'08 IN WR John Goodman (Signed LOI to ND)

[OCIrish]

Originally Posted by IrishCalves

While I wouldn't call him a burner, he's not some big bodied slowpoke that you just lob the ball up to. He showed some pretty legitimate YAC potential, and I look at him as a real WR after seeing this film, rather than a one dimensional type receiver.. Again, his competition isn't up to snuff, but he looked very athletic. I think his running style is a little less "effortless" looking that Samardzija, but the comparisons are legitimate. Michigan was right to throw him an offer. I'd say he's a lower to mid level 4 star based on this film.

Hell, he even has played some QB - should be a threat to throw on a reverse or two, like Samardzija the pitcher.

We're not exactly what you would call a recruiting hotbed, but we've had guys drafted in the first 2 rounds of the NFL draft the last few years. Bernard Pollard and Anthony Spencer played at Purdue, Josh Gaines is at Penn State. There is some very good talent here in Ft. Wayne.

[Golden_Domer88]

Lets not forget that Rod Woodson played for Snider High School here in Ft. Wayne.

[benneboy]

former pro bowler Jason Fabini went to the same High School as Goodamn (Dwenger)

[OCIrish]

I also forgot, one of his teammates is verballed to IU. I know it's not a football power, but it's still D1. There are more and more athletes coming out of Ft. Wayne and playing D1 football somewhere. Purdue ends up with most, oh, and Michigan picked up a SS from Snider HS, this last year, that is the same HS that Rod Woodson attended. No, we're not Florida, but then again, only CA. and TX. has a say so in that dept.


Go Irish!!!

[johnnd05]

August 17, 2007

John Goodman's Debut at quarterback

Fort Wayne native and Notre Dame commit John Goodman had the first game of his senior season at Bishop Dwenger on Friday. It was also his first game as a quarterback since he was a freshman.

The Saints beat Concordia, 21-7, and Goodman went 4 of 9 for 71 yards and a second-half touchdown. Our reporter on the scene, LaMond Pope, said he ran 11 times for 11 yards, if you include sack yardage in lost yardage.

Goodman was also the cover story for The Journal Gazette's high school football tab, describing his rise as a major college recruit.

We'll have more on Goodman's night in Saturday's Journal Gazette. We'll have more tidbits from the Goodman feature story on Insights tomorrow.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette

[johnnd05]

More tidbits about John Goodman

As we're going to try and do more this year, we're going to use this space for interesting things that either didn't make our feature about a player or to expound further on some things mentioned in the story.

For those who missed it, the cover story for The Journal Gazette's high school tab was on Notre Dame recruit John Goodman. Goodman had his first game at quarterback since his freshman year, which Bishop Dwenger won, 21-7.

A couple other things from our feature we couldn't get in, but that you might like to know:

* At Notre Dame camp this summer, Goodman roomed with Michael Floyd, one of the top wide receivers in the country. The Irish are on Floyd's short list and Goodman said they've become tight. Goodman also called Floyd the "top prospect right now for them to get."
* Goodman called people asking for his autograph during Notre Dame's spring game "the coolest thing ever."
* The kid can play golf a little, too, shooting in the low 40s for nine holes. Two shots stand out for him -- a nine-iron from 150 yards and an eight-iron from 160 yards that both landed about a foot from the pin. Get Goodman talking about golf and he almost talks as passionately about it as football.
* Goodman has expressed interest in running track at Notre Dame.
* If there was one thing that bothered Goodman during the recruiting process, it was the perception people had about him. He admitted to reading message boards and taking what others said a little too close to heart initially.
"I used to look at them a lot because I was excited about the recruiting process and everything, like Rivals and all that and looking at message boards on there," Goodman said. "I don't know if they are kids or not but it's all kinds of ages and mostly older guys like 20s and 30s talking and thinking they know everything, talking about me and how I'm not going to make it and everything."
Eventually, though, Goodman said it got "old," and he's moved on past what people say about him. Such is the life of high school recruits who are thrown into the spotlight these days.
* Think your life is tough? Try having three older siblings watching every move. That's what Goodman has, with older brother T.J. and older sisters Lindsay and Nicki.
"He sometimes gets annoyed because we keep tabs on him," Lindsay said. "He doesn't have a chance. We always make sure he's hanging with the right kids and doing what he's supposed to do."
It's not a bad thing, though, because it just increases the support system Goodman surrounds himself with.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette

[johnnd05]

Goodman's golden opportunity
Notre Dame dream comes true for Bishop Dwenger standout

By Michael Rothstein
The Journal Gazette

The letter, framed by John Goodman's mother for his birthday in July, hangs in the back corner of his two-level house on the northeast side of Fort Wayne. The letter, typed on gold paper and signed by Charlie Weis, signifies how fast things can change.

