Logan Weeks

Notre Dame lost two underclassmen to the NFL draft next season, wide receiver Golden Tate and quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

You would have to think that the decisions by both Tate and Clausen played largely into the departure of head coach Charlie Weis. Even with Weis’s firing, Clausen and Tate had extraordinary seasons. Tate hauled in 93 catches for 1,495 yards and 15 touchdowns and is a finalist for the Biletnikoff award that goes to the most outstanding receiver in college football. Clausen had his most impressive season yet, throwing for over 3,700 yards, 28 touchdowns and only getting picked off four times. Both guys are NFL ready in my opinion, it is just a shame they both couldn’t stick around for one more season.

Next year will be interesting with backup quarterback Dayne Crist taking over, but will have to overcome surgery that he had on his knee. Crist was heavily recruited out of high school, but has never got a chance to start because of Clausen. Look for Crist to miss some of spring practice, but make his debut at the start of the season.

Tate will be missed as a big play guy in the passing game and running game. He has truly been a jack of all trades showing some skill returning punts as well. Tate is one of those guys that is almost impossible to game plan for because of his speed and deceptive strength. Although Tate will be gone, look for sophomore Michael Floyd to step up after being injured for a few games during the season with a collar bone injury, but the Irish have a slew of receivers to try and take over the role of Tate. Junior Duvall Kamara brings a large target (6 foot 5), fresman Shaquelle Evans, freshman Robbie Toma, sophomore tight end Kyle Rudolph, will all have to step up next season with the loss of Tate.

Though the Irish lose two great players, they have some pretty solid backups behind them.

Photo courtesy of NBC Sports

Notre Dame announced yesterday that Charlie Weis will no longer be the head coach of the Fighting Irish. Not only does that raise the question, “Who will coach Notre Dame next year,” you have to wonder what is going on with recruits that have already committed to Notre Dame.

There have been many rumors about who the Irish will be contacting as far as head coaches for next season and interim head coach, Rob Ianello, will be stepping in as head coach and taking over recruiting for the time being.

The list of possible coaches that have been mentioned are current ESPN analyst and former head NFL coach, John Gruden. Florida’s Urban Meyer, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly, Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh, and TCU’s Gary Patterson. Now within the next week or so that list should be narrowed down to a few and some of those names will be crossed off, but most importantly, what is happening with recruiting?

Standout receiver and Biletnikoff finalist, Golden Tate, has a decision to make if he will return next year for his senior season, as well as junior Quarterback Jimmy Clausen. Tate told the Chicago Tribune that, “what Jimmy (Clausen) does is very important on my decision. The coaching change is very important on my decision. So I don’t know.” Tate said that he would meet Friday with former head coach Charlie Weis and his family to discuss his decision on whether he will stay or go (to the NFL).

As far as high school recruiting, no one has backed out of their Notre Dame Commitment yet. Tai’ler Jones, a four-star recruit receiver has said that the coaching move will not effect his commitment to Notre Dame. Also, in an article by Erik Brady in the USA Today, four-star recruit Andrew Hendrix, from Moeller High School in Cincinnati, who I have talked about in previous posts, his high school football coach said that he will not back out of Notre Dame. “He’s definitely still a Notre Dame commitment, but a lot hinges on who is the next head coach.”

Also, Giovanni Bernard, another four-star recruit, said in the USA Today article that his decision will not change. “I chose the school, not the coach,” Bernard says, “because of all its tradition and because of how it can help me after football and because it is one of the best academic institutions.”

The article talked about how Notre Dame has not been in the top ten in recruiting, but has struggled as of late to pull in top recruits. That is understandable to a certain extent. Notre Dame doesn’t get the pick of the litter like they used to in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but they are still ranked in the top 20 just about every year when it comes down to recruiting. Right now they are ranked 11th in the nation (barring no one decommitting) in recruiting so they still don’t have too hard of a time bringing in top talent, but we will see in the upcoming weeks how they do with holding on to guys that have committed, as well as trying to still get top talent to commit that they have been after for awhile now.

Keep checking out the blog and I will try to keep you posted!

This is a good article about Charlie Weis and who could be replacing him as the Notre Dame head football coach next season.(article)

It is not definite, but Weis may have drawn his last straw with a loss to a 4-5 opponent in Connecticut, but more importantly the Irish fall to 6-5. A season that had implications of going to a BCS bowl game and possibly a national championship, Weis and the Irish have grossly underachieved.

Not only does Charlie look to be on his way out, but quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, and wide-receiver, Golden Tate, could potentially be going to the NFL next season. This could all be a disaster for recruiting for next season, especially if the Irish can’t figure out soon what they are going to do for a head coach next football season.

With Jimmy Clausen potentially leaving to the NFL next season, backup Dayne Crist out for the rest of the season with an ACL tear, and senior, third string quarterback, Evan Sharpley graduating, the Irish will need to set their sights on a potential starting quarterback, not only for the distant future, but possibly for the start of next season.

Luckily, the Irish have already got the verbal commitment of Andrew Hendrix. The four-star recruit is ranked 222 on rivals and has an grade of 80 from the scouts on ESPN’s recruiting website, and will come into Notre Dame next season with a potential bid for a starting spot. Now that would be a stretch if Clausen were to return or if Crist looks good coming into next season and recovers well from the ACL tear.

Since the Irish did not take a quarterback in last year’s recruiting class, it was imperative that they got a quality quarterback in this year’s class especially with all of the question marks they have surrounding the position.

With a better than average rating and a being a four star recruit, Hendrix has already brought some attention to himself, but this is what I saw when I watched his tape: If you watch the video of Hendrix, you will see that almost all of his throws are on the run, and for a guy who stands at 6 foot 3, that is a huge plus. Many great quarterbacks have trouble throwing on the run, especially guys over 6 feet tall. Hendrix looks like a player that has a ton of upside, because if he gets stuck in the pocket he can roll out and make tough throws on the run or tuck it away and run for a big gain.

Hendrix could be a great addition for the Irish for future years!

Video of Hendrix

Photo courtesy of uhnd.com