Comparisons to 2005, recruiting news, the Tyrone Willingham bump, and the NCAA blotter (LOTD 6/12)

I took a day off yesterday due to a lack of news, which makes things easier today now that stories have sort of piled up. There's lots of things to get to, so on with it.

BlueandGold.com compares this year's team to the 2005 team that kicked off the Weis era. BnG comments that the '05 squad made vast strides and had a superior work ethic, but that it was necessary to make up the ground that was lost in the Tyrone Willingham era. I'll also add that there is a significant bump found in a team's attitude when you move from a coach the team quit on to a coach that is riding a wave of positive emotion. BnG notes that this team, however, has experience and production that is unmatched by its 2005 counterparts. This year's team features 11 players on offense who have at least one year as a starter, and six who have two full years of starting experience. Furthermore, Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate are coming off of two of the bigger years any sophomore has seen at Notre Dame, while Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph broke all sorts of freshman records.

Furthermore, BnG points to the defense of '09 being a group on the rise, while the '05 group seemed to hit a wall in development when Rick Minter jumped on board (please, let's not give credit to Kent Baer). The defenses, to this point, have been undermanned but have outperformed expectations, with a solid season last year that kept the team in gave while the offense struggled.

I expect a similar result to that of the '05 season, probably a couple of losses and a BCS bowl game. If we don't see that then Weis' job will be in doubt, as it should be when you have taken a step back once collecting five classes of your own players.

On to recruiting. A poster on IrishEnvy reposted a list of recruiting priorities. You will notice that the majority of the players on the list are either offensive or defensive linemen. I'd have to agree with that sentiment. The Irish need to add a lot on both lines, but there's also a great void in recruiting right now at the runningback position. I think the Irish need to add at least one or two solid-to-elite prospects when you consider the big class of Aldridge-Hughes-Allen is nearing the end of its career. The problem is that Weis isn't really in on any major runningback recruits at this point, so we're kind of relying on a good season to boost those efforts. It's a big risk.

Sticking with recruiting, it appears that defensive end Blake Lueders may be nearing a decision. Lueders told IrishIllustrated that he could make a decision soon, but soon may be in the next couple of days or in three months. Kind of a broad definition of soon. BC, Stanford, Northwestern, and Wake Forest are competing for Lueders' services with the Irish. Notre Dame is considered to be the favorite at this point.

Brian Cook of The Sporting Blog has an interesting story on the recruiting bump programs get after firing Tyrone Willingham. Cook notes that Willingham's '04 and '05 classes at Notre Dame had more two-star commits than four-star commits, and while at Washington last year Willingham had yet to pick up a commitment by July (while all other Pac-10 programs had at least four) and only 5 by mid-October. Once Willingham left Weis was able to put together knock out classes and Steve Sarkisian just got Nick Montana at Washington, a program coming off of a winless season. It's the Tyrone Willingham effect and it goes something like this; "We were bad last year because of Chauncey. We're going to be good now with competency at the head coaching position." It seems to work.

A couple notes on possible Irishpros: Evan Sharpley was drafted in the 50th round of the MLB draft by the Seattle Mariners. Sharpley will have a shot at professional baseball regardless of where he was picked, so best of luck to the former Irish QB. Also, Luke Zeller was able to fill in for Josh Heytvelt at a Chicago Bulls try out on Wednesday. I'm not sure if LZ is a pro-quality player, but he has a shot to prove himself and here's wishing him the best of luck as well.

Non-ND news will look like the College Football blotter today. Luckily it involves some of our favorite programs.

The USC Trojans finally addressed the ever-ongoing investigation. “We have no idea how long this investigation will continue, and no one is more anxious to bring this process to a conclusion than we are, but we remain committed to getting to the truth,” senior administrator Todd Dickey said in a video statement. USC AD Mike Garrett followed it up by saying, “I, we, take these allegations very seriously. People who say that we have something to protect are partially right. What we have to protect is the integrity of the athletic department. And that means doing this right. And that is what we are doing."

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.... our jobs are on the line, we're totally screwed, I know nothing. Furthermore, the LA Times finally decided to acknowledge the investigation (it only took a coach's resignation, nice job MSM) when Bill Plaschke penned a column chastizing the Trojans. Says the Around The Horn talking head:

These being difficult times in Trojans athletics, USC's best is to duck and cover and forgo all public accountability.
These complex challenges apparently require [President Steven B.] Sample to protect sports programs to the detriment of the rest of the university.
All of which remind us that Sample's core values apparently don't include an interest in maintaining control of his cash cows.
Memo to the many esteemed educators employed by USC: This is how you want your workplace to be perceived?
Memo to the many National Merit Scholars and high SAT scorers who have recently been drawn to USC: This is where you want to spend your next four years?

That's actually well put. The italicized portions are in relation to a quote by Sample saying that the tough times bring out the best in the leadership at the University. Scary thought if you are a Trojan supporter. It's actually one of Plaschke's better columns, and definitely worth a read.

Moving on... to Urban Meyer! Florida has begun to do some damage control on its little 24 arrest issue. This may not have been the best way to go about doing that. Florida has provided some in the MSM with a list of the arrest record by it's own account. It sort of takes the teenage excuse of "24 arrests... what so bad about that?" As College Football Talk says, "it's never good when your athletic department is breaking down arrests by recruiting classes."

Finally, Alabama had to vacate three seasons of wins and is back on probation (they are comfortable there) due to a violations in a textbook disbursment policy. The violations came under Mike Shula's watch, so Nick Saban is clean of these (other than having to deal with the probation issue). This puts 'Bama on the 5-year probation plan, which is sort of like being on Double Secret Probation.

That's all for today. Sparty preview coming tomorrow, along with any worthy news.