'07 NJ DE Justin Trattou (Florida Verbal)

[Junkhead]

Good offense...good recruits. Sucky defense.....weaker recruits. Either way, in the long run, it'll be better without minter. Good luck to tratou, enjoy the new car courtesy of rural meyer....

 

[irishunclebill]

Obviously, any loss on the D hurts, especially in the front 7, but the loss of JT does not mean that all of a sudden this recruiting class sucks, and nobody should be putting their head in the oven over it. JT was certainly a fine recruit, but he was far from the highest rated DE in the country, only Scout (#33), and Rise Magazine (#30) had him in their elite 5 star lists. He is a 4 star in Rivals 250 list, but is only ranked as their #17 DE behind guys like Devon Still and the still uncommitted Jason Peters. ESPN has him at #140, and ranked as the #19 DE. CSTV does not even rate him as a Hot 150 prospect. The point is this kid is not a drop dead superstar DE like a Griffen, or Martin. Could the D have used him, sure, will ND miss him, no, not if he didn’t get it, and you all know what that means. Don’t forget that this class still has 2 Defensive Linemen with tremendous upside potential in Kerry Neal and Ian Williams. JT will be most likely getting splinters while these 2 kids are busting up Offensive Lines, and if CW and CB can somehow manage to pull Malcolm Smith into the fold at OLB, by this time next week, the name _____ will be forgotten. See, I’ve forgotten already.

 

[IrishRamMan10]

I have been pissed over this news since I heard it but then i remembered these two words: Kerry Neal... This dude looks like a stud and is a FAST pass rusher... lets see what he can do

 

[ojo_223]

Just goes to show you how shaky verbal commitments are I guess.

 

[Junkhead]

Hopefully we can steal one these last few weeks. And maybe Rural Meyer will suck the big one....

 

[Golden_Domer88]

oh well, forget justin.....have fun watching the games on the sideline your next 3 years.

Where as if you would have stayed at ND "pulling knife out of back" then you would of probably started a lot earlier.

 

[kjones]

What we really need is a newer style of defense that is attacking and fun to watch. Hopefully that's what CB will bring us. Until we get that sort of attitude that kids want to be part of, we're gonna keep losing kids like this to schools that have that attitude. The Gators defense is really good, curse them to a black abyss of pain and suffering, and it was fun watching them shut out OSU. Only so many kids are all about ND, and more are in between like Trattou, and others wouldn't really make it, for many reasons. On offense, we got the attitude, we got the skills, but we'll keep missing out on the 'tweeners on defense until we get a defense that a High Schooler would say, "hey, those guys are bad-ass, I wanna play like that." Even if our talent is lower, we can still play badass, and that'll help the talent increase.

I'm just a bummed as the next guy, but I'm think more about how CB is gonna improve the defense next year, and trust that that talent will follow.

 

[ND4life]

I have been pissed over this news since I heard it but then i remembered these two words: Kerry Neal... This dude looks like a stud and is a FAST pass rusher... lets see what he can do

i agree with you saying Kerry Neal is gonna be one hell of a DE but, who's gonna be on the other side. heres our possible DE's:

kallen wade (i really liked but havent seen him play)
john ryan
patrick kuntz

i havent seen any of these guys play yet, but when i saw trattou play in the AA game i was damn impressed. i know its against high school players but, he was quick off the ball and hes a huge kid. just like when i saw SY in the AA game, a big kid.

imagine if we had Neal and Trattou for the next 4 years.

 

[Get Nasty]

ND4Life

ND4Life

All 3 of those guys won't ever amount to much so don't get your hopes up. Trattou screwed us. Charlie better get his act together on the defensive side with recruiting or i'll be the first one asking for him gone if we don't win a BCS bowl game in 2 years because of our D.

 

[ND4life]

All 3 of those guys won't ever amount to much so don't get your hopes up. Trattou screwed us. Charlie better get his act together on the defensive side with recruiting or i'll be the first one asking for him gone if we don't win a BCS bowl game in 2 years because of our D.

i never really thought that CW was in charge of getting defensive recruits. i thought RM was. so actually CB needs to get his act together and bring in some high quality defensive recruits next year. which i think can happen with the start of steve filer.

 

[Get Nasty]

ND4Life

ND4Life

Charlie still has to be the closer with the defensive recruits. We had a lot of amazing D recruits interested in us. Maybe because of minter, maybe not. But charlie didn't close, period.