Goodman smiles when he looks at the letter, when he thinks about how it happened and what it means. The letter is an offer to play wide receiver for Notre Dame.

Last summer, the letter seemed almost impossible. Goodman attended Michigan's summer camp as a quarterback -- the position he played when he started as an 8-year-old until his sophomore year of high school, when Bishop Dwenger coach Chris Svarczkopf moved him to wide receiver. Michigan's coaches said campers could switch positions midway through camp, but Goodman forgot.

So the last day he asked whether he could work out at receiver.

"I went to receiver with little kids because they didn't know me yet because I just got there for the last day," Goodman said. "So there were older kids on one field then middle kids and younger kids and I was with the middle kids just like doing my business on them."

Michigan's coaches noticed. They pulled him from the middle field to the top field and then from the line on the right to the line on the left, where the camp's elite players were working out.

Eventually, the coaches running the drills had Goodman cut in front of other receivers to get him more work. He saw then-Michigan recruit Ryan Mallett watching. Same with Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, four Wolverines assistants and some of Michigan's receivers.

"I was like `Wow, I'm getting looked at right here,' " Goodman said. "It was the first time I was ever being recruited so I was high on adrenaline."

He also had one of his best days. He doesn't remember dropping a pass but a post-workout visit to Carr's office said everything.

In one afternoon, Goodman went from another player to a high-end prospect.

"That kind of changed things," said his father, Andy, an assistant coach at Dwenger. "Like wow, he really is a Division I football player. The rest kind of snowballed from there."

Goodman's athletic ability and talent had always been known. From the time he dented the garage of his house throwing a baseball against the wall as a 10-year-old to when he ran around and then past an entire team during a middle school football game for St. Jude, Goodman always possessed something different than his peers.

His oldest sister, Lindsay, would hear men saying "Remember this kid. He's going to go places" when she was at Goodman's games.

But even when he played a game at Saint Francis and eluded everyone, Lindsay didn't know what to think of her brother's athletic abilities.

"He outran every single player," Lindsay said. "Even then I was like, whatever, this kid is in seventh grade. I had no idea the potential he actually had."

The Michigan camp changed that for everyone. His anonymity in the hypersensitive college recruiting world disappeared. Message board posters discussed his strengths and flaws without even knowing who the 6-foot-4, 192-pound then-junior from Fort Wayne was.

Coaches began text messaging non-stop, as Andy remembered one night when his son had simultaneous conversations with Purdue, Indiana, Michigan and Notre Dame.

Ball State officially offered first. Then Purdue. Michigan -- where his ascent began -- came at Christmas. The one he waited for, the one he grew up wanting -- Notre Dame -- hadn't appeared.

Goodman did well at Notre Dame's camp the prior summer but heard nothing. He became frustrated. Andy gave up hope. Following junior days at Notre Dame and Michigan, father and son decided it might be best to forget about the football team closest to his home and his heart.

"Honestly, I didn't expect them to offer," Andy said. "We left a DVD with (defensive coordinator) Corwin Brown. I left him a DVD at the junior day and hadn't heard anything back and it was weeks."

Notre Dame had invited Goodman back for a second junior day. After discussing it with his dad, Goodman decided he wasn't going. The dream seemed over. Eventually, Notre Dame called and began talking with him. An offer, it seemed, was imminent.

Goodman had been at basketball practice on a Saturday when he received a text message from wide receivers coach Rob Ianello. He told him to call Weis after practice.

"I was like `Oh my God, it's coming now,' " Goodman said. "It was my best practice of the year in basketball. After practice I called him and he extended the offer to me and it was one of the best days of my life."

Three weeks later, Goodman went to Notre Dame for his second junior day and orally committed. The hardest part, he said, was confronting the ones who initially gave him the chance -- the coaches at Michigan. He grew to like them and if Notre Dame's offer hadn't come would have likely been the second straight top Fort Wayne player, joining Snider's Artis Chambers, to play for the Wolverines.

But it did, and now Goodman's future is firm. He'll quarterback Dwenger's football team for the first time since his freshman year. He'll play basketball and run track at Dwenger. He'll play in the United States Army All-American Game in San Antonio. And then he'll be off to where the gold letter -- his favorite of the offer letters received -- came from.

"I don't have to worry about anything except getting better," Goodman said. "Now I've reached that goal of getting to Notre Dame. My next goal is to win a state championship and the other one was to be an All-American and I got in that game so two of my three goals were accomplished. Now I just have to get a state championship."