Lo Wood on friday became the 3rd recruit to commit to the Irish in two day and became the eighth recruit of the 2010 class. Wood is a cornerback out of Apopka High School in Apopka Florida. The 5-foot-8 160 lbs corner had other scholarships on the table from Stanford, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Ole Miss, Virginia, Duke, Louisville, and N.C. State. Wood is 3 star recruit and 32nd best corner according to rivals.com. So Wood is not so great but not to bad and can always get better throughout his senior season at Apopka. I have also seen much worse recruits turn into star. Just like David Bruton of the 2005 recruiting class was a 3 star and the 36th best safety according to rivals.com. Other 3 stars have been Jeff Samardzija, Darius Walker, John Carleson. Those are just some my eyes came across as I was looking at past recruiting classes.
The Irish also picked up a commitment yesterday from the 6'5, 250lbs Blake Lueders from Zionsville Indiana. Blake called the coaching staff on thursday and let them know he was committing to the Irish. The defensive end had 128 tackles has a junior for his local high school. He also has maintained a 4.0 GPA which is always good. Lueders turned down 11 other scholarship offers from top schools including Purdue, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Boston College, and North Carolina. Lueders is a 4 star recruit which is solid, he is the 14th best DE, and the 198th best recruit for this 2010 class according to rivals.com.
I believe this is a very solid pickup for the Irish. They have been looking to upgrade on the defensive side and this only adds to it. The Irish did not pickup any defensive end commitments for the class of '09. So picking up both Chris Martin and Blake Lueders for this 2010 class does a lot for the Irish.
Irish picked up a verbal commitment from the Moeller High School quarterback out of Cincinnati Ohio. Andrew Hendrix told weis and his staff today that he will be attending the University of Notre Dame come the fall of 2010. Hendrix was the 11 best pro style and the 200th overall player for the 2010 class according to rivals. I am sure this is just going to be a backup plan if the Irish don't get a star QB in the 2011 recruiting class. But this is a very good pickup.
My interview with Irish football recruit Chris Martin.
Q: What are some recruits that you personally are trying to get to come to the Irish with you?
A:Some recruits i talk to on facebook are Kendall Moore, Kenneth Scott, David Amerson, Joshua Shaw, Devon Carrington, etc...
Q: What is your relationship like with the Notre Dame coaches? Which ones? Coach Weis?
A: I have great relationships with coach Ianello, Polian, and especially coach hart.. He's probably been the most involved with me, not even recruiting but just looking after me. Coach Weis has took real good care of me as he helped me with my whole transfer situation to the Hun.
Q: Are you going to enroll early at Notre Dame next spring?
A:No, no EE for me.
Q: Which college player or NFL player do model? Like which one are you like?
A: I'd say Ray Lewis. I'm a gentleman off the field, but mean as hell on the field.
Q: How do you think you will make an impact has a freshman?
A: I hope to see a little playing time and hopefully play some meaningful minutes. But i don't expect anything to be given to me.
Q: What do think Notre Dame will do when you get there? like 2009 recruit Cierre Wood said Notre Dame will beat USC a number of times when he gets there.
A: haha, you know, i would like to beat them all four times but lets say we'll take it 2 times at our place and hope we can get something going down in L.A.
The Irish got another verbal commitment on memorial day from tight end Alex Welch from Elder High School located in Cincinnati. He is a four star recruit and the #10 overrall tight end according to rivals.com. Then according to scout.com he is a three star recruit and the #7 best TE. A thing i like to look at to see how good a recruit is, by looking at the other scholarship offers he had. Welch had big offers from Boston College, Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, North Carolina, and many other above average schools. I look at his offers more than anything because the colleges know alot more than anybody else. He will have to wait in line before he gets his time on the field. When he rolls on to campus in the fall of 2010 he will behind junior and starting TE Kyle Rudolph, senior Mike Ragone, junior Joseph Fauria, sophmores Jake Golic and Tyler Eifert.
Hey you can follow me at twitter: @connerokeefe. Many college coaches have twitters like Coach Weis, Pete Carrol, Rich Rodiguez, Bill Stewart of WVU, Steve Sarkisian of Washington. A very fun person on twitter to follow is Shaq. He is always giving away tickets by telling people where he is and the first person to touch him gets tickets.
I will be during a question and answer with the football recruit Chris Martin. I am sure you have all heard of him. If not here is some background about Chris. This Q and A will be after the spring game on. The spring game is on April 18. This interview will be up probably a week or two after the game. If you have any questions you would like him to answer just email me or comment it. There is a quick email link in the contact section. Thank you very much Chris.
The end to a very disappointing season came tuesday night in a 59-67 loss to Penn State in the NIT semi finals at the Madison Square Garden. No one expected us to be playing in the NIT semi finals and I don't mean that in a good way. The Irish at the start of the year seemed destined for at least the Sweet Sixteen. What went wrong? What went well?
Starters:
Luke Harangody: If someone were tell me before the year that he was going to average 23 ppg and almost 12 rpg, I would have been expecting a huge year for the Irish. The only thing was the gody's shooting percentages went down from a year ago. In the 07-08 year he shot .500 and in 08-09 he shot .459. I am guessing the one of the reason his percentages went down were because he would try to force shot and carry the team through long stretches of the game. Overall this season individually was a mild disappointment based on expectations going into league play.
