I got a kick out of this quote from Young in that Miami Herald article:

USC called Young for the final time Thursday morning, a last-gasp effort to change the All-American's decision.

''When I talked to Coach [Pat] Ruel [USC's offensive line coach] today he said I definitely would have to be ready for their blitz packages next year,'' Young said. ``But that's one thing that's great about Notre Dame -- you play the best of the best week in and week out, so I'll definitely be looking forward to that game.''
The Contrarian | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 1:06 pm | #

I'm....so...(sniff)...happy....
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 1:23 pm | #

That's one of the reasons that USC has had so much success lately. They, in addition to all the winning and whatnot, are all relentless recruiters.

Remember, some say it was that last minute cell phone call from an FSU assistant to Lorenzo Booker just before his press conference that swayed him and led to him picking FSU after telling Lemming and others that he was going to pick ND.

That's one of the reasons that ND fans were so unsure for this one. Those last minute "go with your heart" type things really do have an impact. It's great to hear that SC gave it their all and Young still went with ND.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 1:23 pm | #

i love that video. those poor DEs are getting pushed 15 yards back every play! he even moves both lines across the field a couple times.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 1:53 pm | #

Mola Ram? I didn't even know that dude's name til now. Seriously, I love how ya'll just lay on the obscurity like a Family Guy flashback.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 2:14 pm | #

That's awesome! I can't wait to see what we can do with him. Hopefully, he'll help Darius get some more yards and have him start looking like he's ready for the pros. Think he'll make the starting squad right out of the gate?
chilli | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 2:20 pm | #

Back in high school, I could throw a football a quarter mile. From the looks of that video, looks like Mr. Young can drive block defenders a quarter mile. Nice get for the Irish.
Andrew | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 2:49 pm | #

Back when I was in high school, I could throw a football over mountains. You wanna see me throw this football over 'dem their mountains?
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 2:54 pm | #

Yeah I spelled 'there' incorrectly. Shut up.


P.S. Here's to drinkin' on the job.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 2:55 pm | #

How did you get the top photo off the telly?
Andy | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 3:17 pm | #

Ah, TIVO my friend.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:01 pm | #

Far more complicated/awkward than that Brad. I actually used a digital camera and snapped a shot of my TV screen, which Tivo lovingly paused for me. It's the first time I've tried it and it came out pretty well. To be honest, I felt like a 12 year old trying capture a high score so I could submit it to Nintendo Power.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:12 pm | #

Can we please petition Beano Cook to never, EVER comment on Sam Young's potential...or any other current/future recruit or player, for that matter?
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:17 pm | #

So will we get a 28th member of the recruiting class or are we done? It doesn't look like CW is going to be able to get a big time DT so will he just save that last spot for an early entry next year?
JohnWA | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:45 pm | #

What happened to Jason Kates? Where is he going to school? Or, has he made any decision? I was surprised to read that Young may be the last verbal commitment to the Irish this year.
baseballeddy | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:54 pm | #

I'd wager that we are done, but you never know. A talented defensive tackle sure would be a nice capper for this class. As for early entry, the last spot doesn't matter as an early entry recruit can count towards either the previous class or the current one. So if we get a DT with the last scholarship, we can still enroll recruits early. They just count towards next year's 25 scholarship limit.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:55 pm | #

"Young will win three Heismans before his sophmore year."
Beano Cook | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 5:58 pm | #

Beano Cook is full of beans.
B.D. | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 6:02 pm | #

Sure we can count any early entries in 2007 against the 2007 frosh class, but if we can't get someone we really want, why not just save the 28th spot from this year so we can pick up 26 kids next year? I think we'd be naive if we expect a kid like Young (or McNeil, Walls, Aldrige) to stick around for four years (or five if they sit this year). The one disadvantage (if you can call it that) is that recruits at this level usually hear the call of the NFL millions before their senior year. Even Weis and his staff aren't going to keep them all until they get their degrees.

Good question about Kates. I haven't heard anything on that front since the All-American game.
JohnWA | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 8:05 pm | #

Andre Smith is the best offensive lineman in the nation, end of story-BUT besides that...

USC's Pat Ruel sounds like an a-hole/dumbass.

It's okay to think "we're gonna get you sucka" nexy year, but saying that to a recruit over the phone in an attempt to sway him is pretty stupid.

"you play the best of the best week in and week out"-Sam Young

Stanford, Pitt, Navy, Air Force etc?

