True Gipper : University of Notre Dame Sports Blog : Conner & Eamon O'Keefe : True Gipper

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Here's a cool video I saw at the UHND blog.

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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.

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I personally like alot of things about what weis said in this interview. Ther is no reason the Irish cant have a big year this year. We have all the talent in the world. I cant wait for football season to start up again. This is Clausen's break out year.

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Manti Te'o the second best recruit and best linebacker recruit in the nation according to ESPN. Te'o chose to attend Notre Dame over USC and UCLA. Te'o is expected to make a major impact next year and maybe even start all year for the Irish. Many people expect Te'o to flourish in the Notre Dame 3-4 defense. I was watching the ESPNU recruiting show yesterday and they say this is just what the Irish needed, a playmaker and the defensive side of the ball. Manti has not yet decided if he will go on a morman mission after his freshman year.

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Jimmy Clausen had what people like to say his "coming out party" last night instead I think he just announced he would be campaigning for the 2009 and 2010 Heisman trophies by lighting up the Hawaii defense. With the teams Notre Dame will play next year Jimmy has the skills and players around him to make a run at the Heisman trophy. 

I think he will have a year like Brady Quinn's had in his junior year. Brady had one of the best seasons ever for a Notre Dame QB by setting 15 records which inlcude touchdown passes (32), passer rating (158.4), and passing yards (3919). Brady did come up just short in the Heisman race behind college greats Reggie Bush, Vince Young, and Matt Leinart. Brady Quinn had arguably a better year then all of those guys.

Clausen has had better stats his Freshman and sophomore than Quinn did. Clausen has had better pasing percentages both years.

By watching Jimmy Clausen against Hawaii we have all seen he has the skills to be as good has  anyone if not better than anyone in college football. Yeah yeah..I know Notre Dame was playing Hawaii but all of his throws were right on target, right on stride.

The Hawaii head coach Greg McMakin had some things to say about clausen. “Clausen was accurate as I’ve ever seen” and he also said “He could have beaten a lot of people today. He’s going to be a Heisman Trophy guy.”

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The wait for Notre Dame to win a bowl game has ended. Notre Dame defeated the Hawai'i Warriors last night 49-21. The Irish were led by the highly touted sophomore Jimmy Clausen. Clausen threw for 401 yards, 5 touchdowns, and completed 22 of 26 passes. After getting kicked out of the Metropolitan Grill bar area and forced to watch the game in the cold outside looking through a window inside the bar. I think Jimmy Clausen found his go to receiver for the last two years of his Irish career and that man is named Golden Tate. Jimmy and Golden hooked up for not two but three touchdowns. Golden caught two long bombs for 40 yards and 69 yards.

By watching the game last night and seeing all of the Irish underclassmen step up I can promise you irish fans that we will not be in the waiting room to win another bowl game for long.

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