Diamonds don't just grow on trees...they come from PRESSURE!

So..how was your Memorial Weekend?

About 2 weeks ago I called a friend named Pete at a 

Irish web site and asked.."Hey have you heard anything about 

Golson having issues?"

It was about that day till now...I've not slept real well since!

I reached out to a friend close to his family...Nothing!

I chalked it up to just rumors...rumors about a young
QB destined for greatness this season....

That's when all Hell broke loose in the past few weeks!

Now...if you read my last blog I'm not here to mince words!

THIS SH@T HAS SUCKED!

This has been HORRIBLE..

I'm feeling crazy !

Now this is not a "spin" conversation!

This is not a "puppies and rainbows" type of article!

This is real...

It's happend!...He's gone...Will he be back?...Time will tell!

DO YOU KNOW HOW LUCKY WE ARE THAT

THIS WON'T KILL OUR SEASON!

Do you realize that if this happend to the majority of

college football programs they would be DEVASTATED!

Not set back...not "We will see.." but SCREWED!

What if this happend to...

Clemson

Tajh Boyd goes down!

Cole Stoudt with his 60 snaps as a jr. steps in!

Texas A&M 

See what happens if Johnny Football leaves!

Matt Joeckel steps up?...he's thrown 11 career passes!

Oregon

Marcus Mariota blows out his knee...

3 star true Freshman Jeff Lockie get's to step up!

We have 3 VERY viable options at Quarterback!

Tommy Rees...Tommy is the Honda Accord!

He's not fancy....he's not fast..but he's CONSISTANT!

He get's you from point A to point B!

The bottom line is we are BLESSED to have a 

senior with over 600 snaps under his belt!

With a career 61% completion ratio!

That has played at Michigan at night!

Won at USC at night!

Beat Stanford in OVERTIME!

This kid is un rattled by the FLASHBULBS!

He's seen it all!

We have 

Andrew Hendrix!

I met him at the Touchdown Club of Columbus the year

before Tressel was fired for the cheating scandal!

I watched as Tressel damn near tear up telling Andrew how 

sad he was he didn't attend O$U..and remember we landed him over

the "Heart Attack" waiting to happen coaching the Gators!...

At the Notre Dame Coaching Clinic I was told that this has been 

his best year as far as development since they arrived!

That the "light had gone on" for Hendrix!

That if Golson went down...Hendrix could step in!

ZAIRE!

This kid was the number 1 QB in the state of Ohio...

We took him right out of Urban's back yard...

I talked to Zaire's buddies in camp...they said he get's up 

EVERY day at 4:30 just to watch film...

A coach told me that Zaire is the most mentally gifted 

freshman he's ever coached!

Zaire is the future...maybe this year...maybe not!...
Maybe after Golson returns?

Maybe Golson opened a window of opportunity he 

shouldn't have?

This is our schedule!

Temple=Temple

Game one is a open scrimmage!

An opportunity to just throw some spagetti against

the wall and see what sticks!

Michigan

Beatable

Ree's has 430 yards and 70% comp ratio 

He's beat them before and seen their place!

MSU

NEW QB

Oklahoma

NEW QB

Arizona State

Better have some answers by then!

USC

NEW QB

Air Force=Air Force

Navy=Navy

Pitt

NEW QB

BYU

NEW QB

Stanford

Better be ready!

So realize the glass is not broken...it's not jagged 

at the top, and it's not gonna cut your lip!

The glass is...

HALF FULL

So throw some ice in it...relax and splash some 

Jameson on the other half and let Kelly do his job!

GO IRISH and GOD BLESS!

Sack up...Wipe your tears away & Shut your mouth!

One of my favorite sayings in the world is,

ACT LIKE YOU BEEN HERE BEFORE!

Well we have...thats college football..EVERY TEAM 

has been here before!

This week reminds me of a situation, almost 

EXACTLY one year ago, with a player I won't

even mention by name because I know right 

now EVERY day he is kicking himself for 

leaving the University of Notre Dame!

This player had a bright future...he was an elite 

athlete.  Had all the potential in the world but 

refused to be coached... Refused to listen to mentors 

around him, and to his own mother, on what life was all 

about and how hard it could be if he didn't maintain the 

path that he was on...

