached?

ND 44 Western Michigan 20 – Thank you for scheduling a cupcake Mr. AD. Nothing wrong in playing a Michigan compass school at home to help boost the morale and give playing time to the bench, the Big Ten does it all the time. Thank goodness it wasn’t another lackluster Purdue or Pitt game.

Navy 35 ND 17 – To say that Notre Dame had a worthless defensive game plan is being polite. How can you let the first option (fullback handoff) of a triple option gain 210 yards? Navy never had to execute the quarterback carry (except on short yardage touchdowns) or pitch to the trailing back. Navy was stoppable, ask Maryland or Duke. Coach Kelly mentioned that 20 minutes of every fall practice was dedicated to Navy’s and Army’s triple option. That in itself is kind of scary admission and watching the blowout.

Tulsa 28 ND 27 – If a lack of a game plan was evident in the loss to Navy, the decision to allow a freshman quarterback to throw for a touchdown instead of kicking a field goal was worse. The loss of Dayne Crist to injury really hurt (no pun intended). Yes a touchdown would have forced Tulsa into a situation where they could not have kicked a field goal to win, but of course that was not necessary because of the pick. It was surprising that Kelly had that much confidence in Rees coming off the bench instead of a steady David Ruffer.

ND 28 Utah 3 – In probably one of the most amazing turnarounds in recent memory, Kelly and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco earned their paychecks in holding together a very discouraged football team. Give credit to the seniors as well. Kelly pushed them to rally the underclassmen. The defense rose to the occasion. The boost of defeating a ranked team, not allowing a touchdown and Tommy Rees earning his first victory were the start of something big.

ND 27 Army 3 – Another scheduling and also a great recruiting coup for Notre Dame. Army in Yankee Stadium at night, what a neat concept! What did Kelly learn? Don’t kick an inferior opponent when they are down. Live with the distractions of a nationally televised game and the media frenzy before and after.

ND 20 Southern Cal 16 – This is THE GAME. This is the season. This is security in your job. Beat USC. Yes Ronald Johnson wide open dropped a sure touchdown pass, but after Michigan State and Tulsa, Coach Kelly earned a break and learned in the process. He had a defense. He didn’t need to score quickly and often.

ND 33 Miami 17 (Sun Bowl) – Coach Kelly picked up immediately about this dormant rivalry. You just don’t have these at Grand Valley State or Cincinnati. His control of the 15 practices, fitting in final exams, preparation, game plan, setting the mental aptitude and gauging the team peaking physical were simply outstanding. Miami never had a chance.

2010 was the turnaround year for Notre Dame. You wait, watch and see. Lessons were learned and the education was exciting although rough and bumpy.

Lighting a Candle at the Grotto

Sometimes you have to go with your gut.  Screw the expense.  This is important for Notre Dame Football.

Fire up the Gulfstream IV, submit the flight plan for South Bend.  We here at Subway Alumni Station are on a MISSION.  No one can stop us.

Kiss the spouse goodbye for a day. The entire SAS staff is going to the Grotto.

The students are on winter break, we can't call on them.  It is up to us, the loyal subway alumni!

So Rich Rodriguez got fired.  So be it.

The issue is Jim Harbaugh.  Obviously a very good coach.

We do not want him at Stanford where he cleaned our clock in 2010.

We do not want him at Michigan for obvious reasons.

We are lighting candles like crazy even as this is being typed at the Grotto.

Why?  That the 49er's or the Broncos will offer him $$$$$$$$$.

Thank you for reading.

Go Irish. 

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