Welcome to what we like to call "TWIN." For those of you that haven't been with us in previous football off-seasons this is the post where we discuss any interesting college football related news that we didn't get to during the week. We start with a national scope then finish finish it up with any additional tidbits related to the Fighting Irish. If there is anything else that the commentariat thinks is worthy of discussion here please don't hesitate to link it in the comments.
And away we go.
Peter Berg apparently wants to shoot a "Hard Knocks" type series on Mike Leach and Wazzu. I personally couldn't be happier that the Pirate is back in the game as he is one of the most entertaining coaches of the modern era. The guy is just flat out fascinating. I don't watch many TV shows but I would absolutely watch this. If Berg can make it happen, I'm all over it. Hat tip to our friends at Barking Carnival.
More after the jump.
Master oversigner Nick Saban is back at it again. Despite being committed to the Crimson Tide for nearly a year Georgia Running Back Justin Taylor was told that the Tide doesn't have enough spots for him in this class but that they will help him find a job and pick him back up next year. How do they get these kids to agree to this stuff?
A total of 65 players have declared early for the NFL Draft. Every year I look at this list and in at least 50% of the cases wonder who is advising these kids. You will have to peruse the list yourselves but there are bunch of guys on here that I just don't get. Remember Bryce Brown?
Below is a list of those leaving programs on the 2012 Notre Dame Schedule.
Purdue- G Ken Plue
Michigan State- RB Edwin Baker, DT Jerel Worthy
Miami- DT Marcus Forston, WR Adarius Johnson, WR Tommy Streeter, DE Vernon Vernon, T Brandon Washington
Stanford- G David DeCastro, QB Andrew Luck, T Jonathan Martin
Boston College- DE Max Holloway, LB Luke Kuechley
Wake Forest- WR Chris Givens
USC- T Matt Kalil, DE Nick Perry
Steve Spurrier tossed out a few lovable quotes this week when talking about what he looks for in assistant coaches. The Ol' Ball Coach wants "Non-smoker" and no "fat,sloppy guys." Like Leach, Spurrier remains a character if nothing else. Hat tip to Dr. Saturday.
A second Joe Montana offspring is leaving a major program in search of playing time at quarterback. Former Notre Dame walk-on Nate Montana departed South Bend in search of more playing time in Montana and now little brother Nick Montana is leaving Washington most likely destined for a JUCO stop. There was a similar story in the news this week about Michael Jordan's son Jeff leaving the UCF Basketball program. I think if I were those kids I would pick another sport. Talk about big shadows....
Andy Staples put together a list of the 73 Rivals 100 recruits that have flipped their commitments since 2007. Notre Dame ended up on the wrong end of these flips with Omar Hunter, Chris Martin and Justice Hayes. On the plus side the Fighting Irish ended up with Gary Gray, Trevor Robinson, Jonas Gray, and Louis Nix. The Irish also had Stephon Tuitt and Aaron Lynch flip then flip back. All things considered I'll take that track record.
I don't think we ever took a minute to say thanks to Sean Cwynar and wish him the best next year. Cwynar elected not to return for a 5th year next fall to pursue non-football interests. Great kid.
Eric Hansen wrote an interesting article earlier this week about Notre Dame and the merits of Early Enrollment for football players. I am so thankful that Notre Dame got on board with this back in 2006. It is also interesting to look back at the list of Notre Dame EE's since this started in 2006.
2006
RB James Aldridge; OL Chris Stewart; WR George West
2007
RB Armando Allen; QB Jimmy Clausen; CB Gary Gray
2008
DL Sean Cwynar; OL Trevor Robinson
2009
CB E.J. Banks; SS Zeke Motta; DL Tyler Stockton
2010
SS: Chris Badger; CB Spencer Boyd; WR T.J. Jones; QB Tommy Rees; CB Lo Wood
2011
K/P Kyle Brindza; DE Brad Carrico; QB Everett Golson; DE Aaron Lynch; OLB Ishaq Williams
2012
DL Sheldon Day; QB Gunner Kiel; CB Tee Shepard
Four Notre Dame Football players have been invited to play in All Star Games. Harrison Smith will participate in the Senior Bowl. Robert Blanton and Gary Gray will participate in the East West Shrine Game and Trevor Robinson will participate in the NFLPA collegiate bowl. We wish them all the best in getting to the next level.
We will wrap this edition of TWIN up with the OFD comment of the week brought to you by smcilhen. It is his first and only comment on OFD but he came out of the gate strong by instantly going green in the discussion under Murtaugh's post on Everett Golson.
"My mom got me some ND bed linens for Xmas with EG featured prominently on them..... but I told her to send that sh#@ back because I WILL NOT SLEEP ON EG!"
Have a great weekend, and as always thanks for being part of the conversation.