IRISH ATTRACT TOP RECRUITS + WIN

[Guest SirJohn]

From AuburnPub.com

Interesting report on past-present-and future recruiting.

As well it is a constant reminder to us at DD and to all Notre Dame fans that Coach Weis did all this in one year. (Again Happy Anniversery Charlie.)

Just how many coaches and programs are whining that they need three years to "rebuild?" Thank's Charlie.

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Sports

 

Irish attract top recruits

 

 

By Leo Pinckney

Saturday, December 10, 2005 11:58 PM EST

 

 

It's amazing how one man can take a major college football program and develop it into a winning team in less than 12 months.

 

Of course, you know I am talking about Charlie Weis and his coaching performance with the Notre Dame gridmen this past season.

 

Weis, in his rookie year with the Fighting Irish, posted a 9-2 record, including a last-minute victory over Stanford in the final game that locked up a spot in the $14.5 million Bowl Championship Series. The Irish will face powerful Ohio State on Jan. 2, 2006, in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.

 

Weis needed less than a year to change the perceptions that Notre Dame could no longer recruit with the big boys.

 

Ryan O'Leary, writing about the Irish in the Blue and Gold magazine, America's foremost authority on Notre Dame football, spoke to Tom Lemming, veteran recruiting analyst. Weis' first full recruiting class ranks No. 2 in the country behind Texas on his list.

 

Allen Wallace, the national recruiting editor of Scout agrees. He currently has ND rated third nationally behind Texas and Georgia. But he believes the Irish could end up on top come signing day (Feb. 1).

 

 

For a school that brought in only 32 freshmen over the last two years combined, that's quite a turnaround.

 

Ask anyone what happened, and the answer is almost always the same: Charlie Weis.

 

“The last couple of classes were the worst classes ever signed by the Irish,” Wallace wrote, noting he had ranked the 2004 group 27th in the nation and last year's at 34th - easily an all-time low for Notre Dame.

 

Lemming continued to write: “No matter how good this year's class is, next year's is going to be better.”

 

 

 

“He's probably the most influential recruiting head coach at Notre Dame ever,” Lemming wrote. “Gerry Faust was aggressive, but his staff wasn't. Lou Holtz left everything up to Vinny Cerrato.”

 

With college football going to 12 games, the Irish will oppose six teams next season that weren't on the 2005 schedule. The season will open Sept. 2 at Georgia Tech., followed by powerful Penn State as the home opener on Sept. 9.

 

Michigan will play the Irish on Sept. 16 at South Bend, Ind. Michigan State, Purdue and Stanford will return in that order an then ND entertains newcomer UCLA on Oct. 21.

 

The 2006 campaign will mark the ninth time Notre Dame will play Army, Air Force and Navy the same year, and the first time since 1995. The Irish will play the military trio in a four-week span, with a home game against North Carolina wedged in between on Nov. 4. The final game will be against the nation's No. 1 team - USC on Nov. 25.