The "best"?

This guy is blwoing out his you know what. Standard Notre Dame delusional superiority in everything crap.

If he really wanted to play the best possible schedule he would have gone to an SEC, where you get to play in Baton Rouge, Knoxville, and Gainsville, Tuscaloosa, Athens etc. almost every year.
The Spirit of Bill Oliver | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 10:12 pm | #

SEC??? what are you talking about??? SEC has some crappy/easy teams too . . . don't forget that Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Mississippi st and Tenn, half of the SEC had losing records. I wouldn't go spouting off if half the teams in my conference are sucking it up. I don't doubt that the SEC is a tough conference but don't say things without acknowledging the other side. SEC has some easy ones too and you can't play each week the top 1 through 12 teams in the country that will stay there at there respective poll position at the end of the season.
and now which is it, do we play an easy schedule??? or do we usually play the toughest schedule in the country?? make up your minds. If half of SEC is crappy, don't you think ND should have some winnable games too? is your pt that ND has to play every tough team in the country but if the team craps out its ND's fault? Last time I checked ND scheduled some tough teams, don't worry about it
hmm | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 10:55 pm | #

Haha....it's good to see that Bill Oliver worked his way over to BGS....what, got tired of arguing with HP Bill? Don't pay attention to Bill guys.....he's just here to stir up trouble.....typical SEC fanatic, that's all. Take care Bill.
ND101 | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 12:10 am | #

Bill - If you read the post, I never said Sam Young is the best offensive lineman in the country.

Let's keep things civil and under control, ok?
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 12:31 am | #

So when does Young get demoted to a 4-star or 3-star rank in the recruiting circles? LOL (sarcasm)

Good get by ND.
Heath | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 3:34 am | #

regardless of the prejudices of that SEC poster guy, i have to say, the SEC is a badass conference. i'm glad we didn't have to play bama, florida, auburn, lsu, tenn and georgia this year. i know, i know, we smoked UT, but do you realize that 5 of those 6 teams were ranked in the TOP 5 at one point last season?

i don't care what you biases are, that's a kickass schedule. pity poor mississippi state. needless to say, had usc played in that conference the last three years, we would never have been having the whole three consecutive NC discussion.
tjf | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 4:29 am | #

While it's true he was knocking everyone back 15 yards in the highlight video, it's important to keep a couple things in mind:

1: it's a highlight video- they pick and choose the best plays he made
2: He's going against a DE that's probably in the low-mid 200 lb range, after all, these are HS games. He likely hasn't ever had to push anyone his own size out of the way.

That said, with the proper teaching (and I'm assuming Latina will give it to him) he'll be able to shove 300 lb. DE's 5 yards off the line several times a game, and hold his own the rest of the time.
gozer the traveller | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 4:33 am | #

Michigan, USC, Tennessee, and Ohio State all were top 5 at one time this year.
Scott | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 7:13 pm | #

yeah, and we were 2-2 against those four, losing to the only two teams that were any good. i'd much rather have our schedule each year than be in the sec.
tjf | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 9:36 pm | #

Did you guys see how the SEC did in bowl games? Let me recap:

South Carolina loses to Missouri
Florida holds on to beat Iowa
LSU destoyed Miami
Alabama sqeaks by Texas Tech
Georgia loses to West Virginia
Auburn Loses to Wisconsin

I'm not saying that the SEC is not a good conference, but let's not go overboard here. They were 3-3 including a loss in the Sugar Bowl.
Brian | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 10:11 pm | #

Don't knock Beano! Driving down to the USC game this year, I heard him pick ND to meet the 'Canes in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl for the national title.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. 8^)
Dad the Domer | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 11:03 pm | #

completely off-topic. however...

Next year, Brady looks to break the ND/USC tie for number of heismans. However, assuming bush or leinart goes number 1 in the NFL draft, Brady will be looking to replace that tie with another. College Football Resource has it that ND and USC, as of last year, are tied for number of #1 NFL draft picks, at 5 a piece. Bush/Leinart will put USC at 6. One more reason for ND to own next year.
tedwick | Email | Homepage | 01.21.06 - 11:06 pm | #

Excellent bit of trivia tedwick.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.22.06 - 1:08 pm | #

Don't knock Beano! Driving down to the USC game this year, I heard him pick ND to meet the 'Canes in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl for the national title.

