I caught the local South Bend news last night and Weis has moved Nate Schiccatano to defensive end. He said they are trying to find a spot for him and get the best athletes on the field. Nate was really excited about it in the interview. I checked his bio and he's listed at 241 but watching some clips last night he's at least 260. I think that's great. Slower linebackers become faster d-ends. Also, they showed a clip of a defensive drill they were doing where the d-back would intercept the ball and the defense would practice returning it. Ambrose Wooden was working with the defense and was the d-back they showed returning the interception. There have been some rumors he might switch back to offense but it looks like he'll be with the defense. They also said they were working yesterday on some sort of a "stop the bleeding" drill where the practice in situations where they've lost the momentum and the other team is pulling away. It sounds like Weis is preparing them for a lot of scenarios. Just for what it's worth Wooden looked awesome in the clip. He looked a lot bigger and faster than I remember him from last year. Let's hope the guys around him aren't smaller and slower. GO IRISH!!

Really a gret rteport Toby.

 

Dang I wish I could get that TV station here. Also gret to here some of the D side of the ball progress. Stop the bleeding huh? It does sound like preparing for any situation in a game.

Toby your report really addressed a concern.

 

I went to get a coffee and was thinking about last year. (sorry) Just how many games did I see where we lost momentum and simply imploded top to bottom? People were leaving in the 3rd quarter to get the car out of the lot. Once whatever game plan we had, if any, hit a bump in the road that was it.

 

Great to know the good, bad and ugly are being covered.

ya, a contigency plan would have been nice the last few years. it might have stopped some of the blow-out losses. the analogy i used with Willingham was that his game plans were like a race team with one car and only one set-up for that car. If they happened to be on a track that fit they looked pretty good if they weren't they were screwed.

True Toby. That is close to what I thought a while ago. It was like a bunch of intelligent guys in a car getting a flat and unable to figure out how to put a spare on.

 

Exactly like Buster Keaton's "The General." Buster messed up some train tracks an this Union train came along. Three generals in the Union army are staring down at the tracks arguing among themselves over how to fix it so they could continue on. Then this nobody comes along looks and in a moment fixed the whole thing simply.

 

See? We can laugh and smile at what was at ND. (Let the world know that.) No moaning from me. Move on

Can fourth be the charm?

Nate Schiccatano embraces his fourth position switch, this time to defensive end

 

By ERIC HANSEN

Tribune Staff Writer

Notre Dame senior Nate Schiccatano is embracing the move to defensive end, his fourth position as a member of the Irish football team.

Tribune Photo/ JIM RIDER

 

 

 

 

Nate Schiccatano embraces his fourth position switch, this time to defensive end.

 

Nate Schiccatano flipped from his back to his belly and back again faster than any of the guys wearing uniforms in the 90s Wednesday.

 

No. 25 even consistently outsprinted the defensive backs during an interception drill at Notre Dame football practice.

 

He snarled when he was supposed to. He smiled in between, never once looking like someone who had just recently begun auditioning for his fourth different position of his collegiate career.

 

"I've never even played here in peewee," said the senior running back-turned-fullback-turned-linebacker of his move to defensive end. "It's something new. I kind of like it. Hopefully, I'm here to stay."

 

If perseverance counts for anything, the 6-foot-2, 242-pound Coal Township, Pa., product will find a way to make it work. A highly recruited linebacker and tight end prospect coming out of high school. Schiccatano, who was lured to ND in part by the invitation to play tailback, has resisted the urge to transfer through all the position changes and all the non-playing time.

 

"We're trying to find him a home," ND first-year head coach Charlie Weis said. "He came into training camp in really great shape. What we don't want is to get anyone buried to a point where they can't get into the mix. Whether they can get on the field or not isn't the point. We want to put them in a position where they have the best chance to get on the field."

 

That's why junior Chinedum Ndukwe, who split time at Apache linebacker and strong safety in the spring, has settled in at safety and sophomore Anthony Vernaglia has moved from safety to the Apache 'backer position.

 

Senior defensive end Travis Leitko's exodus opened the door for Schiccatano on the defensive line -- even if he is undersized at the moment.

 

"(Defensive coordinator) Rick Minter first said something to me about it at the end of spring ball," Schiccatano said. "I hope to put on 10 to 15 more pounds. I want to play against the run too, but right now they're using me as a pass-rush specialist.

 

"It's a lot different from linebacker, where you're five yards back and you kind of react to everything and can see things happening. At defensive end, everything is kind of up in your face. I'm going to have to learn to react a lot quicker."

 

Narrowing the field

 

Freddie Parish's transfer from Notre Dame is nearing completion, but not without a few headaches.

 

"I never realized there was so much paperwork involved and that I'd be the one having to track it all down," the junior defensive back from Redondo Beach, Calif., said with a laugh Wednesday via cell phone.

 

Parish's final destination isn't yet in sight, but he knows it will be a Div. I-AA school. Transferring to a non-Div. I-A school will allow Parish to play this season rather than sitting out a year to satisfy NCAA transfer requirements.

 

He said his finalists are Texas State, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin of the Southland Conference, and Portland State and Montana State of the Big Sky Conference.

 

"When coach Weis and I started talking about this possibility last Friday, he thought a move to Div. I-AA would be good," Parish said. "He said, 'Man, you know you're not going to be able to sit out. You're going to get too antsy.' And he's right."

 

Parish said Weis has been making calls to coaches on his behalf. Parish himself made some calls on his own behalf as well, talking to former ND players Garon Bible (Delaware) and Ronnie Rodamer (Montana), both of whom made the move from South Bend to the world of Div. I-AA football last year.

 

"They both thought the experience was straight," Parish said. "Of course, you're not going to have the same experience as Notre Dame. There's not going to be the same crowds and things like that. But for me this is about football and the love of it."

 

In limbo

 

Leitko, who was deleted from the Irish roster this summer, expects to have a definitive answer about his football future after Monday.

 

Practice update

 

Notre Dame's first practice in pads will be Friday, but that doesn't necessarily mean the first three practices have lacked intensity.

 

"I was expecting it to be very physical even when we were in just helmets and shorts, and it lived up to my expectations," cornerback Leo Ferrine said. "In fact, it was so intense, it almost felt like we were in pads."

 

ND's first double session is Saturday.

 

 

Sophomore running back Justin Hoskins spent most of spring practice on the sidelines suspended for undisclosed reasons.

 

He has spent the first few days of fall practice getting an earful from Weis -- which apparently is a good thing.

 

"I'll put it like this, if I'm on a guy pretty good in practice, that usually means I'm starting to like them," Weis said. "Now there are a lot of things we need to see yet, but I'm encouraged."

Take note that Nate is apparently outrunning the DB's and offensive guys. If he can keep his weight around 260, that's not really undersized for a defensive end, just look at Dwight Freeney from the Colts. If he can grasp the fundamentals and shed blocks effectively, WATCH OUT. The quarterback won't even know what hit him, literally. This is an exciting prospect indeed.