He left the school...watched his teammates go 12-0

and make an appearance to the 

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP...

WITHOUT him...

I made a statement last year on some message boards about this 

player...I said that our season would be just fine!

That losing him was addition by subtraction!

What happend?

Months later he called the coaches...asking if there was a chance,

a glimmer of hope of returning to the program that he once 

wronged....and the answer?...no

Who was that player?

Does it really matter now?

A wall will not fall if it's fundamentally sound, built

by the finest brick layers...even if one brick is missing!

"But...But...Our front 7 is so good now...and looking at 

2014 we will lose Nix...and Tuitt!"

"What if Vanderdoes doesn't come????"

"What if...What...if....What if...." 

STOP!

This is the coaching staff that CREATED, and yeah

I'm using the word CREATED, Harrison Smith!

He was a gypsy before they came along...

"Oh..one season I'll live up here..next I'll try this...."

They made him into a first round draft pick!

This is the coaching staff that took THREE,

three offensive players and put together a defensive secondary

that was easily top 10 by seasons end!

This will fix it's self!!!!

I hate to break it to you...but Louis Nixs and Stephon Tuitts

don't grow on trees!

Kids with this type of talent, that can 

ACTUALLY get into ND are rare!

They are ELITE and day one ready players!

We will land more of them...but we will lose some also!

At some point you have to take a 3 star and make him 

impact like a 5!

You have to train and condition and mentor and 

develop!

You have to BUILD a player into who you want and how 

you want!

This is what programs like Stanford do, and NOBODY out there

is crying!

Let me tell you a story about a player from Texas!

He was a skinny 6'4 D End

He didn't have a extensive offer list...
Texas A&M before Johnny

Texas after Colt

Michigan with Rich Rod

...ND under Cholly!

He came to Notre Dame weighing 225 Llbs..

just a tad lighter than....Michael Deeb!

He wasn't 6'7 300lbs like Jarron Jones

He wasn't 6'5 240lbs and 17 years old like Romeo

He wasn't 6'6 260lbs like Tony Springman

He wasn't 6'5 260lbs like Isaac Roshell

He wasn't 6'5 270lbs like Jay Hayes

He wasn't 6'5 250lbs like Trumbetti

Heck...he wasn't as big as Marquis Dickerson the 

new "walk on" D Tackel from Arkansas!

But with his heart and Notre Dame's influence...

He trained!...he listend and learned and turned into this:

300lbs of ALREADY signed 

Baltimore Ravens future!

So stop your crying!

Don't tell me that one brick will matter!

Don't tell me that we can't win a championships with 4 

defensive lineman like Kapron Lewis Moore!

Don't tell me that the sky is falling because of one player!

Well guess what Notre Dame Fan Base?

YOU are the Douchebag of the week!

That's right my beloved ND family is the winner of the 

Jameson Irish Whisky DOUCHEBAG of the week award!

Why?...just like I said at the beginning...

Every team has been here before!

That makes me the biggest douchebag of them all!

Cause NOT every team has been here before!

Not every team has:

A 3 Time Coach of the Year at the helm!

A QB with NO CEILING for his potential!

One of the best sets of asst. Coaches in football!

15 returning starters from a regular season undefeated team

that actually beat a schedule that you should be 

proud of and not embarrassed!

Unbelievable talent arriving in 2 weeks to re-stock the shelves!

And...a current recruiting class that has the potential of being

the best Kelly has brought to South Bend yet!

So...no!...not everybody has been here before!

Lets remember who we are...and ACT LIKE IT!

GOD BLESS AND GO IRISH!

Don't wish away your summer thinking FOOTBALL!...

When I was a kid the school year couldn't go fast 

enough and seemed to take centuries to end...

Then summer break would come and I'd blink my eyes and

the next grade was open and ready for enrollment!

This is the dilemma of the football fan.

We want to see our team play...but hell the sunshine just 

arrived and we've been looking forward to that all winter!

People e-mail me for updates?...well right now

we are in a holding pattern!