Well, here's one more knock on the Beanmeister: in Jan. 2007, the Fiesta Bowl and national title (game) are mutually exclusive. D'oh!

Regarding the SEC and conference strength...true, they had five teams finish in the top 25 (LSU, Florida, Auburn, Bama & Georgia). But those five teams only played head-to-head 14 times during the regular season.

And here's something which is vastly more telling: in the forty other combined regular season games played by those five top 25 SEC teams, only ONCE did an SEC team face an opponent that finished in the top 25 (Florida vs #23FSU).
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 01.22.06 - 10:03 pm | #

c-stone:

From www.bcsfootball.org/indes2.cfm?page=results

BCS Bowl Schedules

Following 2006 Regular Season:
Jan. 1, 2007 - Fiesta Bowl
Jan. 1, 2007 - Rose Bowl
Jan. 2, 2007 - Orange Bowl
Jan. 3, 2007 - Sugar Bowl
Jan. 8, 2007 - National Championship Game (Phoenix)

You're right, but only because they added the NC game. They're both in Phoenix, where the Fiesta Bowl will be from now on.

Of course, the complete idiocy here is that it's not a +1.
Nate | Email | Homepage | 01.23.06 - 12:48 am | #

First on the video: I have to say I was underwhelmed. Is it just me, or does Young seem slow off the ball? I realize he's a big dude, but that just stood out to me that it seemed to take a second or two for him to get going. Compared to the kid next to him on the line (who granted is smaller, he seemed alot slower). I agree with Gozer's points and I'm optimistic that he'll be good.

On the SEC: Sure, you can make a case for certain weaknesses in that conference, the schedule, etc., but I agree to with tjf. To me, that conference is CLEARLY the best in America. I live in Big 10 country and while I hate the Big 10, I firmly believe the SEC is a better/more difficult conference because year-in-and year out, they have more strong teams (Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee then any other conference. Granted, 2005, may have been a little down, but who did the Big 10 have this year besides tOSU and Penn St.? The Big 10 would be my #2). tjf is also dead on about is USC played in the SEC instead of the weakass Pac 10; they'd have been probably won 1 NC in the last 3 years, but definitely not 2 or 3.

ND plays as tough a schedule as anyone in the country.
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 01.23.06 - 2:21 pm | #

In my estimation the argument over best conference is directly related to schedule strength, and as such it's my belief that the numbers don't support the SEC as the best conference in the country.

True, the SEC had more final AP 25 teams than any other conference. But then it stands to reason: are those top teams that good, or did they get the lofty rankings due to creampuff schedules?

Here's the skinny...if you sort every Div. 1a school by schedule strength and do an average across conferences, here's what we get:

Conference Schedule avg.
Big 10 15
ACC 29
Pac-10 29
Big 12 30
Independents 51
SEC 54
Big East 63
------------------
MWC 71
C-USA 89
MAC 94
WAC 96
Sun Belt 123

In essence, outside of the recently pillaged Big East, the SEC teams play the softest overall schedules of any major conference. It's not that hard to see how: you have 4-5 pretty good teams annually, then the rest are mediocre or pure doormats. The entire conference only played three regular-season games against non-conference opponents who finished in the top 25 (Florida v FSU, Tennessee v ND and Arkansas v USC), going 1-2 in those games. Meanwhile, in games against the top 25 overall--including their own allies--the SEC was 9-33.

[Note: the SOS is using the Sagarin numbers, but I sense other proven rankings sources would also bear this out.]
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 01.23.06 - 9:19 pm | #

Good data C-stone. I won't argue that the non-con schedule the SEC plays is a joke (it cost Auburn a chance at the BCS title game last year).

That being said: do you believe/is it really your opinion that the Pac 10, Big 10, ACC, AND Big 12 are all better conferences than the SEC? Forget the above numbers for a second as I acknowledge that I know the numbers cited above may suggest that, but no way is the Pac 10 for instance on par with the SEC. After USC and Oregon, who is their third best team? UCLA? I think the third best team in the SEC (Auburn, Florida, Alabama, etc.) would destroy UCLA and on down the line with 4th through 6th in each respective conference (maybe not destroy on all games, but the SEC would definitely have a winning record) Same goes for `SEC vs. the other conferences.

Yes the SEC was 3-3 this year in bowls, but if you did the, "if they played 10 times" the SEC team would win at least 6 in all of those matchups.

I'd be interested to see the numbers above with the creampuff non-con games taken out.

