Break out spring's are overrated. I've been teased too long with spring time snippits. "More speed than a glazed Krispie Kream." "Kid jumps like Sergei Bubka even without a pole." "He's not only 368, but a lean 368."

I look for a break out fall -- my pick? Mr. Floyd - Mayberry's finest.
Yago | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 8:39 am | #

Very true Yago. It was only last year that Junior Jabbie's spring game performance had many an Irish fan reshuffling their running back depth chart.

Still, it's a fun exercise.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 8:53 am | #

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????
ARIrish | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 9:49 am | #

oh s_ _t yeah. bring it on.
winter's been too long.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 10:06 am | #

Cue the Rocky Theme music and get these boys a hittin'.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 10:10 am | #

Eric Wegner? Did we get Dan's brother?
Mike | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 10:23 am | #

I don't know how many times I've put Eric when I meant Dan for Wenger. Pretty annoying. Thanks for the catch Mike.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 10:39 am | #

I would love to see lots of injuries (minor ones) coming out of spring, especially on the lines. That would give me hope for a tough OL this fall.
Mark | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 10:43 am | #

After reading today's fine post, I had a thought that made me cringe.

ND's needs to have physical practices, but how physical can they be with only 6 DL?

Lord knows ND certainly doesn't need a guy like Ian Williams to get injured and spend 6 months in recovery?

Yet, how do you keep practices as physical as they need to be?
atepesm | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 10:48 am | #

Are colleges allowed to schedule "scrimmages" in the spring against other colleges? Perhaps we can make a road trip to IUPUI or Valpo and let our O-line bang around with some of their d-linemen (like Kuntz?). Is that legal? It certainly would save some of our D-linemen from potential injury anyway.

The line that sticks out to me the most from this post is "Last year ND failed to register a single touchback on kickoffs." The field position remifications of that (combined with our pretty bad kickoff returns) is huge. Isn't there a single guy (heck, girl!) on ND's championship caliber soccer teams that can kick a football more than 70+ yards off a tee?

My breakout player that I'm hoping for is Justin Brown. He's not a big unknown type guy, but we've had consistently solid defensive ends the past two years in Trevor and Victor Abiamiri. Hopefully Justin can make the transition into that kind of household name this year.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 11:08 am | #

I'm in heaven.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 11:11 am | #

Let's Go Irish!!!
FlannerisBigger | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 11:35 am | #

What about Matt Romine on the OL depth chart?
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 11:44 am | #

Romine is certainly in the mix. I was just throwing out a few names, particularly guards, that might beat out Olsen or Turkovich.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 11:54 am | #

..."seven blocks of sand"...
jim/redondo beach | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:15 pm | #

Early comments from presser;
Jimmy C. from 190- 212lbs. =lean & muscle.
Wenger=300lbs.
Young=330lbs. both lean muscle mass. Young at right tackle. moved last year to left due to injury to right wrist. wrist is ffine.
Bruton; FS. Measurables are off the chart. 40+ vertical.
Cwynar & Robinson, two fros ee's, very, very impressive in weight room.
Kamara & Paddy Mulle. Some academic issues. Not alarming, but will miss some practices.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:23 pm | #

I seem to recall Kamara getting benched for a game last season for academic issues as well. Here's hoping he gets that straightened out once and for all.
Jade | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:26 pm | #

Can we use Thomas Bemenderfer somewhere? He's a beast with attitude!
OC mj | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:31 pm | #

Update #2.
Duncan= Starting LT.
Maust, Sharpley, Tate will play all BB season.
All practices, full physical, take them to the ground, everyone but JC.
Honorary Coaches for Spring Game:
50's- Jim Morris
60's- Terry Hanratty
70's- Terry Eurick, CW's roomie at ND.
80's- Allen Pinkett.
90's- Bryant Young- applause, please.
the oughts, like the yewts, Ryan Grant, applause please.
Over & Out.
Honorary, Honorary Captain, emeritus. Jim from Redondo Beach.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:32 pm | #

sweet.
God, I love hope.
black | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:34 pm | #

CW's presser; He expects JC's mental acuity to improve dramatically; some mistakes last year were often more mental than physical.
Cannot comment any further on Kurtz & Yeatman, but expects them back in summer.
Young is not, NOT a finesse guy, he's a mauler, hence right tackle.
Kallen Wade moved to Will, weakside line backer.
Stewart to start with Olsen at the guard, rt gd. position. Turk is mending.
Excuse my typing errors, in a rush not to forget.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:48 pm | #

the audacity of hope, if you will . . .
Jack Burton, Me | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:49 pm | #

