http://notredame.scout.com/2/526363.html New Jersey tight end Mike Ragone became the fourth Irish verbal commitment on Sunday night. The four-star prospect chose the Irish over many of the nation's top programs including USC, PSU, Miami, OSU and FSU. Irish Eyes spoke with Mike Ragone and confirmed that he will announce his commitment to Notre Dame tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. during a press conference to be held at his high school. “There was no one thing about Notre Dame, it was everything,” Ragone said of the factors that lead him to chose Notre Dame. “First, Charlie Weis he’s going to be a legendary coach. He’s won Super Bowls. The first time I met him he said he only wanted one tight end and he said he wanted me. That made a lot of things good. “Second, we’ll have the best quarterback in the country going there – Jimmy Clausen. “Then it came down to my visit for the spring game. I had such a great vibe for it and I had such a great feel for the school I didn’t want to hold out and mess with everyone. The whole weekend went great for me. It went so good for me that I thought it was time, so I pulled the trigger. I just thought it was the right thing to do is to commit right now. Charlie Weis was a big reason Ragone chose Notre Dame. He certainly likes how Weis uses the tight end, and even though the Irish depth will be thin at tight end when Ragone arrives in South Bend, Mike wasn’t concerned about competition. “It’s also a tight end friendly offense,” Ragone said about the Irish offense. “Everywhere you go, you’re going to have to compete, so why not compete at Notre Dame. I’m just going to do my best and go from there." Although Mike does attend a Catholic high school, he didn’t grow up rooting for the Irish. You could say he became a Notre Dame fan, because of his future head coach. “I got an offer from Rutgers before my junior year, but I really didn’t think about playing football,” recalled Ragone. “Then I started getting letters from Notre Dame, I watched them with Charlie Weis and he’s done
He's reversed his tactics this year. May is predicting ND to win 10 that way if they don't he can claim they underachieved.
This kid has tremendous potential. While we don't have 19 verbals like Texas does, Charlie is in a great position and I hope that we can get to 12 or so by the time the season starts. Terry
Ragone <t>Wow!<br/> Charlie just keeps pullin them in. Best TE in the country! Go Irish!<br/> <br/> Terry,<br/> <br/> Why is it that Texas and some other schools seem to get the bulk of their recruits early while the Fl States, USCs, Maimi etc seem to get them all the last few weeks. ND seems to fall in between most to the time. We get a few early, although more last year early than in previous years, and then slowy fill the class during the last few months. <br/> <br/> Not that I'm being critical at all. If all of our classes end up anywhere near what CW did in his first full year, then great!<br/> <br/> Tim</t>
Well in the case of Texas, Mack is riding the high that winning a Nat'l Championship brings to your recruiting. In a normal year he would have 19 by August, not May 1. Mack has always been a very good recruiter as we all know, but he had that big monkey on his neck and it's gone for now. Plus for whatever people want to think about Mack he is a very personable guy according to everything I've heard and he relates well to the high school coaches in Texas. If you remember one of the first groups he thanked after the Rose Bowl was the high school coaches in Texas, they appreciated that and help steer talent his way. Terry
Part of the reason for USC is the booming SoCal real estate market. It takes longer to find suitable living arrangements for each recruit, or his parents, as the case may be.
We have a whole lot of double wides on a lot in East Austin, so each new recruit gets to pick his out on the spot.
Wait a minute, those are 'Nawlins Townhouses! Mayor Ray's gonna bring them displaced folks home soon as they done votin'. Puts real meanin' in Motor/Voter.