Well we are only a little more than a week away from the Irish reporting (Aug 7) for Fall Camp. Just thought I'd put this up to fire you guys up! <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Vq_exyGQyw&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Vq_exyGQyw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Brooks' run is still one of the single greatest efforts I've ever seen on a single play. Did anyone else notice the first Wolverine to miss the tackle? Corwin Brown...
Something else for you ND guys to chuckle at... it appears Carson will be playing fall baseball this year and not football. This is no sweat off my back as I am not actually a fan of youth football. The risk of severe injury is just too great.. Carson is now 5'3" 128lbs as the summer winds down and he's 9 years old. There use to be 2 football leagues in this area. (Pop Warner with strict weight restrictions, and River City which had no real weight restrictions except that kids over a certain weight could not be the intended ball carrier). The city Carson lives in (Decatur) stopped playing River City football which I see as a massive mistakes. Those bigger kids who want to play at a young age will simply start playing in other cities and will eventually be coerced into attending those schools come time to enroll in middle school or HS.. (yes, Alabama is that nuts). Anywho, Carson would be forced to either play with kids 12/13 years old or sit out half the season starving himself down to make weight... even then he'd be starving himself down just to play with kids that were 11/12. Neither situation is something I'm interested in, and I was elated to hear of Carson's excitement about playing fall baseball instead. Holding the football updates this year will be Carson's cousin Brendan. This is my sister Jenny (and her husband Grady)'s son and a few of you may remember the name that baby contest from so many years ago.. Anyway, Brendan will soon be making his way to HS and has been using the family connections to attend various camps.. He attended one of those snazzy QB camps, the Chris Claiborne LB camp, SC LB camp and some private workouts with some pro WRs looking to catch some balls.. For those that have been following the stories over the years, you'd know we have lots of family and friends with ties to USC including former players. It appears they are hell bent on converting Brendan (the most die-hard of the Irish fans in the family, and that is saying something) to the USC Trojans. Brendan attended the Claiborne/USC camps and all USC related workouts wearing his full Notre Dame gear....Gotta love a kid lookin for a fight
Sid, He's played OF. He wants to pitch and wants to play 1b. He's WAAAAY more of a P/1b body than he is a CF. I love my son and there is no bigger fan of him than I..but DiMaggio or Mantle he is not. Being left handed limits what he can do, but he's even caught in the past. I think we touched on this before, but he keeps being placed on teams with a lot of 'coach's sons' pitching.....
I see that kind of situation with my two oldest grandsons (12 and 10) in all of their sports (baseball, basketball, football). I'm convinced that at younger ages this is something you have to put up with, especially if your son is capable of competing for the same position as the coach's son. However, as my son-in-law, their dad, keeps saying, the cream eventually will rise to the top. Sometime we need to talk and I can tell you about how my 12 yr. old grandson just recently in LL all-star competition began showing in a big way how he is ready to start separating himself from the pack. I think of him as he was at Carson's age, and I smile. Eventually, you will do the same, but for now, your challenge is to watch and cheer and keep your lips zipped. By the way, their dad is an asst. coach on the HS baseball team, the school Pat Kuntz went to. He gets some small compensation but essentially it is an unpaid position. He was asked by the head coach to help out with the pitchers.
That's all I do.. Sit, zip and cheer for all the boys. It's very much a split personality situation because the baseball side of me just has no tolerance for that type of failure. I'm game to have a talk any time I'm currently working on some football dates or hell you're always welcome to give me a ring.
ND <r>Can't wait. 5 more weeks and I'll be sitting on my sofa watching some ND football! <E>8)</E></r>
I hope that we can get some of the toughness back into the running game, this video from the '94 Cotton Bowl vs Texas A&M shows what it used to be like. Note the full house backfields on the goal line, Charlie is as likely to spread'em out and throw the ball in those situations. Maybe if our OL improves in the run game he'll get back to tough hardnose football on the goal line. Enjoy. Of course this will be a bittersweet viewing for Scott if he watches! <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LJVsjTVerKk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LJVsjTVerKk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
My good friend Carlo Calabrese called me Sunday on his drive home from South Bend. All kinds of juicy inside information which I am sworn to omerta on but some I can share. His son Carlo #44 is in school and in heavy training for the opening of practice on Friday. He is in 7 on 7 drills with the others and seems to be progressing nicely. He is up to 238lbs. He is first in the bench press with 225 x 19 reps. He ran the 40 in 1/10th slower than fellow freshman Manti Teo who weighs in at 240. He is also the unofficial team barber who counts about a third of the team as customers already. Weis has told him that he does not intend to red shirt him. More about Teo.... Carlo does not see him doing any mission work... maybe working it in ala Tim Tebow. Weis expects at least ten wins. He told all the parents that he has everything in place to achieve his goals now. He thinks he has the best corps of receivers in the country and one of the best LB corps as well. He thinks incoming freshman RB Cierre Wood will work into the rotation right away. RB Theo Riddick apparently has the fastest 40 time so far. All of this is the perception heading into practice.
I have read that Riddick is the better of the 2 freshman RB's. I haven't seen much about your boy Carlo, but I would imagine that he'll get a lot of special teams play I have to wonder if he'll really play at LB though.
Very interesting information. Thanks, George. Looks like you are our link to the team for the next four years, recognizing, of course, that there are limits on what you can pass on from your friend.
On Te'o and his mission. If you remember when Dennis Dodd asked the BYU coach about losing Te'o to ND he commented to the effect that if a Mormon kid like Te'o doesn't come to BYU it's usually because they don't want to go on a mission. He cited some stats that said that of the 19 kids he's recruited that were mormon and chose not to come to BYU that 18 of the 19 never went on a mission while almost 100% of the mormons that come to BYU to play football go on a mission and he encourages them to do so.
Irish pickup Prince Shembo the LB/DE from North Carolina. We beat out NCState and Tenn for his services. Defense has really done well in recruiting.
I want a Calabrese Jersey....Yes, I'm biased as a jersey guy but from what I've heard from people that have seen him play, he will be "nasty". Good to see he didn't lose speed while bulking up. He is the giant version of Agnello this year on special teams...ha Krebsie, Have you seen him play? Also want to see Raritan this year to see bennett Jackson play
ND needs to look at Trevor Barsamain a senior at Princeton HS in NJ. He is the son of Mr Market and a good internet friend of mine. ( Has made me a bundle of $$$ in market). Trevor is a running back, takes 3 to bring him down...you Joisey guys..watch him this coming year!!
You've mentioned that kid before but no recruiting site even mentions his name, he's apparently known only to you and Mr. Market.