Zach Hillesland: He completely failed at filling Rob Kurz spot on the starting lineup. He could not rebound at the same level as Kurz could. Which ultimately was one of the big reasons of failure this year. He was just not nearly strong enough. Overall: HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT
Ryan Ayers: Well he didnt do really good but he didnt do really bad. The only thing that stopped him from being one of the best players in the Big East was his inability to drive at the bucket. He actually shot the three worse by percentages this season than he did last. Overall: He was at best so-so this year.
Kyle McAlarney (K-Mac or McAmazing): The highlight of his year came in a losing effort against UNC in Maui when he drained 10 3's and had a career high 39 points. After that game teams started guarding him very tightly. This made it very hard for him to get open and square up towards the hoop. Overall: to me it was a disappointment I felt he could have averaged 18-20 points a game.
Tory Jackson (T-Jack): He did pretty good at controlling the team but he did not do as well as last season when he averaged 5.8 assists. I felt he could have drove more and not have settled for so many free throw line jumpers. He improved his free throw shooting from last season but still shot 63% from the charity stripe. Overall: so-so.
Bench:
Luke Zeller (LZ): Some people might have expected him to fill Rob Kurz shoes but i definitely did not expect him to do that because that was not his role on the team. His role on the team was to come of the bench and to hit some big shots when we needed him. He only got to play 14 minutes a game but he certainly deserved to play more than Hillesland. Overall: its hard to say he did good by only getting 4 ppg and 2 rpg but its hard to say he did bad by only getting 14 minutes a game. He did so-so.
Ty Nash: I cannot wait to see what this kid can do next year. He probably should have been starting at the start of the season. By watching him and seeing his low post moves I think he can average 16 and 8 next season. He has to improve at the free throw line though. He definitely deserved more than a 11 minutes a game, he should have gotten at least more than 22 minutes a game which Hillesland got. Overall: He should so much potential this year i say this year he did good.
Jonathan Peoples: He came in the game when we needed him to and he either did good or alright but it never seemed like he did bad. I see him potentially competing for a starting job next year or the first guard to come off the bench. Overall: so-so
Carleton Scott: Well its hard to say very much about a guy who played 4 minutes a game. Next year he will be a key piece to the puzzle. Overall: Cannot be determined
Tom Kopko: Well he played 2 minutes a game thats pretty much all i can say. Next year i cannot see him playing any more than how Peoples played this year. Overall: Cannot be determined
Tim Andree: He played the least on the team other than the players who cannot play because they just transfered. He play under 2 minutes a game. Next year i dont see him playing very much either. Overall: Cannot be determined
So far the 2010 class has started out pretty good by already landing three good verbal commits.
1. Chris Martin DE out of Oakland and Bishop O Dowd high school but he might transfer to a prep school in New Jersey. He is 6'4 and 222 lbs. According to Scout he is a 5 star and the 4th best player in the nation for next year. Chris is has already been named a 2010 high school army all american.
2. Christian Lombard OG out Palatine Illinois. He is 6'5 and 280 lbs. He to has already been named a 2010 army all american but he is not a 5 star like Martin but atleast he is a 4 star. Lombard according to scout is the 64 best player coming out of high school.
3. Daniel Smith WR right out of South Bend, Clay High School. Smith has good height 6'4 and 205 lbs. He like Lombard is a 4 star but was not one of the early ten players to be named for the army all american game. Smith has a junior caught 51 passes 1,071 yards and 9 TD celebrations. Though he will probably have to wait his time to get a lot of game action considering the depth the irish have at that position.
recruit of the 2010 class. Wood is a cornerback out of Apopka High School in Apopka Florida. The 5-foot-8 160 lbs corner had other scholarships on the table from Stanford, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Ole Miss, Virginia, Duke, Louisville, and N.C. State. Wood is 3 star recruit and 32nd best corner according to rivals.com. So Wood is not so great but not to bad and can always get better throughout his senior season at Apopka. I have also seen much worse recruits turn into star. Just like David Bruton of the 2005 recruiting class was a 3 star and the 36th best safety according to rivals.com. Other 3 stars have been Jeff Samardzija, Darius Walker, John Carleson. Those are just some my eyes came across as I was looking at past recruiting classes.
GPA which is always good. Lueders turned down 11 other scholarship offers from top schools including Purdue, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Boston College, and North Carolina. Lueders is a 4 star recruit which is solid, he is the 14th best DE, and the 198th best recruit for this 2010 class according to 
Andrew Hendrix told weis and his staff today that he will be attending the University of Notre Dame come the fall of 2010. Hendrix was the 11 best pro style and the 200th overall player for the 2010 class according to 
What is your relationship like with the Notre Dame coaches? Which ones? Coach Weis?
he can average 16 and 8 next season. He has to improve at the free throw line though. He definitely deserved more than a 11 minutes a game, he should have gotten at least more than 22 minutes a game which Hillesland got. Overall: He should so much potential this year i say this year he did good.
