Well in McNairs case he battled foot injuries his whole career and some have said that after his freshman year he really lost his zeal for FB. He was offered to move to defense where he was supposedly an outstanding LB at Mater Dei but he didn't want to move to defense.
The real question about McNair is.. Why did they automatically want to move a TB to FB? Answer: Because he was white. It may, or may not, be reality. That's the perception. Given the coaching at the time and some of the other decisions they made, I don't doubt it really. Even this year with Stanford's stud... how many times did people say 'well he's a big physical runner but he's not really fast'??? I use to tell people that anyone in recruiting who tells you white guys aren't fast have never been to Texas, California, Wisconsin or Michigan... Anyway, it certainly is a spin that I know Peetey worked and when you look at who they have now (and have had in the past) from those schools, it is a damned shame.
Well.... <t>Add the young freshman from Dallas that plays for Nebraska to the mix. He did very well for them as a freshman and looks to be a big part of the offense there in the future. Great high school career as well.</t>
George, There is clearly a perception that the kid was cast off to the FB position because he was white (btw, please note all the 'great white' TBs under the Poodle).. We have the legacy of Mike McNair, they have Sunny Byrd.. It is a message being sold to the kids in that area and they've been buying it for a long time.
What you and I think it irrelevant. Take a walk down the locker rooms of Servite, Mater Dei, Crespi, Loyola etc.. all schools who have great histories with ND that don't send kids there anymore. You have to admit, you can see the logic. McNair was one of the fastest kids in America, a bonafide track and field star.... so we move him to fullback? You don't have to agree with it, but it is something that can be sold. People sell kids on the 'mandatory mass' and 'religious conversion' as well. It is nonsense but it does work. The upside is that we can control the level of coaching... the downside is that we haven't.
Well it's a good thing we can all agree it's nonsense. Now if we can just get kids to believe that, we might have a chance at not getting our ass kicked every weekend. Thank goodness we've got a stock pile of 1 and 2 star recruits coming in to turn around our sto0ckpile of 4 and 5 star 'never was/has beens' Some of you may remember when USC use to bludgeon us in recruiting, and some of you may realize many of those guys just came back to town.. We can all agree also that we need to turn some of this nonsense around. We've been telling the world they are wrong about us for 20 years.. at what point in time are we nonsense?
The star system is another pet peeve of mine. I would submit that most of the five stars could not get into Notre Dame academically. And even if they could they would not last long. Others won't play north of the Mason-Dixon line, won't play in the cold etc. And face it, most five stars don't give a damn about school anyway.... they are three year rentals who's tickets were punched for the NFL back in Pop Warner. For the last 16 years we have been getting beaten with alarming regularity by teams consisting of one to three star players. I would rather have a great coach. Let's hope Kelly answers that need.
George, Agreed. My point is that starting under Davie, and then especially under Ty, we were gutted in the schools that use to feed us great players. Schools with an established history and visible alumni. The right coach will turn it around hopefully. Also, I believe Kelly is a bit of a politician.. I think he'll say anything to get the right fit for the system. I am hoping he undoes some of the damage. Mind you, I'm not talking about Long Beach Poly kids... but there's just no excuse for the ground we lost with some of the private schools in SoCal. Charlie did his best to undo what had been done, but I don't believe people appreciate just how bad it was.
Luke Massa becomes the 3rd QB in this class. He had an outstanding Sr. Year, but I still question 3 QB's in this class. Irish also picked up and 4th QB in Derek Roback (another Ohio kid) but he will not play QB and is likely to be a H-Back or some have said he'd be a great LB. I'm still hoping for Matt James. This may be a record year for Ohio boys coming to Notre Dame.
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> Yeah, I'm throwing a party over here over the Heggie commit!! WEEEEEEEE! I don't mean any disrespect and I'm sure he's a fine young man but I'm absolutely and totally clueless on this one. <E>:?</E> <E>:shock:</E> <E</E> <E>:?:</E> <E>:!:</E></r>
At... <t>This point I look at BK and his track record with assessing QBS. Lets see how it plays out as the guy knows what he is doing. I didn't have that feeling at all with CW when he was hired but do with this guy. Also, fast forward a year when they have had a full year to recruit and Irish fans will be pleased. A blind man can see the focus will be on linemen on both sides of the football in next years class.</t>
Welcome aboard Danny Spond!! Danny Spond Kelly is getting a lot of "athletes" with these last few commits. Guys who can play a number of positions.
Kona Schwenke the DE from Hawaii had a great visit, it looks like it's down to Wash which he has never visited (sort of odd) and ND. BYU where he was previously committed pulled his scholarship offer (supposedly) when he visited ND. The other kid from Hawaii, I haven't heard anything about. Still in the hunt for Ego Ferguson, not so much for Christian Jones or Seantrel Henderson though.
ND <r>I'm looking for players who have a lot of talent which would seem to be indicated by <B><s></s>stars<e></e></B> and who can block and tackle. <br/> <br/> I'm also looking for a coach who can develop that talent he gets no matter what their <B><s></s>star<e></e></B> rating is. <E>8)</E></r>