Ragone up to 240+ and Luke Schmidt, I think is playing at TE. Not sure if I heard that right??
Romine LT. Frosh up to 290lbs & pushing Dunc.
Also he expects alot from Devers & Nuss to play this spring well above normal frosh expectations.
More open personally to Players. Let's them see his other side. Something he neglected to do first three years. Rembmeber he comes form the two Bills & Pro football. I wouldn't socialize with those guys either.
But, they'll recognize the football critique from his personal involvement.
PS.
Update on Bid Jim from Redondo Beach;
He will accept honorary capt. position, only if the fly him first class coach & put him up in a suite at the Red Roof Inn.
Hi OCmj. Hi VIW.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 12:59 pm | #

Where is the analysis on our abysmal TE situation?
Isn't this a 3 tight end offense....do we even have that many for spring practice?
yak | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 1:32 pm | #

I'm not sure I'd call our tight end position abysmal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we currently have 3 TE's who were the respective number 1 TE's from their recruiting class?
NavyJoe | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 1:39 pm | #

Correction. I forgot about Yeatman's Britney/Lindsay/Paris Impersonation behind the wheel. Still, once the season begins, I think the TE's will be fine...they might be the best position on the field.
NavyJoe | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 1:46 pm | #

Footbawl!!!
Bob Davie | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 1:59 pm | #

Great post. One line absolutely terrifies me, though.

In fact, no one who attended the university in the mid-90s will fail to feel a chill down their spine at these haunting words:

"Finally, Coach Powlus will likely take a more pronounced role in the development of the Irish quarterbacks."
Curse of the Class of '98 | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 2:54 pm | #

The saga continues; toryan Smith's time is NOW.
!
Allocating greater amt. of time for you guessed it; techs & fundies, sorry to pi$$ tou off VIW.
Going to Iraq & is honored to be picked by his fellow collegs coaches.
PS. Dear Coach; You want nasty, pick up a few of those crazed shia shite looney ba$tards.*
Crazed posters opinion, not to be confused with the boyz of BGS.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 3:04 pm | #

What the hell is going on here?
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 3:47 pm | #

Well at least we should not have to worry ourselves over a QB controversy this spring. Only two in the mix. I suspect Clausen Inc. has two years left. He needs to step it up this year and quit running out of bounds with the football. I’m lighting a candle for him at the Grotto come spring game day, hoping he is fully healed. He should be old enough to buy and drive his own beer now.

To jim masterson. Are you bored?
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 3:54 pm | #

Moi, bored?
Nah, never. You didn't like the updates? Geez, I'm really sorry to have offended your sensibilities.
Mea cupla*
*dripping sarcasm.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 4:10 pm | #

Brad; Updates from CW's press conference. You can't be as obtuse as your question, or can you??
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 4:12 pm | #

Subway,
You would rather see Clausen get annihilated and try to take on a LB than run out of bounds. I wouldnt want you as my QB coach.
Doug | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 4:25 pm | #

Am I the only fan that feels like I'm limping into the coming season? God, I hope so.
Matt | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 4:27 pm | #

I think Subway would rather see Jimmy just throw the ball away. He's not talking about scrambling. There were quite a few times when Jimmy was running behind the line of scrimmage and ran out of bounds for no apparent reason. Freshman mistakes.


And yes, masterson, I can be that obtuse. I can also distribute information by writing in sentences.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 4:31 pm | #

Mr. Obtuse; Go back to the begiining of this thread. Some people could not access und. I was able to listen into the press conference and at the sane time attemp, albeit poorly, to transribe w/o losing info,
Anytime you want to take on this Princeton grad in essay or prose writing, name the place, time, location. I'm retired, & as you so obtusely reasoned am retired. No you're even more obtuse than that.
I'm your huckleberry.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 4:40 pm | #

On my brain, as of now:

football
football
football
NCAA hoops
football
the Masters
football
football
work
football
Domer Guy | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 5:23 pm | #

I appreciated Jim's updates. This comments box is small enough where I can view it at work and not get in trouble.
Jeff | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 5:30 pm | #

Only on an ND football blog does one find fans getting in each other's faces about punctuation and writing styles.

That being said, I understand where Brad was coming from: I had to reread jim masterson's Iraq post three times to understand what he was talking about. The other updates were more straightforward, but I finally understood that last one...
PK | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 6:18 pm | #

my bad.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 6:25 pm | #

The New Practice Video is up.
Clausen looks like he bulked up some. Cant wait till the Blue Gold Game
Austin The Mexican Leprechaun | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 6:29 pm | #

Calm down there Masterson. PK hit it right on the nose, and it was just a little joking comment.

And for the record, your response about Princeton is the exact reason people think that kids that go to Ivy League schools all grow up to be assholes. I'm not saying you are, but comments like that do nothing good for you or your school.

