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Weis jump-starts recruiting Coach's aggressive style reaps benefits for Notre Dame
Friday, September 9, 2005
BY JIM CARTY
News Sports Reporter
Had Tyrone Willingham offered a scholarship, Mike Massey might be wearing a gold helmet this Saturday.
But despite being ranked as one of the top prospects in the Midwest and having a father who played for Notre Dame, the Irish coach and his staff didn't show much interest in Massey as a high school recruit.
So he committed to Michigan, where his brother, Pat, was already playing, over Ohio State.
"I would have looked at them, because my father went there and I've grown up watching Notre Dame and being a fan of Notre Dame,'' said Massey, now a redshirt freshman tight end for the Wolverines.
Things might have been different with Charlie Weis in charge.
This Saturday, Weis will coach his first game against Michigan, but the new Notre Dame coach has been getting after the Wolverines on the recruiting trail almost since the moment he was picked to replace Willingham last December.
The former New England Patriots offensive coordinator has markedly changed the direction of Irish recruiting, offering scholarships earlier than Willingham did and moving hard into Ohio and Pennsylvania, two areas heavily mined by Michigan in recent years.
And when Weis went to Massey's old high school - Cleveland St. Ignatius - and got commitments from its two best players, Robby Parris and John Ryan, Massey took notice, particularly because Michigan had been the first school to offer Parris a scholarship.
"Yeah, two kids from my high school, great ballplayers, one of whom got offered here, and they're both going there,'' Massey said, shaking his head. "They have a good (recruiting) system going there, or so I hear, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. They have a new coach, and it's always easier to recruit with a new coach.''
After blowing out Pittsburgh 42-21 Saturday for his first victory as Notre Dame head coach, Weis spent four hours on the phone Sunday, selling the win as just the start of something special and coming away with his latest commitment, Indiana kicker Ryan Burkhart.
Then, he put in three more hours on the phone Monday.
And odds are, predicted ESPN college football recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, he was talking with some of the best players in the country, players the previous staff would have contacted later in the recruiting period, if at all.
"It's a night-and-day difference with Willingham's staff, which was unbelievably laid-back and preferred to recruit against Georgia, Stanford and Northwestern, rather than Michigan, USC or Tennessee, and it showed with the players they were bringing in,'' Lemming said Tuesday. "Willingham's big mistake was Michigan and Ohio State would lock up nearly every player in the Midwest before he went after them, because he used a Stanford mentality of waiting to see their academics.''
Weis already has 13 players who have accepted scholarships for next season (Michigan has six), including potential high school All-Americans such as quarterback Zach Frazer of
Mechanicsburg, Pa., and tailback James Aldridge of Crown Point, Ind.
But nearly as noticeable as the results is Weis's passion for the job.
With a resumé that included virtually no college experience, recruiting was an obvious question mark when the NFL assistant was brought to South Bend.
He's answered it by attacking the recruiting trail from the
moment he was hired.
Josh Helmholdt, football recruiting editor for The Wolverine magazine, remembers Weis turning heads as the only college head coach to attend a spring recruiting combine at the University of Michigan.
"There were probably over 100 college coaches and they were all assistant coaches
except for Charlie Weis,'' Helmholdt said. "He made himself very visible. He took his Super Bowl ring and flashed it around like a newly engaged young lady. He used it for all it was worth, and I understand why.
"If you have a recruiting tool like that, you use it to the best of your ability. He brings instant credibility to that program. He definitely represents a major opponent in the recruiting battle for Michigan.''
And they are battling.
While Weis got Paris and Aldridge over Michigan, Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr countered by beating the Irish for cornerback Steve Brown of Columbus, Ind., and linebacker Brandon Graham of Detroit.
The two schools are running neck-and-neck for Darren Walls, a Pittsburgh prospect rated the top high school cornerback in the country. Walls attends Woodland Hills High School, which
also produced current Wolverines Steve Breaston and Ryan Mundy, but Lemming believes the Irish may hold a slight edge for his services.
Weis, who is friendly with Carr and several members of the Michigan staff, expects to keep bumping into the Wolverines on the recruiting trail.
