Fleming is Irish/Here comes the "D"

Discussion in 'Sports Board' started by Tim Gentry, Apr 21, 2007.

  1. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita junior defensive end/outside linebacker prospect Darius Fleming (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) decided a few weeks ago to end his recruiting process when he was making one of his several unofficial visits to the University of Notre Dame. Fleming decided to keep his little secret quiet for a few weeks, instead wanting to make his intentions known this weekend during the Fighting Irish spring game. Fleming talks about his decision to join the Fighting Irish signing class in this recruiting update.


    Darius Fleming is excited to join the Fighting Irish signing class.

    "I committed to Notre Dame and head coach Charlie Weis a few weeks ago," Fleming said. "I really wanted to keep it quiet until my Dad had a chance to head down to Notre Dame with me and for him to meet Coach Weis in person for the spring game. We are heading down to Notre Dame for the spring game today and I'm ready to let people know that I'm a solid verbal commitment to the University of Notre Dame."

    Fleming, who has become one of the fastest rising prospects in the nation this spring, talked about why he decided to verbal to the Irish.

    "Notre Dame just seems like the prefect place for me. I've made like 4-5 visits over the past few months and it just seems to get better and better every time I'm there. Honestly, the last few times I was there I didn't want to leave. From the academics to the football program and the great tradition at Notre Dame, it was just a very easy decision for me to make. I've been able to get to know some of the players and the other prospects at Notre Dame, and I want to be a part of this recruiting class."

    Fleming is thrilled to have his final college decision over with.

    "I'm a solid commit to Notre Dame, and I'm glad that I'm ending this process early. It's not a case of me just making a rash choice to end all of the recruiting stuff. I really found the perfect fit for me and I decided why waste anyone else's time? My family is also very excited about me playing for the Fighting Irish. I'll be able to play pretty close to home for a great school and they are all really excited. I'll walk out of Notre Dame with a great degree and that's the most important part in all of this."

    Fleming is also thrilled to be a part of a Notre Dame recruiting class that looks to be heavy on the defensive side of the ball.

    "With guys like Sean Cwynar and some of the other recruits that have verballed already to Notre Dame, it's exciting to be a part of this class. It's time for the defensive side to tear things up and hopefully we'll be a class that is remembered at Notre Dame."

    Darius Fleming decided to verbal to Notre Dame over scholarship offers from USC, Oklahoma, Eastern Michigan, Colorado, Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas State and Boston College.
     
  2. JO'Co

    JO'Co Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]

    A 5-star linebacker to go with our two 4-star linebackers...

    Go Charlie! Go Corwin! Go Irish!
     
  3. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Great pickup for the Irish!! Corwin Brown doing a great job of selling his defensive philosophy.
     
  4. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Irish pick up another Caliyfornia product. Joseph Fauria a 6'7" TE from Encino California. Can you say...big target!! :)
     
  5. JO'Co

    JO'Co Well-Known Member

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    The Faurias are a local Catholic school family from Crespi HS in Encino. This family has produced NFL players and college All-Americans before. Crespi HS has also produced many great athletes in several sports, some of you may remember Cal's All-American running back Russell White a few years back or St. Louis Cardinal's pitcher Jeff Suppan last year.

    Charlie has hit the mother lode of California Catholic school football talent when he's raiding Crespi HS (Fauria) and Notre Dame HS (McDonald and Crist). USC, UCLA and Cal wanted all of these guys, but CW's beating them to the punch...

    NFL Bloodlines For SoCal TE
    By By Brandon Huffman
    Mar 19, 2007, 4:05pm

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    Encino (Calif.) Crespi tight end Joseph Fauria (6-7, 243), was five years old when he was sitting at his grandparents house and his uncle Christian received a call from the Seattle Seahawks telling him that they were drafting him in the second round of the 1995 NFL Draft. At that young age, Joseph said he knew he wanted to do the same.
    “I remember, I think it was when I was five, my uncle got drafted and we were having this huge party and we were all going crazy and even then I said I was going to play college football,” said Fauria.

    Ole Miss became the first school to make that statement more of a reality when they offered Fauria a scholarship a few weeks ago. More schools are beginning to throw their name in the ring for Fauria as well.

    “I’ve been talking a lot with UCLA,” said Fauria. “It was a funny story. I hadn’t been invited but my teammate E.J. Woods was and one of the coaches told E.J. to call me and so I rushed over there as fast as I can and made a good impression. I got a good vibe from the coaching staff. They said once they get my transcripts and my highlight video, they could be offering me.”

    Fauria also attended USC’s Junior Day this past weekend and he’s keeping an eye on the Trojans. “Staying close to home is always a good thing,” said Fauria. “I had just gotten a few letters from USC before. But I’m definitely interested in them.”

    Oregon and Washington have been frequent letter-writers to Fauria, though he says Nebraska has been the most active. “I’ve probably gotten 100 letters from Nebraska,” said Fauria.

    Other schools that he’s hoping to hear from are Notre Dame and Cal. “I’ve been wanting to be contacted by Notre Dame. I had the privilege of meeting Coach (Charlie) Weis when he was in New England coaching my uncle. And I’ve met some of the coaching staff at Cal and that would be a great school to go to. It would be great to be with (former Crespi teammate) D.J. (Holt). He taught me a lot on offense and defense and I really looked up to him.”

    Surprisingly, Fauria hasn’t heard anything from Colorado, where his uncle was an all-American for the Buffs.

