The fanbase of the Washington Wizards Huskies took a sigh of relief so large that it created a weather pattern over Seattle when Ty Willingham’s recruiting efforts finally resulted in a verbal commitment from California’s Keith Price (QB). We believe that, until now, Washington was the only BCS conference football program without a single verbal commitment from the class of 2009. We know that the Huskies were (and are) the only Pac-10 team without not 1, not 2, not 3, but at least four verbals.

Price reportedly received offers from other Pac-10 teams Utah and Nevada.

When informed about Price’s verbal, Willingham was thrilled… about his drive.

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Per the SBT, there’s a bunch of things happening this summer in terms of facilities for ND athletics.  Looks like Kevin White got some things moving before he bounced to the Dukies.

The big changes afoot:

• Two new artificial turf practice fields and 1 new natural surface field for football and other varsity squads.  Lighted for night practices. 
• New lacrosse stadium.
• New track and field facility.
• Old softball stadium to be re-purposed as a soccer practice field.
• New construction will begin in September on Purcell Pavilion, which will be a 60,000-square-foot expansion at the southern end of the JACC.   New entry way, atrium and corporate entertainment areas will be included in the expansion.  In May of ‘09 the interior of the JACC, including seating, will be renovated.

My thoughts:  A lot of this is good.  A lot of this is great. 

But the JACC stuff sounds a bit ‘meh’.  I like the idea of the new entrance and adding some square footage and new facilities.  That part is great.  My concern comes in at part II:  If the renovation of the basketball and hockey arenas isn’t SERIOUSLY SWEET, I will be very disappointed.   New seats are great, but the whole place needs upgraded - and I’m not talking slapping some paint on the walls.  We need upgraded everything - new scoreboard, new seating, new aisles and walk-ways, new vendor stations…  And don’t even get me started on the travesty that is the hockey arena.   I used to help PUT UP and TAKE DOWN that thing as a job when I was an undergrad.  That’s right, it’s freaking portable!  It needs fixed, and it needs to be permanent.

So, I hope when they say renovation, they mean ‘complete re-do just keeping the foundation, walls and ceiling (which will all be made to look nice at the least)’.

Enter:  Jack.

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Good article on Rivals about the #1 Running Back in the nation. 

Love Mr. Wood’s confidence, swagger and his disposition in general.  I plan to go check him out in person this Fall, for sure.

On choosing ND:

“I honestly believe that I made the best decision for me,” he said. “I think I fit in real well there, especially with the scheme they run. It’s something very similar to what we run at my high school. Plus, I can be a good receiver out of the backfield and catch the ball, too. Like I said, it’s a good fit and situation for me, and it’s a place where I feel real comfortable.

“We are going to be good and Notre Dame football will be back. And I guarantee that we will beat USC the next three years.”

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Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Zach Martin, OT stud, is Irish.

“I spoke to coach (Ianello) today, and and I was waiting to speak with coach Weis. I just got off the phone with coach Weis and told him I was committing,” Martin said. “He was pumped. I was pumped. I’m just really excited right now.”

He picked the Irish over Michigan (sucks!), which seems to be a trend lately.   (love the web site plugged in the pic above):

The Bishop Chatard high school star was planning to take one last visit to Michigan before deciding, but he said that visit wasn’t necessary as he knew where he wanted to attend college already.

“I just knew I was going to Notre Dame and I didn’t want to lead anyone on anymore,” Martin said when asked why he chose the Irish without taking the scheduled Michigan visit. ” “I just knew where I wanted to go, so I thought I shouldn’t drag it on any longer.”

Fan-freaking-tastic.  With Xavier Nixon and Anthony Lalota still in the mix, this could be ND’s best OL haul in….forever. 

Now, on to the DL.  Let’s do it.

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As mentioned in a comment earlier this week, I spent some time with a USC/Pac-10 fan the other day, and it was somewhat brutal.  Not really brutal because hanging with USC/Pac-10 fans is brutal, but because this particular fan just didn’t know anything.  Yet, he made strong arguments that were pro-USC/Pac-10 and anti-ND, with no data.

Ignorance is bliss for some people, but it’s painful for us Irish Fans.  Mostly because we spend half our time defending our school/program to people that have no idea what the facts are, and then ignore them when you provide them.  It’s kinda like when you were in 7th grade and you questioned something a teacher said (and you were right) and the teacher pulled the ‘I’m the teacher, so I have to be right’ thing on you.  What do you do with that? 

Things like knowing a teams SOS (or what it means), knowing roster depth and how old/young certain players/positions are, who a team played and if/where they were ranked should be standard fare when you’re trashing a program.  But no, we fight stuff like “ND only plays service academies, who are terrible” and “ND’s TV contract makes it easier for them to recruit, but they’ve been bad for 10 years anyway”.  

Here’s a reco to all the haters:  Read First, Hate Later.

• This author is not ignorant about beating a metaphor to death like a dead horse repeatedly and unceasingly
• LSU players STILL don’t know the rules
• Either the watch list folks don’t know about our o-line woes last year, or they just really like Jimmy
• Randy Shannon apparently knows about sharing.  I bet he grew up with brothers and sisters
• BGS will teach you all about the sack, in case you didn’t watch last year
• And finally, ND don’t know Victoria’s Secret (HT: EDSBS)

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Just a quick shout out to give formal public congratulations to a good friend who recently welcomed a baby domer into the world.  I don’t know his feelings about going public with the news so I’m keeping it anonymous.  But he’s a good friend to us, and a good friend to Notre Dame.   Congrats on the Mad one!

- Biscuit and the HLS Family

Gonna have to buy tons of these pal.  And start saving that tuition now.

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Those were the words that the ND security guard used to greet Mr. Jack Swarbrick at the campus gate on the day that Jack’s appointment as the 12th ND AD was made official.

I link to the WWL article, mostly because it has some great quotes that show that Jack ‘gets it’.  These include:

“I believe that I accept this job on the threshold of extraordinary change in intercollegiate athletics in America,” Swarbrick said. “I have my theories on what that change may entail and where the industry is headed, but I think they’ll be enormous. There’s much about this industry that you won’t recognize in 10 years. We must be at the forefront in that. We must participate in dictating that change. Notre Dame cannot have that dictated to it. And I love the challenge of accepting that responsibility.”

Fantastic.  ND will dictate.  ND will lead.  Things Kevin White did not want to do, or could not do.

“Jack is a Notre Dame person,” said [CEO Mark] Miles, who has known Swarbrick since 1985. “He kind of walks the walk and talks the talk. He believes in the university.

“He’s very bright and competent. He does not care about having the limelight. He’s not the kind of person who comes into the room and expects everyone to take notice and yet he is a great leader. People respect not just his integrity but his confidence and his intellect right away.”

Clearly a quality guy by Mr. Miles’ estimate.  And the repeated mentions of integrity when describing Jack screams ND to me.

“You have to approach a job like this knowing that you have to want this more than anything else. And I do that. I do that because I love challenges,” Swarbrick said. “The challenges here are significant and I would argue they are even bigger than those. The challenges are not of problems, not of shortcoming but of great strides and high goals. “

Understands that ND is a unique challenge, and a unique entity.  Soul Management.

“Notre Dame has given me so much in my life, I can’t wait to give more back to it.”

Gets it. Gets it. Gets it.

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At least according to this B&G article, it sounds like Mr. Walls will return. 

 Walls, who plans to return to Notre Dame in 2009, according to a close family source…

Very good news if it turns out to be accurate.

The rest of the article, on now-projected-starter Raeshon McNeil, is pretty good too.

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