We bump against them often in recruiting, because - let's face it - we are both going after high-character kids who can read and write and are good football players,'' Weis said Tuesday. "So they are going We bump against them often in recruiting, because - let's face it - we are both going after high-character kids who can read and write and are good football players,'' Weis said Tuesday. "So they are going
after the same type of guys we are going after; and they win sometimes and we win sometimes - that's just part of being competitors.''
Carr has a somewhat different take. Although the two programs generally chase the same type of recruit - a high-caliber blend of academics and athletic ability - he thinks the contrast
between Notre Dame, a small-town Indiana Catholic private school, and Michigan, a large public institution in the midst of bustling Ann Arbor, means kids often are attracted to one of the other, but rarely torn between both.
"The University of Michigan and Notre Dame are two very distinct universities,'' Carr said Monday. "They're as distinct as you could ever look at. In most cases, it's a pretty easy decision. We don't go down to the wire on a lot of those guys, because they make up their minds. If they're interested in those two schools, they know pretty quickly where they want to go after they've visited.
"(Notre Dame) probably has more commitments at this particular stage than they usually do. As far as our recruiting, it doesn't affect us.''
Lemming agrees ... sort of.
Unlike the Willingham years, he expects Notre Dame to be a much more competitive rival to Michigan in Midwest recruiting.
But predicts that'll just mean Michigan sometimes has to travel a little farther to get top recruits.
"Now, all of a sudden you're starting to see a lot of Notre Dame-Michigan head-to-head battles,'' Lemming said. "It's just like it was with Bo Schembechler and Lou Holtz. No matter how you sliced it, it almost always would come out 50-50. Both had great organizations and more to sell than anybody else in the country.
"Obviously, Weis is going to help Notre Dame, but it's not going to hurt Michigan that much. If they lose a great player in Ohio or Indiana, they'll just get one in Florida or Georgia. But it will add to the battle
between Notre Dame and Michigan.''
One that renews itself Saturday, with the results almost certainly to be discussed on the phone with recruits Sunday.
For better or for worse, as Weis pointed out.
Jim Carty can be reached at jcarty@annarbornews.com
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/aan...orts-1/1126276846109070.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
Friday, September 9, 2005
BY JIM CARTY
News Sports Reporter
Had Tyrone Willingham offered a scholarship, Mike Massey might be wearing a gold helmet this Saturday.
But despite being ranked as one of the top prospects in the Midwest and having a father who played for Notre Dame, the Irish coach and his staff didn't show much interest in Massey as a high school recruit.
So he committed to Michigan, where his brother, Pat, was already playing, over Ohio State.
"I would have looked at them, because my father went there and I've grown up watching Notre Dame and being a fan of Notre Dame,'' said Massey, now a redshirt freshman tight end for the Wolverines.
Things might have been different with Charlie Weis in charge.
This Saturday, Weis will coach his first game against Michigan, but the new Notre Dame coach has been getting after the Wolverines on the recruiting trail almost since the moment he was picked to replace Willingham last December.
The former New England Patriots offensive coordinator has markedly changed the direction of Irish recruiting, offering scholarships earlier than Willingham did and moving hard into Ohio and Pennsylvania, two areas heavily mined by Michigan in recent years.
And when Weis went to Massey's old high school - Cleveland St. Ignatius - and got commitments from its two best players, Robby Parris and John Ryan, Massey took notice, particularly because Michigan had been the first school to offer Parris a scholarship.
"Yeah, two kids from my high school, great ballplayers, one of whom got offered here, and they're both going there,'' Massey said, shaking his head. "They have a good (recruiting) system going there, or so I hear, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. They have a new coach, and it's always easier to recruit with a new coach.''
After blowing out Pittsburgh 42-21 Saturday for his first victory as Notre Dame head coach, Weis spent four hours on the phone Sunday, selling the win as just the start of something special and coming away with his latest commitment, Indiana kicker Ryan Burkhart.
Then, he put in three more hours on the phone Monday.
And odds are, predicted ESPN college football recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, he was talking with some of the best players in the country, players the previous staff would have contacted later in the recruiting period, if at all.