    With tremendous size and strength, Fauria feels that his years of observing NFL tight ends as well as those at the collegiate level give him the confidence to play the position in college.

    “I try to emulate a lot of tight ends, like Joe Newton (Oregon State) and Matt Spaeth (Minnesota). I would watch them the whole time. And of course, when I watch the NFL I watch my uncle. I’ll call him a day after the game and mess with him and tell him all the stuff he did wrong. I love watching the tight end block on runs and passes. I love how they’re used. I want to go to a school that uses their tight end a lot.”

    That’s just one of the things that Fauria is focusing on. “Academics are always a good thing and so is the area, Fauria said. “ Is it going to be snowing all the time or does it have good weather. The coaching staff is a big deal for me, especially the tight ends coach. Where has he been and has he been coaching for a while. Of course the head coach and the overall tradition of the football school. Have they been winning lately?”

    Fauria said that no school has indicated a desire to see him move to defense and he has reservations about that side of the ball as it is. “I think that playing defense would waste my talents,” said Fauria. “Playing defense would put my hands to no use. I use my good hands to my advantage.”

    Fauria said he doesn’t anticipate making a decision any time soon. “I keep saying that I want to wait until the last second and that’s what I think I’m going to do. But if a good school offers me early, and I feel it, and my family agrees with it, then I’ll decide earlier,” said Fauria.

    As a junior, Fauria had 22 receptions for 319 yards and three touchdowns in a run-oriented offense.

    This spring, he’s planning on attending the Scout.com Combine in Los Angeles.

    “I’m real close to my quarterback Kevin Prince and we made this little pact that we’re going to be working out together, getting a trainer and same with E.J.,” said Fauria. “We’re going to the Scout.com combine and we
     
  6. HoustonLarry

    HoustonLarry New Member

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    Nice...

    <t>Job Colorado. Can you imagine them sleeping on this guy considering the bloodlines? Great looking target on film and will give the offense yet another weapon.</t>
     
  7. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Hey Tim,

    Who would you take out of Brown, Hale, Filer, Sabino, and Beal?

    Would you take 2 guys from that list??
     
  8. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    LBs

    <r>Terry,<br/>
    Brown and Filer but I would take them all if we could! <E>:D</E></r>
     
  9. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Add another stud defensive recruit!!
     
  10. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    defense

    <r>DEFENSE....DEFENSE......DEFENSE!!!!!<br/>
    Gotta Love it!! <E>8)</E></r>
     
  11. JO'Co

    JO'Co Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]

    From what I've read, this kid is a real nose guard. He squats over 500lbs, which means that when he hits the center its going to leave a mark...
     
  12. George Krebs

    George Krebs Well-Known Member

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    JO'Co!

    Praising the Jersey athlete.

    Again!

    :D
     
  13. HoustonLarry

    HoustonLarry New Member

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    The good...

    <t>News continues on the defensive side of the football. I love this one.</t>
     
  14. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Irish continue to recruit Andrew Sweat, even though we already have 3 LB's and the word is that we lead for Filer. From what I've read about Sweat, he is a great player, but he's pretty interested in the social scene so I really don't expect him to sign with the Irish.

    However from this Scout picture I have to wonder how he even gets a date, check out that smile...yikes.

    [​IMG]


    I could fix it though!
     
  15. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    Sweat

    <r>Terry,<br/>
    <br/>
    Definately the face of a LB. <E>:lol:</E> <br/>
    I'm like you, I doubt if he will be coming to ND. Seems more a osu type type me from what I've been reading. Could be wrong though. <br/>
    <br/>
    Looks like a lot of work to correct that smile.......are you sure you could fix it?</r>
     
  16. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I see that on Rocks House they are reporting DL Omar Hunter, previously thought to be a Michigan lock has commited to the Irish. He's a Georgia boy who wanted to go out of state, he did have a lot of big name offers, and he was from the same HS as Darius Walker. He said he really only talked to Darius 1 time in his life, but that it was former Wolverine and current Irish DCoord Corwin Brown who made the difference.

    I sure hope Corwin can coach, because he is one dynamite recruiter.

    Terry
     
  17. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    hunter

    <r>Gotta love this one for 2 reasons Terry...First he is one of the best DTs in the country and Lord knows DTs have been hard for the Irish to come by lately....secondly because he looked like a solid commit to michigan. CW and company are making a habit of taking big commits away from the boys with the yellow jocks on their helmets....I understand Corwin Brown had a big part to play in this one also....he may have played for mich but he's all Irish now!!!<br/>

    <QUOTE><s>
    </e></QUOTE></r>
     
  18. Tim Gentry

    Tim Gentry Well-Known Member

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    Hunter

    <r>RE: Hunter..I just watched the tape on this "kid" and I'm even more impressed! Looks like a monster on D! Great speed for a DT.. good feet, and very AGGRESSIVE! <E>8)</E></r>
     
  19. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Isn't it great to finally start getting some top defensive recruits!! If some how Corwin Brown can energize the Irish defense next year to play exciting and effective defense the flood gates will open for defensive players.

    The only thing that surprises me about our recruiting is that given that Charlie runs a proven Pro offense (can't get much more proven than the Patriot offense) and has signed the top QB (Clausen)
    in last years class and has one of the top 10 QB's in this years class (Crist) that he hasn't been as successfull in signing the top WR's in the country.

    Terry
     
  20. HoustonLarry

    HoustonLarry New Member

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    What ...

    <t>Great news as I was not counting on this one. Finally we are getting the guys to allow us to come back on defense. I look for them to add several more on that side as well.</t>