Can Shaq become the third receiver? More news on Heaps, an EA trailer, and Michigan loses another (LOTD 6/5)

Not a whole lot of ND news today, but I'll give you what I've found as we head into the weekend.

Heisman Pundit has a feature on impact freshman heading into the season. One super-frosh he features is our own Shaquelle Evans. HP sees Evans being the third receiver for the Irish, working in the slot while Michael Floyd and Golden Tate work the sidelines.

I think Evans will emerge as the third receiver in the Irish offense. With so much attention on Golden Tate and Michael Floyd, he may be an oft-open target for fellow West Coaster Jimmy Clausen. He’s an excellent route runner with good quicks and can catch the ball in a crowd.

HP makes a good point regarding Clausen's downfield passing skills. Jimmy is a much more accurate passer under 20 yards, which isn't unusual, but he hasn't had a good slot receiver to work that zone. The Irish are set with their top two receiving options, but there is a big dropoff between Floyd and Tate and the rest of the crew. Many think Duval Kamara may emerge as the third option, and he just might, but Kamara has shown a tendency for dropping passes, which is an issue that can be compounded when trying to catch balls over the middle and in traffic.

Shaq definitely has the accolades coming out of high school to make you think he can step in and contribute right away. It would do wonders for the Irish if Kamara or Evans can contribute as a third receiver option this year, taking some pressure off of the top two guys and opening up some room for Kyle Rudolph at tight end.

Moving on, the surprising commitment of Jake Heaps to BYU is creating some news. The Washington Huskies are bit upset, as you can imagine fans being when they lose the best quarterback prospect a state has to offer in the past decade or so. As you can imagine, a lot of the blame is falling on Tyrone Willingham. John Berkowitz of the UW Dawgpound points to the apathetic recruiting of Heaps by Chauncey.

Tyrone wasn't the first to offer even though his son was on the same football team as Heaps. BYU talked to Jake every week for three years while Washington really didn't get active until last fall when former Skyline head coach Steve Gervais arrived on the scene.

Where have we heard this before? Chauncey pulled these stunts while at ND regularly, and it's not surprising to see this news coming out of Washington. I was always unsure of Heaps position with the Irish, believing he wanted to stay in Pac-10 country, but Washington should have never lost this kid. He played in the Huskies' backyard, and it would be just a short drive to see Heaps play. I feel for the Husky fans.

On a side note, isn't it odd that Heaps decided to make the announcement from a sports bar? Whatever happened to setting up a press conference in the high school gym?

Quick note for gamers out there: EA Sports has released a trailer for NCAA Football 2010. Here it is:


Dr. Saturday has a pre-season assessment of the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue lost 85% of its total offense from last season, they have to break in a new quarterback, and their recruiting classes the last four years have not been able to break into the top 50. There's no reason the Irish shouldn't be able to beat Purdue this year. The Boilers have lost their last every game against a final AP top 25 team since 2005, 13 in total.

Finally, another player has defected from Rich Rodriguez's Michigan program. Dann O'Neill, a freshman offensive tackle, will reportedly leave the team. O'Neill was a big recruit in Rod's first off-season as coach. MGoBlog doesn't seem all that worried, but the amount of transfers out of Ann-Arbor is reminiscient of the first few years of the Weis Regime, where people were heading overboard at what seemed like a daily rate.

Alright, that's all for today. I've had a bunch of new readers this week. Cheers to BlueandGold.com for picking up some of the stories on their BGI Gazette, and to NDLNA for hosting a bunch of links for us. As always, feel free to email me at thedailyshillelagh@gmail.com.