 

[johnnd05]

What we really need is a newer style of defense that is attacking and fun to watch. Hopefully that's what CB will bring us. Until we get that sort of attitude that kids want to be part of, we're gonna keep losing kids like this to schools that have that attitude. The Gators defense is really good, curse them to a black abyss of pain and suffering, and it was fun watching them shut out OSU. Only so many kids are all about ND, and more are in between like Trattou, and others wouldn't really make it, for many reasons. On offense, we got the attitude, we got the skills, but we'll keep missing out on the 'tweeners on defense until we get a defense that a High Schooler would say, "hey, those guys are bad-ass, I wanna play like that." Even if our talent is lower, we can still play badass, and that'll help the talent increase.

I'm just a bummed as the next guy, but I'm think more about how CB is gonna improve the defense next year, and trust that that talent will follow.

Best post I've seen in a long time. This should be made into a sticky and everyone should be forced to read it several times a day. Reps to you.

 

[FleaFlicker]

And to think that I cheered for Florida when they waxed OSU. I bet if OSU waxes FLorida, Trattou never goes there.

 

[gboroirish]

Well i think we should now go to maybe a 3-3-5 because we have no linebackers or d line.. or maybe just blitz everybody and see if the other team can score so we can just play O. or maybe jimmy can play d. shit

 

[Satans Little Helper]

Well i think we should now go to maybe a 3-3-5 because we have no linebackers or d line.. or maybe just blitz everybody and see if the other team can score so we can just play O. or maybe jimmy can play d. shit

you guys are really stupid if you think we dont have players for those postiions. I cant help you but you guys are just being down right silly now. There are 10 LBs and 15 DL/DEs on the team. Man, wake up.

 

[jgrnd07]

Having enough guys to play the 3-4 and having the right guys is totally different. Besides Crum our LB's were horrible last year and we do not have a DT that is big and physical enough for the 3-4! If we did he would of dominated in the 4-3 last year!

 

[gboroirish]

your right. the colts got it done by just plugging in bodies on d.

 

[Stalking_Eagle]

We are going to win and lose big name players every year. Just because we would not think twice to play in South Bend doesn't mean it is a place for everyone. Don't take away from the players that we already have and lets not get to down on our team. With CB coming in and installing a new Defense and hopefully he is a better teacher for these kids than Minter was we will develop and have some big names develop out of the kids that want to be at ND. I think it is going to make a huge difference when our team finally understand the defensive schemes we are trying to run and are able to rely on each other to make the plays and know where their help is. I'm upset by the lose of this recruit but there are many other kids out there that just need the right shot and the right teacher. Lets stay postive and move on. GO IRISH!!!!!

 

[jgrnd07]

"One of the last players I would have thought would have switched would've been Trattou," Lemming said. "It's one of their biggest committed losses I've seen in a long, long time."

Lemming went on to say this was the best defensive prospect we have...this is a huge loss not just some 18 year old kid changing his mind.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/NDSports02/701260340/-1/NDSPORTS

 

[KingAdrock99]

This is like a big shot in the gut. Our main concern was the DL and LBs, but at least we had a stud like Trattou and now we don't even have that. This next year is going to hurt. Good thing we have a lot of good RBs so we can do some heavy duty ball control come next year.

 

[irishunclebill]

"One of the last players I would have thought would have switched would've been Trattou," Lemming said. "It's one of their biggest committed losses I've seen in a long, long time."

Lemming went on to say this was the best defensive prospect we have...this is a huge loss not just some 18 year old kid changing his mind.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/NDSports02/701260340/-1/NDSPORTS

"Lemming considered Trattou the best defensive player in a Notre Dame recruiting class he still rated among the nation's Top 10 despite the loss."

You know what people, this kid is gone, forget about him. Also, this quote attributed to Lemming in the SB Tribune is a perfect example of why a lot of people consider Lemming to be an idiot. He talks out of his ass without checking his own info. Consider this, in his own Top 100, Lemming lists ND Defensive recruits Gary Gray (CB) as the #54 recruit in the country, and Harrison Smith (Safety) as the #89 recruit in the country. Trattou (there you go, you made me say his name UGH!) is not even ranked in Lemming's own Top 100. Furthermore, Trattou (UGH! again) does not even make the Hodge 150 that CSTV publishes, and which Lemming is affiliated with. Lemming's statement in the Tribune is therefore nonsensical given his own ratings. He does good work on the analysis of recruits, but his verbal reactions to things like "the defection" are always knee jerk reactions. IGNORE THIS ARTICLE!!!

 

[johnnd05]

You know what? I'd rather have an NFL-style DC running the defense he wants and putting guys where he thinks he needs to be than an (admittedly stellar) 18-yr-old who's never played a down of college ball and would rather ride the pine at UF than play where Corwin Brown says he ought to play.

