The Ty Willie Fallout – Analyzing Its Ramifications By Randy W. Hall When most Notre Dame fans look at the Notre Dame recruiting hauls for 2004 and 2005 it’s hard to be positive. Heck, it’s hard to not be downright alarmed. There are a few bright spots. Most notably, likely four-year starters Darius Walker & Maurice Crum, Jr in the 2004 class and Asaph Schwapp in last year’s class. There’s even some likely contributors in DE Ronald Talley (04), possible 3rd receiver David Grimes (04), possible starting tackles in Michael Turkovich and Paul Duncan (both 05’s). However, by and large, these classes lack numbers first, and real quality second. A vicious double-whammy to a major college football program, much less Notre Dame. I’ve even heard some people liken it to being given the NCAA death penalty! From the 2004 group, 11(!) remain. Considering only two of them are starters and maybe three have realistic designs on being consistent starters (Talley, Anthony Vernaglia & Justin Brown), this is even more ominous. The 2005 crop is a little more promising. There are 14 players remaining from that class (as of this writing). The majority of that class got onto the field in 2005. Many of them have been cited by observers and Weis himself as promising and making great strides. David Bruton and Ray Herring have been singled out at safety. Grimes is said to be “a step ahead” of everyone else for the 3rd receiver spot. Duncan and Turkovich are duking it out for the starting RT spot (presumably with incoming frosh Sam Young). Steve Quinn, Scott Smith and Kevin Washington provide competition and depth at LB. Surprisingly, the one guy who got significant ink from this class, DJ Hord, is seemingly stuck in neutral with injury issues. Throw in Schwapp and this class might not be the nightmare it was projected to be (and how the 04 class is shaping up to be). Well, as I promised in my last post, I will provide some rationale as to why this isn’t as bad as it seems. Willingham did a good job of recruiting in 2003 and did a reasonable job with mopping up for Bob Davie in 2002. Because of that he gave Charlie Weis and his assistants something to work with right out of the gate. This allowed the program to set an immediate tone. A tough-minded winning one, as opposed to the more country-club like one that preceded it. Though the numbers will be down when this year’s seniors leave the tone will be set and many of these guys will be equipped to max out their potential. Also, with the magnificent job that Notre Dame has done with recruiting with the incoming 06’ers and are projected to do in 07’, those guys will be indoctrinated into the machine quickly and will keep it humming along. I’m not saying there won’t be some growing pains and some hiccups along the way. There will be. But every program has cycles. And with the coaching staff we have in place, we are going to be prepared to get a lot of young guys in there quickly who will be playing at a level that will belie their experience. If you look at the numbers, we will welcome 28 new players to the team this fall. This includes 3 who were able to enroll early at Notre Dame for the first time ever. And it’s also very likely that ND will get 25 new players for the 07 class. If, in a perfect world, none transfer right away, you would have 53 players from two classes. When the 2007 season rolls around (which is the season most are fretting about), the 04 class will be seniors. Although it might be one of the worst senior classes in Irish memory, it will have Darius Walker as a senior. He’s liable to be a great captain and leader for the men to follow. Also by then the huge freshman class will be sophomores with experience. I fully expect many of the Fightin’ Irish games to be well-in-hand by the second half this year which will allow many of these guys to get some quality looks on the field. And who knows, maybe many of them will be good enough out-of-the-chute to play regardless of score or situation (Sam Young, Toryan Smith, James Aldridge, Darrin Walls, Konrad Rueland, et al). When I look in my crystal ball to the fall of 2007, I can see the Irish with their new QB (I will also hazard Demetrius Jones as my educated guess) having enough pluck and grit to win a few games some don’t expect them too. Also, with the offense still a force to be reckoned with, we will still be able to outscore most squads. I’m not saying National Championship in 07, but I’m thinking it won’t be some catastrophic 7-5 campaign. I fully expect the Irish to be 10-2 or 9-3 and contending, yet again, for a BCS bowl berth. These kids will come quickly and be wise beyond their years (for the most part). This will set up the 2008 and 2009 campaigns (and beyond) wonderfully. It’s going to be a situation where if you want to beat the Irish you’re going to have to do it in 2007. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until Weis retires. While I wouldn’t prefer to throw the youngsters into the fire, Tyrone Willingham really has left us no choice. His recruiting “efforts” in 04 and 05’ (though technically a Weis class, I still consider it Willingham’s) have assured that. When Weis was with the New England Patriots they were the masters of overcoming injuries and plugging people into their system and still being successful. The Patriots secondary in their last Super Bowl was hodgepodge at best. That’s what’s going to happen at Notre Dame. Nobody is bigger than the team, and the sum of the parts is always greater than the individual pieces. It’s like those stupid construction signs I’ve grown so accustomed to seeing in Michigan say “This area is under construction. Your short-term pain is everyone’s long-term gain”. So will be Notre Dame Football in 2007. I say they’re still pretty darn good.