We'll talk recruiting later in this article but as 

far as players?...nothing is happening!

So...Updates will come..but your gonna have to find

a balance to your excitement!

So...what's the balance?...Here is the balance!

It's called "Captain Led 7 on 7 practices" 

In Charlie's last season I had the pleasure of being in town 

in June and was able to sit in on a few of these "coach-less" 

practices!

What these are all about is CHEMISTRY...the ability for a QB 

to time a receiver...to know his patterns and how he breaks from

 cuts, or the speed in which he hits his marks on a route.

It's where the seniors take the freshmen and teach them the 

difference between just being BIGGER and STRONGER than 

everyone, like they were used to in high school...to 

here is the TECHNIQUE for going against players that are 

BIGGER and STRONGER then you've ever seen before!

It's about DB's getting time to perfect their abilities against 

elite talent...and skill.

It's where running backs show the QB that they can 

do more than just run between the tackles and 

build trust. 

It's a chance for the O-Line to come together through repetition

and understanding without the worry of being monitored! 

Spring ball is about learning where to be and when...What's your 

responsibility on each play and grasping your role!

7 on 7s?...that's where the UNDERGROUND magic happens!

In my opinion there is more team chemistry formed in these 

practices than any other time of the year!

"Seniors...I'm not gonna just give you the team. You're not 

ready yet...I'll give it to you, when you've earned it!"

BRIAN KELLY

This is the time where the leaders emerge...there are no "official" 

captains yet...but the LEADERS lead

and CAPTAINS are born!

So during the summer while your "wishing away" the 

days till that first kick off..the team is growing and 

perfecting and training and lifting!

Becoming...what they hope to show the coaches 

come fall...is possible!

I'll be posting updates on these critical practices 

as I hear from people within the program.

So...what's happing now?

This:

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

This class is already off and running and EXTREMELY 

talented and exciting!

We have our RECRUITER now with Hood!

He's been ATTACKING recruits on Twitter and establishing

himself as the leader of this class!

My test of any recruit...who did we beat out to land him!

Elijah Hood	ATH	5-11/221	EVERYONE!
Quenton Nelson	OL	6-5/301	EVERYONE!
Sam Mustipher	OL	6-3/286	EVERYONE!
Justin Brent	WR	6-3/193	Committed early and shut down!
Jimmy Byrne	OL	6-4/275	O$U & MSU
Jay Hayes	DT	6-5/270	EVERYONE!
Andrew Trumbetti	DE	6-5/249	EVERYONE!
Nic Weishar	TE	6-5/215	EVERYONE!
Greer Martini	LB	6-3/230	RKG

We are firing on all cylinders right now and winning 

the battles taking talent from across the country!

My top 2 right now?...HOOD & HAYES!

Hayes is the type of player that ND needs to recruit 

EVERY season!...he's fast, big and has no ceiling!

Having Issac,Vanderdoes and Hayes gives us the 

ability to remain dominant on the D line for 

seasons to come!

He understands his place within a scheme and doesn't 

overplay to try and make an impact!

Remember the 2011 USC game...there was a D lineman

in that game that OVERPLAYED and cost us a ton 

of points...because he didn't know his place within the scheme!

Jay has tons of personality and reminds me of 

Big Louis Nix!

And knows how to keep the fans attention!

ELIJAH HOOD

Where do I start with this kid?

He's a man among boys and has unreal speed for 

a kid his size!

He refuses to go down and punishes anyone in the 

open field that thinks they can arm tackle him 

to the upper body!

His conditioning is second to none and he has the 

ability to make an instant impact in the 

backfield!

ND is SO LOADED at Running Back that 

teams will have no idea how to cope with 

the amount of non stop fresh legs that

can come off the bench at anytime!

BRYANT

HOOD

FOLSTON

MAHONE

GAIII
AMIR

MCDANIEL

We've struggled to get "A" elite running back

in the past...now we have several!

Updates?....Stay tuned!

Inside Info?...It's dead!

Excitement?....TONS!

So pick your favorite...light up a stogie and enjoy the summer...

The IRISH train is rolling and I feel sorry for

whoever gets in our way!...

GO IRISH & GOD BLESS