"It's a night-and-day difference with Willingham's staff, which was unbelievably laid-back and preferred to recruit against Georgia, Stanford and Northwestern, rather than Michigan, USC or Tennessee, and it showed with the players they were bringing in,'' Lemming said Tuesday. "Willingham's big mistake was Michigan and Ohio State would lock up nearly every player in the Midwest before he went after them, because he used a Stanford mentality of waiting to see their academics.''
Weis already has 13 players who have accepted scholarships for next season (Michigan has six), including potential high school All-Americans such as quarterback Zach Frazer of
Mechanicsburg, Pa., and tailback James Aldridge of Crown Point, Ind.
But nearly as noticeable as the results is Weis's passion for the job.
With a resumé that included virtually no college experience, recruiting was an obvious question mark when the NFL assistant was brought to South Bend.
He's answered it by attacking the recruiting trail from the
moment he was hired.
Josh Helmholdt, football recruiting editor for The Wolverine magazine, remembers Weis turning heads as the only college head coach to attend a spring recruiting combine at the University of Michigan.
"There were probably over 100 college coaches and they were all assistant coaches
except for Charlie Weis,'' Helmholdt said. "He made himself very visible. He took his Super Bowl ring and flashed it around like a newly engaged young lady. He used it for all it was worth, and I understand why.
"If you have a recruiting tool like that, you use it to the best of your ability. He brings instant credibility to that program. He definitely represents a major opponent in the recruiting battle for Michigan.''
And they are battling.
While Weis got Paris and Aldridge over Michigan, Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr countered by beating the Irish for cornerback Steve Brown of Columbus, Ind., and linebacker Brandon Graham of Detroit.
The two schools are running neck-and-neck for Darren Walls, a Pittsburgh prospect rated the top high school cornerback in the country. Walls attends Woodland Hills High School, which
also produced current Wolverines Steve Breaston and Ryan Mundy, but Lemming believes the Irish may hold a slight edge for his services.
Weis, who is friendly with Carr and several members of the Michigan staff, expects to keep bumping into the Wolverines on the recruiting trail.
We bump against them often in recruiting, because - let's face it - we are both going after high-character kids who can read and write and are good football players,'' Weis said Tuesday. "So they are going We bump against them often in recruiting, because - let's face it - we are both going after high-character kids who can read and write and are good football players,'' Weis said Tuesday. "So they are going
after the same type of guys we are going after; and they win sometimes and we win sometimes - that's just part of being competitors.''
Carr has a somewhat different take. Although the two programs generally chase the same type of recruit - a high-caliber blend of academics and athletic ability - he thinks the contrast
between Notre Dame, a small-town Indiana Catholic private school, and Michigan, a large public institution in the midst of bustling Ann Arbor, means kids often are attracted to one of the other, but rarely torn between both.
"The University of Michigan and Notre Dame are two very distinct universities,'' Carr said Monday. "They're as distinct as you could ever look at. In most cases, it's a pretty easy decision. We don't go down to the wire on a lot of those guys, because they make up their minds. If they're interested in those two schools, they know pretty quickly where they want to go after they've visited.
"(Notre Dame) probably has more commitments at this particular stage than they usually do. As far as our recruiting, it doesn't affect us.''
Lemming agrees ... sort of.
Unlike the Willingham years, he expects Notre Dame to be a much more competitive rival to Michigan in Midwest recruiting.
But predicts that'll just mean Michigan sometimes has to travel a little farther to get top recruits.
"Now, all of a sudden you're starting to see a lot of Notre Dame-Michigan head-to-head battles,'' Lemming said. "It's just like it was with Bo Schembechler and Lou Holtz. No matter how you sliced it, it almost always would come out 50-50. Both had great organizations and more to sell than anybody else in the country.
"Obviously, Weis is going to help Notre Dame, but it's not going to hurt Michigan that much. If they lose a great player in Ohio or Indiana, they'll just get one in Florida or Georgia. But it will add to the battle
between Notre Dame and Michigan.''
One that renews itself Saturday, with the results almost certainly to be discussed on the phone with recruits Sunday.
For better or for worse, as Weis pointed out.
Jim Carty can be reached at jcarty@annarbornews.com
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/aan...orts-1/1126276846109070.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