At the end of the day, maybe it was a bit of a down year for the SEC, but year in, year out, it is the best conference.
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 01.24.06 - 8:01 pm | #

Irish Rat:

"At the end of the day, maybe it was a bit of a down year for the SEC, but year in, year out, it is the best conference."

SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!!!

The SEC has yet to get in the 21st century on the offensive side of the ball. Their "D" is pretty good though.

The real men of genius (coaches and high-level recruits on offense) do not end up going to the SEC.

So, other conferences have a much better balance on offense and defense.

For that reason I think that the Big 10 and Pac 10 are by far, better conferences than the SEC.

Plus, that part of the country is sort of the armpit of America.
Seamus O'R. | Email | Homepage | 01.25.06 - 7:15 pm | #

Irish Rat:

RE: SEC Part II

Just remember, those weaklings from the Pac 10 (Stanford) almost knocked out you-know-who out of a BCS game last year, if it was not for some last second heroics from the brother of that hottie Ms. Quinn....who likes to wear jerseys comprised of you-know-who and OSU....
Seamus O'R. | Email | Homepage | 01.25.06 - 7:20 pm | #

Irish Rat

It's my personal feeling that the SEC is a better overall conference than the Pac 10 or Big 10. When I look at the SEC in a given year, there are 5, sometimes 6 teams that I think are better than most of the teams in the other power conferences save one or two teams.

The composite non-conference record for the SEC this year was 29-7. There are definitely some "legit" opponents sprinkled in, such as USC, ND, Ga. Tech, Clemson, etc. And like ND's season, some better match-ups lost their flavor as the season panned out (vs. ASU, vs. Boise State). Still, it's hard to look at any SEC team schedule (they all had 3 non-conference games) and not see at least one game which, when inked several years prior, already had the 'W' written next to it:

Georgia 44 La Monroe 7
Florida 41 La Tech 3
South Carolina 45 Troy 20
Tennessee 17 UAB 10 (whew!)
Vanderbilt 37 Richmond 13
Kentucky 41 Idaho State 29
LSU 56 North Texas 3
Auburn 63 Ball State 3
Alabama 35 Utah State 3
Arkansas 49 Missouri State 17
Mississippi 27 The Citadel 7
Mississippi St. 38 Murray State 6
[full non-conference list]

In contrast, I've always felt that ND schedules legitimate opponents, though admittedly some are prone to their ups and downs (Syracuse, Air Force, BYU). Penn State went 7-16 from 2003-4; next year the Irish play the #3 team from 2005. I'm not familiar with the football program's policy on non-Div.1A opponents, but none come to mind in the past 25+ years. I have to go all the way back to 1988 vs Rice to label a bona fide creampuff on ND's schedule.
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 01.25.06 - 9:18 pm | #

OK, C-stone, we're in agreement- very well said about the 5/6 SEC vs 1/2 in other conferences, yes they do load up on the pastries in non-con, and ND's schedule being legit. But I still love the stats you've provided.

I like the list of SEC games too. I must say, there was one team I did not recognize. Missouri State? Where the f*ck is it? I've hear of Missouri, SW Missouri St., Central Missouri, and even Missouri-Rolla, but I don't think I've ever seen the words, "Missouri" and "State" together describing a football team.

I think SMU in '89 was pretty much a walk as well.
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 01.26.06 - 12:35 am | #

I had the same reaction. "Missouri State? Are they in the same conference as Hayden Fox's Minnesota State Screaming Eagles???"

Apparently not:
"Missouri State, known as Southwest Missouri State until changing its name last week, fell to 1-20 against Division I-A teams since moving to I-AA in 1982. The Bears beat UNLV in 1990."

I thought about SMU as a potential creampuff in '89, but I wasn't sure of the timing for when that game was put on the schedule (pre/post death penalty). I'm guessing it was after the NCAA sanctions, since ND would have little reason to keep such a game on their slate when the opposition's viability was in question. Perhaps it was scheduled in the late 80s in order to give the new SMU program some exposure? I'm not sure.
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 01.26.06 - 8:56 am | #

Hillarious reference to Minnesota State!

I did not know that- SW Missouri St. becoming Missouri State. Thanks for the info.
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 01.27.06 - 1:44 pm | #

This may be dumb, but it would be interesting to see some Xbox "simulations" of matchups to test the SEC "superiority" theory.
Irish_Angst | Email | Homepage | 01.28.06 - 12:20 pm | #