There, I said it. Having read again the quote about how he only wants to be a down lineman, I think good riddance. I'll take Corwin Brown over Justin Trattou any day.

Good luck, kid -- I hope your team does well enough that you have a chance of playing us in a bowl down the line.

 

[marv81s]

agree with uncleirish bill for the most part.

But, this kid was our most important Defensive recruit for one reason and that is because of ND's need on the Defensive Line. This is a huge loss for that reason. We have great scondary recruits no doubt, but we are f'n thin in our front seven.

We saw what happened this year with a lack of pass rush. you can have a secondary full of 5 star recruits, doesn't mater, they can't cover guys for too long if you don't have a pass rush. Weis and his staff had better concentrate on bringing in a killer '08 defensive class. That is where I want to see a ton of focus for next year. Forget this year, JT (to put it bluntly) fucked us, he flat out screwed us royally by waiting this long to decommitt, 11 days before national signing day. This class is done, you can forget about Smith, he isn't coming to ND. We'll get Walker, yeah. Our recruiting on the D-side was limp. They put all of their chips on Ben Martin, Donald, Edwards and Blackwell and got burned, badly.

2008's recruiting class needs to be at least 75% concentrated on the D side of the ball. Or JC and DJ better have strong ass backs and the O is gonna have to carry this team and keep the D off the field.

 

[KingAdrock99]

Maybe Charlie thinks we have so many RBs that we're ok on the defensive side of the ball because he can just swap them out for LBs interchangeably.

 

[IRISHMAN]

im very dissapointed that we lost trattou but really you can't blame him for wanting to play for a better football program. yes UF is a better program then ND, or at least right now they are. UF plays great defense every year and will be competing for NC every year, while NDs defense struggles it seems every year and untill they get the defense fixed they won't be playing for a NC. with the lack of defensive recruites this year it will probbly take 3-4 more recruiting classes to turn this program all the way around. if you want to blame anyone blame CW for not putting together a better defensive staff to start with.

 

[Sweeney6083]

Justin is a and its not because he picked UF it s because he commited early and let us know with 11 days left that he would not be coming to ND. That is just weird and too much of a Cryer move. I think with 5 DE's coming in this year that he just was looking for a school that did not challenge him academically, Please UF is the easiest school for a football player to get into , look at all the players they can recuirt that we can't. I am so mad at this kid right know because we have no defense and we were giving him the keys to the kingdom and he led us on until jan 25th its just such bullshit. Fucking Urban recuirting kids after the commit is the name of his game.

 

[PlayLikeAChampionToday]

If he doesn't wan to come we don't need and him and if he decised to change his mind again I hope CW and CB tell him to hit the pike

 

[irishunclebill]

Looks like someone else might be getting URBANIZED this weekend. No, it is not a current ND recruit. Jeremy Finch is a Top 100 rated recruit on all five boards, and has already switched his verbal from Michigan to Indiana. Since Finch already did it once, I guess Urban figures he can get him to do it again. Looks like Meyer is going to hit double digits this year in taking away other teams recruits. I know it's his job to recruit the best that he can, but he is definitely going overboard, and may soon become the most hated CFB coach in the country, if he isn't already.

Here is the headline from the Scouts, Inc. Briefing Room

"Gators will try to bait another ESPN 150 prospect
Indiana commit Jerimy Finch, who dropped Michigan for the in-state Hoosier, will travel to Gainesville this weekend when Florida will attempt to "turn him," the Gainesville Sun reports."

 

[FleaFlicker]

Looks like someone else might be getting URBANIZED this weekend. No, it is not a current ND recruit. Jeremy Finch is a Top 100 rated recruit on all five boards, and has already switched his verbal from Michigan to Indiana. Since Finch already did it once, I guess Urban figures he can get him to do it again. Looks like Meyer is going to hit double digits this year in taking away other teams recruits. I know it's his job to recruit the best that he can, but he is definitely going overboard, and may soon become the most hated CFB coach in the country, if he isn't already.

Here is the headline from the Scouts, Inc. Briefing Room

"Gators will try to bait another ESPN 150 prospect
Indiana commit Jerimy Finch, who dropped Michigan for the in-state Hoosier, will travel to Gainesville this weekend when Florida will attempt to "turn him," the Gainesville Sun reports."

I think I'm starting to see Urban's horns poking out a bit. He needs to grow his hair longer.

 

[jboxer562]

he's taking advantage of that beautiful florida weather here in late january