The number 23 is on my mind this morning for three reasons.
One is Golden Tate, who wears No. 23. While I came to realize weeks ago that quarterback Jimmy Clausen likely will be heading to the NFL next spring, I thought Tate, who seems to eclipse a Notre Dame receiving record each week, would return for his senior campaign. Now, I’m not so sure.
His stock may never be higher, and next year he likely would have to adjust to a new system and quarterback in college, which might not enable him to thrive as much. I’m holding out hope for his return, but also recognize the timing factor that goes into this decision.
If Clausen and Tate both depart, it would significantly reduce the “wow factor” in the current junior class that was ranked No. 7 by Tom Lemming, No. 8 by ESPN and Rivals.com, and No. 10 by Scout.com. in February 2007.
In 2006, Charlie Weis signed a 28-man haul that he labeled as a “killer class,” and one that would return Notre Dame to the summit. Regretfully, it has been a “coach killer” class with several defections (including UConn quarterback Zach Frazer) and players who were bypassed on the depth chart.
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Tate has given Notre Dame a consistent playmaker on offense this season.
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Minus perhaps Clausen and Tate, it could be just as bad for the current juniors next year. All the freshmen who played so much during the 3-9 debacle in 2007 were supposedly paying their dues to tear up college football when they were juniors and seniors. Yet, while people such as Robert Hughes, Duval Kamara, Brian Smith, Kerry Neal, Ian Williams and Harrison Smith are solid college players, there is not that “next level” feel that you have at places such as Florida, Alabama, Texas, or even USC despite the hiccups the Trojans incurred this year. Armando Allen and Gary Gray displayed vast improvement this year, but what about the trenches?
We constantly get engrossed in recruiting rankings, but the reality is the Irish came up woefully short along the lines in 2007, and even in 2006 on the defensive side. In the current senior class, the Irish had to take a tight end recruit (Paddy Mullen) and make him a nose tackle just to fill out a depth chart. The ends included former outside linebackers Morrice Richardson, John Ryan and Kallen Wade, all who were relatively undersized at this level.
Richardson arrived with the most fanfare, but was completely out of the defensive loop this year. Remember his freshman year when he was projected as the next great “edge rusher” at Notre Dame in maybe the Justin Tuck mold? We tend to get too excited about each freshman playing while not realizing that the only reason he might be in the lineup is there is no one else. The same happened with Neal and Brian Smith as frosh outside linebackers in 2007. Again, they’re capable, solid major college football players, but we may have had a perception of them being future All-Americans just because they had their moments as freshmen — mainly because no one else was in the forefront.
Yes, Notre Dame had back-to-back top-10 classes in 2006-07, but that’s like rating a meal based on its marvelous French pastry rather than the main entrée comprised of meat and potatoes. Clausen and Tate represent that fancy pastry … but the entrée along the lines is missing.
In addition to the shortage along the defensive line in the 2006 recruiting class, the only potential defensive linemen signed in 2007 were Emeka Nwankwo and Andrew Nuss. But Nwankwo was more of an offensive lineman and had only one tackle as a high school senior, when he would play defense mainly in goal-line situations. Most schools recruited Nuss as an offensive lineman, and that’s where he is with the Irish now (at guard).
If No. 23 opts to return, that would be fantastic … but it still does not address the issues along both lines. As Connecticut proved again yesterday, that’s where games between relatively evenly matched teams are decided.
In the end, the Huskies’ offensive and defensive lines ultimately imposed their will. Notre Dame scored only six points (two field goals) in the last 44:32 of regulations time, and Connecticut’s power running game with two 100-yard rushers — again, where were they in recruiting rankings? — helped wear down the Irish in the fourth quarter and in the two overtimes.
Second 23
The second 23 I thought about was head coach Joe Kuharich 17-23 record at Notre Dame from 1959-62.
I used to wonder how unfathomable it seems to fashion that type of record with the Irish despite having so much at his disposal. Yet in Charlie Weis’ last 38 games, Notre Dame is 16-22 — and could practically match the Kuharich record with a loss at Stanford (or even a win).
Both Kuharich and Weis were known as quality recruiters who knew their Xs and Os, but brought too much of the NFL touch to college and could never truly mesh with the collegiate players strategically, even though both were graduates of the university.
Longtime Notre Dame football assistant and administrator Brian Boulac, who played for Kuharich and coached for Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Gerry Faust, noted in an interview I did several years ago why it didn’t work with Kuharich.
“Coach Parseghian was more at ease in communicating with young kids, whereas Kuharich was used to working with the professional athletes,” Boulac said of the former NFL Coach of the Year (1955 with the Washington Redskins). “Kuharich knew his Xs and Os, and he and his staff worked hard. But I felt the difference immediately when Ara arrived, with his enthusiasm and preparation, the way he approached the game, and the way you could pick that up as a player.”
Notre Dame’s football identity under Weis has been completely finesse oriented, but each of the last three weeks it was overwhelmed by foes with either the option (Navy), power (Pitt) or, in Connecticut’s case, a mixture of the stretch play with some power. There doesn’t seem to be much patience in the NFL with the ground game, but if you truly want to “pound it,” as Weis often has said he does at Notre Dame, there must be a willingness to keep with it.
Instead of gradually rapping out singles, sacrifices and bunts, the Irish fall into a trap of swinging for the fences with home-run hitters such as Clausen, Tate and Michael Floyd. And then when it is time to get those singles at the red zone, Notre Dame usually has had to settle for three points or nothing the past several years.
In Weis’ five seasons, Notre Dame is 20-0 when it out-rushes its opponent, and 15-26 otherwise. It will not get any easier at Stanford this weekend because the Cardinal might have the best power rushing attack of all faced by the Irish. Notre Dame’s former identity of having a physical style that relied on control of the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball is from days of yore.
Third 23
Just about every 23 years, a Messiah Coach has arrived at Notre Dame.
It started in 1917, when Irish assistant Knute Rockne was contemplating a move to Michigan Agricultural College (now known as Michigan State) to become their head coach. However, the Notre Dame head coach at the time, Jesse Harper, told Rockne to stick around because he would be soon stepping down from his post. In 1918, Rockne became Notre Dame’s head coach.
Twenty-three years later (1941), one of Rockne’s protégés, Frank Leahy, was hired, and he would win four national titles compared to Rockne’s three.
Twenty-three-years later (1964), Ara Parseghian took over a Notre Dame program that was lost in the wilderness (34-45 from 1956-63) and guided the Irish to two consensus national titles (1966 and 1973) and a share of a third in his first season.
Twenty-three years later (1987), Lou Holtz was in his second year, and took the Irish to their first top 20 finish and major bowl in seven years. Okay, so he was actually hired 22 years after Parseghian … but it’s close enough.
After Holtz came aboard for his first season in 1986, the next potential hire 23 years later occurs in … maybe 2009.
I’d rather it not be 2032.
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