Bush (much as I love the guy) has an Ivy education and can barely read a teleprompter.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 6:43 pm | #

P.S. Love the huckleberry line though.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 6:45 pm | #

Brad; I am an a$$hole & Princeton produces their fair share of them; Gov. Spitzer(hah), Ralph Nader,Algore before Algore, Mrs O'Bama ya mama, her senior thesis, racism at Princeton, she asked 99 prominent black grads to comply with her thesis, 79 responded with platitudes on the netwoking that Princeton provided them, Crazy Jim Cramer, they have him on suicide watch here in Summit, NJ. I think his Charitable Trust nees some charity. And a cast of 000's. I reacted poorly. I was just trying to help those who did not have a feed.
Big Jim is still to be heard from.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 8:14 pm | #

Wenger is a 300lbs center, Stewart is a 340lbs right guard and Young is a 330lbs right tackle and Hughes is 240lbs. That should at least mean the end of our short yardage problem.
BigE | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 9:13 pm | #

Maybe Charlie should give more weight to what happens in the Spring. It seems to me that everytime Jabby caught a screen last year (5-6?) he ran well and made some yards. He deserved more pt, and had actually earned it in the Spring.
canuck 75 | Email | Homepage | 03.26.08 - 9:29 pm | #

I like the updates Jim, but the pissing match makes this hard to read. Chill out.
Chris | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 3:03 am | #

Presser updates were excellent, jim. Sorry I was unavailable until now. Very glad to see that you and Brad shook cyber hands and made up.
P.S. My next door neighbor buddy and his wife are both Princeton grads and they are a delight to be around.
Voice in the Wilderness | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 6:51 am | #

I hear ya about getting chills of fear with Pawlus as the Qb coach. The combination of Clausen putting on lbs and Pawlus as the coach is kinda scary. I'm not sure what Weis sees in Pawlus or Polian.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 8:00 am | #

Why is everybody always so down on Powlus. Here's a guy who held virtually every ND passing record (until Quinn came) was annointed as a messiah and has done nothing but represent himself and ND with class. So he never developed into the hero ND thought he would. So what, same thing happens to all kinds of players who don't take a daily beating in the blogs. It is all the same nonsense as the "Bring back Lou" crowd. Revisionist history. Powlus was a more than solid starting QB for ND for basically 4 years. If he was so dreadful, I feel confident he would have been replaced in the starting lineup.
Michael | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 9:13 am | #

I had the sound off on the tube when ESPN was talking to Eric Hansen of SBT last night - anything worthwhile come out of his mouth?
mikes1160 | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 9:26 am | #

On the rivals site there is a free four minute video of the John Tenuta interview after practice. I believe he used the words "more aggressive" about 43 times and "us dictating" about 23 times. (not really). However, I am fired up, lets crack some skulls!!!
ARIrish | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 9:50 am | #

4/19 is almost here.c With the Irish riding a two game win streak. Running the ball should be fun we are loaded at RB. I don't know how long its been since we had a WR Corp like we do now. OL has to been there or we are done before it starts I say 8-4 this year.
IN WEIS WE TRUST
p.s 2009 National Champion
stadium dude named chip | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 11:37 am | #

I think Clausen is worried about his career stats and prefers to take a eight yard loss troting over the sideline, instead of tossing an incomplete pass.
Judge60 | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 12:17 pm | #

The more likely answer Judge80 is that Clausen was just trying a bit too hard to make things happen. On many of the sacks that resulted from him running out of bounds, he was still looking to pass as he stepped across the line. If he just wanted to preserve his stats, he would have tucked and run from the start once his first option wasn't open.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 12:47 pm | #

I agree with Pat - Clausen was not accustomed to losing and became a little too desperate. He's a winner, and I believe we'll see great things from this kid.
OC mj | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 12:58 pm | #

No one else crazy pumped about a +40 vertical from Bruton?! I knew he was an athlete, but if he makes the same strides this off season as he did from last he will be a special player for the Irish.
mark | Email | Homepage | 03.27.08 - 3:31 pm | #

Come on six win season!!!!

/realist
//Super pissed the O line was fired, or better, executed. He's terrible. Abysmal.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.28.08 - 11:56 pm | #

make that WASN'T fired ^^
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.28.08 - 11:56 pm | #

Michael

I think Powlus showed class is a real ND man. However, I would be more comfortable if he had to techniques to be a great QB. I was merely mediocre. I would be much more comfortable with a fellow who was a great QB or coached great QBs (like Charlie) instead of a journeyman QB.
GB | Email | Homepage | 03.29.08 - 4:06 pm | #